A July 16 Associated Press article on former Sen. Fred Thompson's (R-TN) donation of documents to the University of Tennessee from his Senate years reported that “Thompson donated the documents four years ago when he gave up his political career in favor of acting.” But contrary to the AP's claim that “he gave up his political career,” Thompson re-registered as a Washington lobbyist after leaving the Senate, as Media Matters for America has documented, and, according to CNN.com, Thompson remained active in Washington as he “helped shepherd Chief Justice John Roberts through the Senate confirmation process and ... raised money for the defense of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff.”

An April 2 Politico article reported that in April 2004, "[a] year after stepping down, [Thompson] registered to lobby for British reinsurance company Equitas Ltd." The article added: “The company paid him $760,000 to guard its interests against several bills seeking to protect businesses from asbestos lawsuits, according to records Thompson filed with the Senate.” From The Politico:

Thompson cruised to a full Senate term in 1996 but decided not to run again in 2002. A year after stepping down, he registered to lobby for British reinsurance company Equitas Ltd.

The company paid him $760,000 to guard its interests against several bills seeking to protect businesses from asbestos lawsuits, according to records Thompson filed with the Senate.

The legislation died, and Thompson this year filed papers ending his relationship with Equitas, the only client on whose behalf Thompson registered to lobby after leaving the Senate.

The AP article continues a pattern of inaccurate reporting about Thompson's career by the news service, which reported on June 13, “If [Thompson] runs, it will be as a Washington outsider” and uncritically quoted his remark, “I often say after eight years in Washington, I longed for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood.”

By contrast, the USA Today reported in a June 7 article that while Thompson has said he intends to “run [as] an outsider,” in the words of reporter Ken Dilanian, “his résumé is that of a longtime Washington operative who has crossed ideological lines to represent corporate and foreign clients.” USA Today further reported that Thompson re-registered as a lobbyist in 2004 after having left the Senate. An article in the April 30 issue of New York Magazine similarly noted, “Critics point out that Thompson's aw-shucks, shit-kicker populism is more than a little bit phony” because “he spent eighteen years as a registered Washington lobbyist, doing the bidding of such high-powered clients as General Electric and Westinghouse, pushing for the passage of the deregulatory legislation that led to the savings-and-loan crisis of the eighties.”

From the July 16 AP article:

If one man's trash is another man's treasure, then one politician's old papers are potentially another politician's - or journalist's - gold mine.

Which explains why Republican Fred Thompson's previously little-noticed personal papers at the University of Tennessee from his eight years in the Senate are suddenly in demand as he nears a decision on a 2008 presidential run.

Thompson donated the documents four years ago when he gave up his political career in favor of acting. Academics haven't paid much attention, chief archivist Bobby Holt said, but journalists have been poring through the more than 400 boxes held by UT's Howard Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy.