The changing of the guard in the Bush administration continued Friday with the resignation of Health and Human Services Secretary and former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson, making him the eighth Cabinet member to resign since President Bush's Nov. 2 re-election.
Thompson, who mixes conservative politics with a down-to-earth style, said he would serve until Feb. 4 unless the Senate confirmed a successor earlier.
Announcing his resignation at a news conference, he said his crowning achievement was tackling the \third rail' of politics and winning congressional approval last year of legislation to overhaul Medicare, the health insurance program for older and disabled Americans. He said he intends to seek a job in private industry but did not rule out a return to elected office. He quipped he had heard the mayor's job in his hometown of Elroy, Wis., might be opening up.
As HHS secretary, Thompson oversaw the modernization of Medicare and faced challenges ranging from anthrax attacks to America's obesity epidemic. He said Friday he is most proud of helping launch the biggest reform of Medicare since the program's inception in 1965: the addition of outpatient prescription drug benefits and broader coverage of preventive check-ups.
Bush on Friday called Thompson ""a friend and a true public servant who worked every day to make Americans healthier"" and praised his contribution in areas ranging from Medicare reform to bioterrorism preparedness.
On Capitol Hill, both U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, and U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., praised Thompson despite political differences. Baldwin noted in particular his efforts to advance stem- cell research.
In Wisconsin, Assembly Speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo, called Thompson ""the very embodiment of a public servant for the last 40 years."" While governor, Thompson turned the state into a national leader for reform and an economic powerhouse, Gard said, adding he continued to push for reform in Washington with the same kind of enthusiasm.
Some leading members of the scientific community, however, were less complimentary with Thompson's tenure in the Bush administration. Donald Kennedy, editor of Science magazine and a former president of Stanford University, said Thompson deserves no better than a C-minus grade as secretary.
""Tommy Thompson didn't know much about public health when he came in, very little at all,"" Kennedy said. ""His response to Sept. 11 and the anthrax letters was not particularly distinguished.""
Although White House officials have refused to speculate this weekend on who would be Thompson's successor, a leading candidate is Mark McClellan, a former White House policy advisor who now heads Medicare. Two politicians also are said to be interested in the job: Sen. John B. Breaux, D-La., who is retiring, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.
