Ed Thompson, brother of former Gov. Tommy Thompson, Libertarian candidate for governor in 2002, and mayor of Tomah, Wis., visited Memorial Union Thursday. The Daily Cardinal had a chance to conduct a short interview with Thompson about his political history, his views and his famous brother.
What encouraged you to run for governor?
What inspired me to run was, the supper club I own in Tomah was raided for four video poker machines and 43 taverns in the county were raided at the same time, directed by Attorney General James Doyle, and I was furious about it and I fought it in court, but they couldn't find enough people for a nonbiased jury and they had to throw it out. And I thought, if they can raid taverns for something as insignificant as nickel machines, I'm going to get involved in this. And so I worked very hard to get the law changed ... and brought it about and then I ran for mayor of the city of Tomah ... and I won. I was planning on being there for a while and then Tommy moved on to Washington, D.C., with President Bush, and I'm so sick of the Republicrats that I thought it was time to make a move.
In addition to gambling, do you have any other issues that you feel strongly about?
I feel very strongly about the incredibly failed war on drugs that we're wasting so much money on. ... We're spending half a billion dollars a year on building prisons, keeping nonviolent people. ... It's time that we take a hard, serious look at the nonviolent people in prisons and get them out.
What kind of a role do you expect your brother to play in your administration, if any?
None. Absolutely none. Tommy's a Republican and he'll die a Republican. I love him as a brother and I'm sure if I wanted advice on anything I could go that route, but I haven't asked him for advice in the last 56 years. I don't know why I'd start now.
