The American Spectator

Yesterday testing the waters candidate Fred Thompson was interviewed by Sean Hannity for his Freedom Concert. Hannity questioned him about a recent Los Angeles Times story alleging that he lobbied the George H.W. Bush administration on behalf of a pro-choice group, the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Assn. Previously through his spokesman, Mark Corallo, Thompson intitially denied ever lobbying for the group or ever contacting then Chief of Staff John H. Sununu to lobby on behalf of loosening restrictions on a rule that barred abortion counseling at clinics receiving federal funds. When informed there were written board minutes of the group which appeared to confirm engagement of Thompson as its counsel, Corallo indicated that Thompson had no recollection of the lobbying effort. In his interview with Hannity yesterday, Thompson at first distinguished between a lawyer and his client, contending he represented many types of clients in his 35 years of law practice. Then he made this statement: " I called Sununu. I said 'You remember this?' He said 'No.' And that was the end of that." Contacted last night Corallo denied, despite Thompson's on air comments, that Thompson had called Sununu to compare memory and/or question Sununu's recollection. Corallo did not respond when pressed as to what Thompson then meant by his remark to Hannity. Corallo did confirm that Thompson denied lobbying Sununu or for that matter anyone at the White House.