Tommy G. Thompson has dedicated
his life and career to public service, first as a state lawmaker from his
hometown of Elroy, Wisconsin, followed by an unprecedented four terms as
Governor of Wisconsin and four years as the Secretary of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services.
As Governor of Wisconsin from 1987 to 2001, Thompson repeatedly cut taxes
while holding the line on state spending. Under Thompson, Wisconsin led
the nation in moving tens of thousands of families off of the dependence
on a welfare check to the independence of a paycheck. He removed
government from the schoolhouse door for thousands of minority students in
Milwaukee by allowing them to choose where they go to school – no matter
where they live or how much money their families earn. He gave
hard-working families access to affordable health care by expanding
coverage to tens of thousands hard-working families who lacked insurance
but made too much money to qualify for government health programs.
Thompson took that willingness to innovate and ability to get things done
to Washington as the Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2001 to
2005. Thompson led the way in rebuilding our nation’s crumbling public
health infrastructure after 9/11. He worked tirelessly to provide
prescription drug coverage to our nation’s seniors once and for all. And
as Chairman of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, he
was the driving force in America’s unprecedented investment to stop the
spread of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria around the world.
Thompson, now a senior partner in a law firm and heading a health care
think tank, announced in December that he formed an exploratory committee
as he considers a run for President in 2008.
Thompson was born in Elroy, Wisconsin, where his father ran a gas station
and country grocery store. He and his wife Sue Ann have three children –
Kelli, Tommi and Jason – and five grandchildren.
