Lazy Fred? Not according to Jeff Nelligan, a former Public Affairs chief of the Government Accountability Office, which, as he states, is a legislative branch agency that provides oversight of the federal government. He has served as a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He also served as director of Washington public relations/public affairs and communications for airspace management and homeland security. He has contributed articles to publications and has his own blog that you can find at www.jeffnelligan.com. I highly recommend reading it, as he is quite a good writer, and a hilarious one too.

First, Nelligan addresses the old reputation that some have painted Thompson with. Nelligan says that:

Every profile I?ve read on Thompson contains references, by the typical unnamed coward sources, to him being ?lazy?, his Senate career lackluster, and gasp, there?s not a piece of legislation with his name on it!

His experience with Senator Thompson dates back to…

“when I was the public affairs chief for GAO, the Government Accountability Office, a legislative branch agency providing oversight of the feds. Thompson was chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, the complementary panel to GAO. It?s kind of a backwater committee, with not the visibility of say, Foreign Affairs, or Armed Services, or Appropriations. But the committee is essential to investigating the mechanics of government ? and how those gears can be made to work more efficiently.”

According to Nelligan, Thompson was a “committed back of GAO’s High Risk list, which identified agencies in the federal government that were underperforming, and/or wasting tax dollars, which he refers to as only for “serious students of government.”

Thomspon was immersed in the legislation that Nelligan considered “vital as air for those who want a Government That Works.” He says that, “Thompson was the guy who knew all these arcane, and while other members were dancing around getting headlines on the issue of the day, Thompson was grinding it out in Committee.”

Of all the members on the Hill that Nelligan had to deal with, Thompson was one of the two or three who always impressed him with being immersed in details, the guy who took on these “arcane and non-headline issues, and pursued them doggedly. Another, coincidentally enough, was Senator Joe Lieberman, ranking on the Committee and a genuine friend of Thompson?s.”

He goes on to say:

So now I hear the stories about Thompson, which are typical of 1. Opponents who want to drag him down, which is the way it works, and 2. A lazy press corps who but for a few stalwarts, didn?t cover this subject matter when Thompson was preaching at the wind. Thompson, whatever his faults, is not getting a fair shake. When you?re waxing on about OMB circulars and Clinger-Cohen?s e-billing protocols, you?re not exactly lazy or lackluster. In fact, you?re actually doing what government is supposed to be doing, which is trying to do better.

A very good op-ed piece about Thompson, in my opinion. Of course, some partisans will never be convinced, no matter what (not necessarily talking about you, Jason), but for those with an open mind for the upcoming election, maybe this will help them understand why I think Fred Thompson would be the right man for the job in many different ways.