Ed Thompson

==Background==
* Libertarian
* Elected Mayor in Tomah, Wisconsin
* Brother of Tommy Thompson
* listed as a possible candidate for US President in 2008
==Issues==
===Ed's Views on Important Wisconsin Issues===
====The Courage to Lead and Win====
Ed Thompson has the grassroots closeness to people, down-to-earth common sense, and the dynamic vision to meet the challenges facing Wisconsin. Ed's courage and willingness to stand up to machine politicians and powerful special interests will help him steer Wisconsin to a remarkable rebirth. A veteran, a mayor, a successful small business person, and the father of four incredibly talented children, Ed Thompson is the best candidate to lead Wisconsin.
[top] Slashing Your Tax Bills Comes First
With Ed Thompson as governor, you can count on having more of what is rightfully yours - more control of your own money through lower property and state taxes. For too long Wisconsin has been one of the most taxing states in America. Ed will get Wisconsin off the Top Ten List of most taxing states and keep us off that terrible list. Of all the candidates wanting to be your next governor, only Ed Thompson believes that you are smart enough to make decisions for your own life and the lives of those you love. With Ed as your governor, you will have more control of your own money. You will have more control over the quality of your children's education through increased school choice and readily available education tax credits. More control in protecting your health and the health of your love ones through medical savings accounts. More control over your environment by restoring the right of property owners to prosecute any polluter under trespass, nuisance, and negligence laws. And you will have more control of your streets as Ed reforms the criminal justice system to focus on violent criminals and those who prey on the weak.
As part of Ed's efforts to hear what's on the minds of voters, he spent a day listening to Wisconsin dairy farmers at the state fair
===Let the Sun Shine in Dark Corners of State Government===
There's a new light shining on the horizon in the form of Ed Thompson. When Ed ran to be Mayor of Tomah, he promised to open up government, giving the people more access to their own government. He opened up City Hall, even bringing cameras in to cover city council proceedings. As governor, you can count on Ed to open up the budget process to more public scrutiny and to fight the dark recesses of the caucus system where laws about you are crafted in secret.
[top] Reform Public Education, Don't Just Throw Money At It
Only Ed Thompson has the courage to stand up to the powerful special interests that have been harming public education. He will increase standards and accountability while decreasing state over-regulation and bureaucracy so you can improve your public schools.
=== Empower Families With School Choice===
Ed will lead the fight to expand charter school programs and make private school options affordable for families. His opponents are afraid of the special interests that oppose parents having school choice. Ed fights for what's right.
===Clean Air and Water is Vital===
Ed Thompson believes that pollution is a trespass and should be treated as such. Thus the person or corporation that would do harm to your land, air or water - not the taxpayer - should be the one who has to clean up the mess and make things right. This point of view comes from a healthy understanding of private property rights and the ancient principle of trespass. Nobody has the right to take away the value of their neighbors' property by causing pollution. Ed will make polluters pay, not the hard-working citizens of Wisconsin.
===Safer Streets Demand Real Reform===
Ed's concern for seniors is always sincere: here at a Habitat for Humanity construction site.
Wisconsin spends too much on prisons. When a Wisconsin Public Television journalist pointed out to Ed that his brother built most of the new prisons, Ed pointedly replied, "I don't care who built them, it's wrong!" Unjust and racially biased enforcement of drug laws are doing more harm than good when it comes to this important health-related issue. Many of the people crowding prisons are there for nonviolent drug offenses: people who didn't hurt anybody else. Yet at the same time, with mandatory minimum sentencing madness, rapists, murderers and thieves are going free with less time served. Ed believes this is just plain stupid and that prisons are for people who would do harm to you and the people you love, or who would take from you and your family those things you've worked so hard to earn. Taxpayers would save billions of dollars and citizens would better be able to seek therapy if nonviolent drug offenses were removed from the criminal justice system and the priority placed on those who do harm to you and your loved ones.
===Taking Politicians Out of Your Private Medical Choices===
When it comes to your medical decisions, only you and your healthcare provider should be involved in deciding what's best to restore your health. Ed believes that allowing sick and suffering patients to use medical marijuana in consultation with their own physicians is right. The people of Wisconsin support this measure. In fact, the people all across America support this measure. In every single jurisdiction - from Maine to California - where the issue was placed before the voters, the people have said that the right to chose medications and therapies belongs in the hands of doctors and patients, not politicians and bureaucrats.
