Thompson as Senator Left Conservative Record with Reformist Bent

WASHINGTON — Former senator-turned-actor Fred Thompson will audition for the role of presidential contender when he speaks Saturday to a gathering of top conservative leaders.

The influential but little-known Council for National Policy, an alliance of groups from the Republican right, invited the undeclared candidate to their closed-door Northern Virginia dinner as part of a search for a champion in 2008.

Conservatives who check Thompson's eight-year record as a senator from Tennessee will find he consistently supported their positions. He voted against abortion, against tax increases and for a strong national defense.

They would also find a lawmaker with an independent streak. When Republican colleagues lined up for granting full trading status to China, Thompson fought unsuccessfully to add a requirement that the president impose sanctions against the Chinese if they violated nuclear nonproliferation agreements.

Thompson was the only dissenter when the Senate voted to ban handguns from public schools. "He believes in limiting the jurisdiction of the federal government — and that there are adequate local laws to take care of that problem," said Powell Moore, who served as his Senate chief of staff.

When Thompson departed the Senate in 2003 and took the role of the tough prosecutor in the TV series "Law & Order," he left no major federal program or landmark legislation bearing his name.

Although his towering 6-foot 5-inch frame, basso voice and commanding presence gave him star status on the Hill, Thompson chose the unglamorous work of trying to expose waste and reform the federal government.

He put heat on federal agencies by holding hearings on mismanagement and by asking them to tote up the improper payments they made each year — about $20 billion altogether.

The waste is far from stopped, but agencies are now required by law to disclose their annual overpayments, a practice that is credited for trimming the Department of Health and Human Services' erroneous payments from $12.1 billion in 2005 to $10.8 billion in 2006.

Paul C. Light, a New York University professor and leading expert on government reform, said, "I consider him to be one of the most dedicated overseers of the executive branch of the last 25 years."

Thompson's reform efforts captured the spotlight briefly when he led a probe of fundraising scandals in President Bill Clinton's re-election campaign. But the senator angered his own party leadership by expanding the investigation into Republican fundraising practices.

Partisan bitterness hampered the probe, which was then overshadowed by President Clinton's White House intern sex scandal. The experience was a sharp contrast to the Watergate investigation in which Thompson, as minority counsel, had worked in concert with the majority Democrats.

Even so, the campaign money excesses led to passage of a major campaign finance reform law, led by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis., with key support from Thompson.

Thompson's support for limiting contributions to political parties is perhaps his sharpest divergence from conservative activists, such as those meeting with him this weekend. Many Republican-leaning groups see limits on money as restrictions on free speech.

Thompson may get a pass on that issue from conservatives, however. "The free speech is not something that's an issue that we expect to deal with soon," said Darla St. Martin of the National Right to Life Committee. "He has an excellent record on (opposing) abortion, assisted suicide and funding for abortion."

She said she was also unconcerned about a 1994 questionnaire in which Thompson indicated that he favored allowing legal abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy. That response stirred a swirl of comment this week after it was posted by the online information service Vote-Smart.com.

"A lot of people are talking about what he said," St. Martin said. "He voted pro-life. That's what's important to us."

Another question mark hanging over Thompson's Senate career is whether he has shown the energy and ambition required for a run for the White House.

In interviews, several of his former Senate aides expressed surprise at suggestions by unnamed critics that their old boss might be lethargic.

"Whoever says this man is lazy never worked for him," said Bill Outhier, a former aide who recalled the campaign finance staff "working until midnight" because the senator was still in the office.