Thompson Has ‘Blown’ Donation Probe, GOP Critics Say

After months of putting others on the defensive, Fred Thompson, chairman of the Senate committee probing campaign fund-raising abuses, suddenly has found the tables turned.

The Tennessee Republican has come under blistering attack from within his own party, charged with a lack of zeal in pursuing the Democratic political-money controversy and a lack of judgment in recently calling a halt to hearings that were finally landing some blows.

Even Thompson’s hires are catching flack: Chief counsel Michael Madigan, who earned the nickname “Mad Dog” for his aggressive style as a Watergate investigator, is now dismissed by some detractors as “Poodle.”

The bashing could be dismissed if it came solely from conservative activists such as Larry Klayman, who issued a wanted poster last week with Thompson’s name at the top. Or if it existed exclusively on the pages of the Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine that asked this week: “Has Fred Thompson Blown It?” (Yes, the article answered.)

But the questions about Thompson’s performance go beyond the pundits to the senator’s own colleagues, including the man who gave Thompson the reins to the investigation in the first place--Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.).

Lott, abiding by the traditions of the sugar-coated Senate, has muted his public criticism. Behind the scenes, however, GOP leadership aides have made it clear that Lott is frustrated with Thompson’s handling of the probe. “These two guys are just not clicking,” said one aide. “Thompson is giving Lott headaches--no, make that ulcers.”

Thompson’s camp is now returning fire, saying that Lott, frustrated that Thompson is not running a partisan witch hunt, has been trying to undercut the investigation for months. They also blame Lott for negotiating the deal with the Democrats that set an end-of-the-year cutoff date for the inquiry.

“He basically wanted Thompson to be his hatchet boy and chase down the Democrats and the president,” one aide said of Lott.

The broadsides mark a dramatic turnaround for Thompson, who was selected to head the inquiry because of an image that combined a do-gooder with a dose of star appeal. But Thompson’s support for campaign finance reform is now being used against him, and his Hollywood credits--he has mixed politics with acting for years--are useless in the hardball environs of the Senate.

What Thompson brought to the hearings from the start was an above-the-fray manner that allowed Republican leaders to deflect criticism that the investigation was merely a smear campaign against Democrats. Now that same approach is considered a liability.

The hearing’s revival is set to begin Tuesday, when Thompson will call former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Harold M. Ickes, the highest-ranking witness to date and one who brings the controversy to the Oval Office. Republicans may also spend a day looking into the allegations of fund-raising improprieties involving the Teamsters and the Democratic National Committee.

After that attention-getting opening, some aides say the hearings may continue on and off until Dec. 31. Others, however, suspect that the hearings’ heyday has passed and that next week will effectively mark a shift to the House, which will launch its own fund-raising hearings on Wednesday.

Thompson’s detractors say the chairman is to blame for strategic missteps that have dulled the hearings’ impact.

Drawing particular criticism is Thompson’s recent decision to shift the focus from abuses committed during the 1996 presidential campaign to methods for reforming the system.

“That’s not what he’s supposed to be doing,” Lott told a reporter after Thompson switched gears.

Republicans are also dissatisfied with Thompson’s attempts to make the probe bipartisan, which resulted in one of their own, former GOP Chairman Haley Barbour, being grilled about his dealings with foreign money. Democrats are eager to haul Barbour, who is being investigated by a federal grand jury, before the committee again, a notion that gives Republicans heartburn.

“I’ve never seen an operation where you saw such incompetence and arrogance combined,” one Republican aide grumbled of Thompson’s shop. “The only head they have is Haley’s.”

Some have been more vocal than others in their attacks on Thompson, who is one of only a few Republicans eager to revamp the role of money in politics and wipe out the unlimited “soft-money” contributions that are at the heart of the fund-raising controversy.

Conservative commentators Rush Limbaugh, Arianna Huffington and William Safire have all skewered Thompson in recent days, questioning his commitment to the cause.

Other GOP staffers tar Thompson, first elected to the Senate in 1994, as a disloyal free spirit who has seized on the hearings as an opportunity to enhance his own political ambitions. They point out that Thompson left Washington more than once during the investigation to strut his stuff with other GOP presidential hopefuls, most recently at last week’s Anaheim gathering of California Republicans.

Thompson aides say their man is too focused on investigating to pay attention to his own political future. And they accuse Lott, also a GOP presidential hopeful, of “sheer jealousy” over all the press attention Thompson has garnered.

“There are people who don’t want any campaign finance reform, and they are whining,” said one investigator.

On the sidelines in this tiff are Senate Democrats, who have had their own tussles with Thompson and are watching the internal GOP dissent with a mixture of amusement and trepidation. They fear that Thompson may run roughshod over Democrats from here on out in an effort to appease his critics.

“It looks like these hearings may become an effort to restore Fred Thompson’s manhood,” said one Democratic aide. “Or at least salvage his dreams of being president someday.”

Times staff writer Alan C. Miller contributed to this story.