Dems Call Out Thompson’s Stock Holdings

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson took ownership of more than $125,000 in stock earlier this month from a medical device company that’s been the subject of federal investigations.

The payment was spelled out in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing by C.R. Bard. It was shared with reporters by the state Democratic Party. The filing shows that on October 1, with the Senate campaign in full swing, Thompson received 1,200 shares of stock from C.R. Bard. As a member of the company board, these were shares that Thompson didn’t have to pay for. At the time they were offered, the shares were worth roughly $126,000.

Democratic Party Chair Mike Tate called the finding “outrageous,” and called on Thompson to resign from all corporate boards while he’s running for office, “I think somebody running for the United States Senate who may have direct influence over investigations, over any number of things involving this company is getting a payoff from these guys a month before the election. I think that’s a big deal.”

Asked Monday about the latest attack from Democrats, Thompson said it was a case of Democrats having nothing credible to offer voters, “They have no plans to attack America’s problems. The problems facing America are not stock that I own in C.R. Bard.”

The attack against Thompson’s holding in C.R. Bard is just the latest from Democrats who’ve sought to use Thompson’s business ties against him in his race against Democrat Tammy Baldwin.