[top] Alternatives to Handouts for Our Noble Farm Families
Wisconsin's farmers built the backbone of this state. Ed doesn't believe they should be slaves to bureaucrats and politicians, begging for handouts. They should be given more freedom to respond to the market place. That includes industrial hemp production, which offers an incredible opportunity for Wisconsin farmers to raise a profitable, environmentally friendly cash crop that would help to free them from the dependence on subsidies distributed at the whims of politicians. This plant offers a great opportunity for paper production, fabrics that can compete with cotton and linen, and oils for both industrial and health value. The federal government has already granted waivers to Hawaii, and Ed will pursue them for Wisconsin's farmers.
===Slashing Regulations===
Thousands of regulations are strangling Wisconsin's small businesses. Only Ed Thompson seems to recognize that small businesses offer you and I the best hope for growing our economy and providing good jobs. Ed will slash regulations, making it easier for small businesses to thrive and grow. 
==Details==
====Ed Thompson knocks off incumbent in hotly contested Tomah, Wisconsin mayor's race====
Ed Thompson won the mayor seat in Tomah, Wisconsin. His brother, Tommy Thompson, is a four-term
Republican governor of Wisconsin.
====A Wisconsin city has elected a Libertarian mayor with a unique pedigree: He's the governor's brother.====
In the city of Tomah's most closely watched election in
years, political newcomer Ed Thompson defeated two-term
Mayor Bud Johnson in an April 4 runoff election by a margin
of 58-42%.
Thompson, 55, swept to victory following his unexpectedly
strong first-place finish in a four-candidate primary on
February 14. Both elections drew near-record turnout.
"The people of Tomah came out, and it was a great victory,"
Thompson said. 
Thompson, who owns a restaurant/tavern in Tomah, went into
the race with a big asset: Name recognition. His older
brother is the state's four-term Governor Tommy Thompson.
"It didn't hurt having (the governor) for my brother,"
Thompson admitted.
Tommy Thompson, a Republican, did not campaign for his
brother, but said he was pleased with Thompson's win.
"I'm the mayor's brother now," Gov. Thompson joked. "I'm
very pleased with his showing and looking forward to working
with him."
It was no surprise to the new mayor that the governor didn't
campaign for him, Thompson said, since they come from
different parties.
"The contest for mayor was nonpartisan, but everybody knows
I'm a Libertarian," he said. "We're for liberty and freedom,
and when that message gets out to people, that's good."
To win his upset victory, Thompson ran a [[retail, populist
campaign]], he said. He drove around the city meeting with
voters, shaking hands, and talking about his plans: Tax
cuts, and reducing the city's debt, which amounts to $4,000
for every man, woman, and child.
"I ran because government here is out of control," he said. "We're spending way too much money, and we need to get interested people involved in every level of government."
Thompson also ran on an issue where he has personal experience with government power: Gambling. Thompson's Tee Pee Tavern and Restaurant was raided by police in December 1997, and he was charged with operating three nickel-slot video gambling machines. The cops seized the machines and also took $1,000 from the cash register.
Thompson successfully fought felony charges of running an illegal gambling operation, but said he spent over $10,000 fighting the charges.
Until then, he said he was happy to leave politics to his brother. But his outrage over the raid -- and the state's "unjust" gambling laws -- convinced him to become a Libertarian.
"I was never interested in politics until the raid," he said. "But after that, I could never again with any respect call myself a Democrat or Republican. I figured that was the time for me to get involved."
He spent much of the next year lobbying for gambling legalization, and said he met every member of the state legislature. Thompson, who joined the LP as a life member in 1998, was honored for his efforts with the Wisconsin LP's Liberty Award in 1999.
Now, as mayor, Thompson plans to continue to challenge the state's "protected monopoly" on gambling for Indian reservations, which is a "deep injustice to taverns," he said.
On a personal level, what can Tomah residents expect from their new mayor?
Based on his past, Mayor Thompson will be less like his brother and more like the governor of the state next door, Minnesota's Jesse Ventura. The flamboyant Thompson has been a professional poker player on the Las Vegas strip, driven a snow plow, and done a stint as a prison chef.
And while he's never been a pro wrestler like Ventura, he has been a professional boxer.
So will Thompson ever seek to replicate Ventura's political success -- and try to become the next Governor Thompson?
"My aspirations are not higher than mayor right now," he said. "I just want to do a good job here, and we'll see what happens after that."
:source: LP News Online, June 2000
==Update ==
In 2002, Ed Thompson did run for Governor of Wisconsin. He earned an impressive 183,000 votes, or almost 11% of the vote statewide. Thompson had a 39% approval rating, better than McCallum (35%) and better than Doyle as he began his first term (37%). Ed Thompson's disapproval rating (39%) was also lower than that of his primary opponents, McCallum (55%) and Doyle (45%).
== Elsewhere ==
Ed Thompson's politcal site
Thompson,Ed