Monthly Archives: October 2008

The Latest from Tommy Thompson

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Dan Slater:

Enter Akin Gump partner Tommy Thompson — the former Wisconsin governor, former secretary of Health and Human Services and former presidential hopeful. Yesterday, Thompson was officially named independent counsel for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s newly created Safety and Integrity Alliance. According to a press release, Thompson will lead a team that will monitor the reform program and provide annual progress reports.

The Law Blog recently spoke to the 66 year-old Thompson to talk about politics, ponies and his new gig.

Why were you the man for the job?

I was the secretary of Health and Human Services, and was there when 9/11 and all those other things had to be taken care of. I was responsible for the FDA. I was governor for 15 years. I’m a farmer. I had an interest in Flashy Bull. I’ve been passionate about horse racing. Plus, My law firm, Akin Gump, does this kind of work. We’ve done it for the NFL in the past, and for all kinds of investigations into government.

Horse racing….

Judge Tosses TDS Lawsuit Against Minnesota Municipal Fiber Optic Project

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Nate Anderson:

When the 12,000 person city of Monticello, Minnesota voted overwhelmingly to put in a city-owned and -operated fiber-optic network that would link up all homes and business to a fast Internet pipe, the local telco sued to stop them. Wednesday, District Court Judge Jonathan Jasper dismissed the suit with prejudice after finding that the city was well within its rights to build the network by issuing municipal bonds. In this case, however, a total loss for the telco might actually turn out to be a perverse sort of victory.
The judge’s ruling, a copy of which was seen by Ars Technica, is noteworthy for two things: (1) the judge’s complete dismissal of Bridgewater Telephone Company’s complaint and (2) his obvious anger at the underfunding of Minnesota’s state courts. Indeed, the longest footnote in the opinion is an extended jeremiad about how much work judges are under and why it took so long to decide this case, even going so far as to cite approvingly a newspaper editorial backing more funds for the court.
Bridgewater’s basic complaint was that cities in Minnesota are not allowed to use bonds in order to offer data services to residents, because they lack the necessary authority. State statute says that such bonds may be issued for a host of projects (sewers, stadia, playgrounds, and “homes for aged,” among others), and they can more generally be used to fund “other public conveniences.” But is Internet access a “public convenience”?

More here.

Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold on the $700,000,000,000 bailout, or Splurge

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Via email:

Thank you for contacting me to share your thoughts on the administration’s proposal to purchase up to $700 billion of bad mortgage debt. I very much appreciated hearing from you.
I opposed the bailout plan passed by Congress, because though well intentioned, and certainly much improved over the administration’s original proposal, it remained deeply flawed. It failed to offset the cost of the plan, leaving taxpayers to bear the burden of serious lapses of judgment by private financial institutions, their regulators, and the enablers in Washington who paved the way for this catastrophe by removing the safeguards that had protected consumers and the economy since the great depression. Second, this bill did not include meaningful provisions to help families facing foreclosure. This is more than just a matter of fairness – the housing crisis is the root cause of the credit market collapse, and unless we address it, any rescue package is far less likely to work. Finally, the measure failed to address the deeply flawed regulatory structure that paved the way for this crisis. Taxpayers deserve a plan that puts their concerns ahead of those who got us into this mess.
Again, thank you for contacting me. Please feel free to do so again in the future.

Much more on the splurge, here.