lily
11-05-2007, 12:16 AM
Unless Martin is selling drugs to pay for this private plane that Thompson is flying around on......I say 20+years ago is long enough to rehabilitate and make something of yourself. Let it go, who really cares? (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/03/AR2007110301153.html?hpid=topnews)
Thompson Adviser Has Criminal Past
By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 4, 2007; Page A01
Republican presidential candidate Fred D. Thompson has been crisscrossing
the country since early this summer on a private jet lent to him by a
businessman and close adviser who has a criminal record for drug dealing.
Thompson selected the businessman, Philip Martin, to raise seed money for
his White House bid. Martin is one of four campaign co-chairmen and the head
of a group called the "first day founders." Campaign aides jokingly began to
refer to Martin, who has been friends with Thompson since the early 1990s,
as the head of "Thompson's Airforce."
Thompson's frequent flights aboard Martin's twin-engine Cessna 560 Citation
have saved him more than $100,000, because until the law changed in
September, campaign-finance rules allowed presidential candidates to
reimburse private jet owners for just a fraction of the true cost of
flights.
Martin entered a plea of guilty to the sale of 11 pounds of marijuana in
1979; the court withheld judgment pending completion of his probation. He
was charged in 1983 with violating his probation and with multiple counts of
felony bookmaking, cocaine trafficking and conspiracy. He pleaded no contest
to the cocaine-trafficking and conspiracy charges, which stemmed from a plan
to sell $30,000 worth of the drug, and was continued on probation.
Thompson's campaign said the candidate was not aware of the multiple
criminal cases, for which Martin served no jail time. All are described in
public court records.
Karen Hanretty, Thompson's deputy communications director, said yesterday
that "Senator Thompson was unaware of the information until this afternoon.
Phil Martin has been a friend of the senator since the mid-1990s and remains
so today." Thompson communications director Todd Harris added that Martin
was not subjected to the campaign's standard vetting process because "he's a
longtime friend."
"There's not a campaign in the world that has the ability to research every
one of its supporters going back more than 20 years," Harris said.
Martin could not be reached in the past week, and lawyers for him in
Tennessee and Florida declined to comment on the criminal cases. Hanretty
said she forwarded detailed questions from The Washington Post to Martin
yesterday afternoon.
Martin, 49, is one of several top political fundraisers with a criminal past
to gain access this year to a presidential contender. Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton decided in September to return more than $800,000 raised by Norman
Hsu, one of her top bundlers, after newspapers disclosed that he had been
convicted of fraud and had an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
Martin has been more than just a key fundraiser to Thompson, though. The use
of his plane eases a major logistical burden stemming from the intense
demands on presidential candidates this year for appearances in more than 20
states holding early primaries. It also may have saved the campaign at least
$120,000, given that Federal Election Commission rules allowed Thompson to
reimburse Martin for the use of the private jet at the commercial ticket
rate until Congress changed the rules in September.
Thompson has reported reimbursing Martin $102,330, without specifying
precisely where he flew on the plane, or when. But a comparison of flight
records for the plane, kept by the tracking firm FlightAware, and news
accounts of Thompson's campaign appearances this year shows that since June
the plane has made more than two dozen stops that coincided with Thompson
campaign events.
Thompson Adviser Has Criminal Past
By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 4, 2007; Page A01
Republican presidential candidate Fred D. Thompson has been crisscrossing
the country since early this summer on a private jet lent to him by a
businessman and close adviser who has a criminal record for drug dealing.
Thompson selected the businessman, Philip Martin, to raise seed money for
his White House bid. Martin is one of four campaign co-chairmen and the head
of a group called the "first day founders." Campaign aides jokingly began to
refer to Martin, who has been friends with Thompson since the early 1990s,
as the head of "Thompson's Airforce."
Thompson's frequent flights aboard Martin's twin-engine Cessna 560 Citation
have saved him more than $100,000, because until the law changed in
September, campaign-finance rules allowed presidential candidates to
reimburse private jet owners for just a fraction of the true cost of
flights.
Martin entered a plea of guilty to the sale of 11 pounds of marijuana in
1979; the court withheld judgment pending completion of his probation. He
was charged in 1983 with violating his probation and with multiple counts of
felony bookmaking, cocaine trafficking and conspiracy. He pleaded no contest
to the cocaine-trafficking and conspiracy charges, which stemmed from a plan
to sell $30,000 worth of the drug, and was continued on probation.
Thompson's campaign said the candidate was not aware of the multiple
criminal cases, for which Martin served no jail time. All are described in
public court records.
Karen Hanretty, Thompson's deputy communications director, said yesterday
that "Senator Thompson was unaware of the information until this afternoon.
Phil Martin has been a friend of the senator since the mid-1990s and remains
so today." Thompson communications director Todd Harris added that Martin
was not subjected to the campaign's standard vetting process because "he's a
longtime friend."
"There's not a campaign in the world that has the ability to research every
one of its supporters going back more than 20 years," Harris said.
Martin could not be reached in the past week, and lawyers for him in
Tennessee and Florida declined to comment on the criminal cases. Hanretty
said she forwarded detailed questions from The Washington Post to Martin
yesterday afternoon.
Martin, 49, is one of several top political fundraisers with a criminal past
to gain access this year to a presidential contender. Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton decided in September to return more than $800,000 raised by Norman
Hsu, one of her top bundlers, after newspapers disclosed that he had been
convicted of fraud and had an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
Martin has been more than just a key fundraiser to Thompson, though. The use
of his plane eases a major logistical burden stemming from the intense
demands on presidential candidates this year for appearances in more than 20
states holding early primaries. It also may have saved the campaign at least
$120,000, given that Federal Election Commission rules allowed Thompson to
reimburse Martin for the use of the private jet at the commercial ticket
rate until Congress changed the rules in September.
Thompson has reported reimbursing Martin $102,330, without specifying
precisely where he flew on the plane, or when. But a comparison of flight
records for the plane, kept by the tracking firm FlightAware, and news
accounts of Thompson's campaign appearances this year shows that since June
the plane has made more than two dozen stops that coincided with Thompson
campaign events.