Bush cabinet secretary seeks meeting with dead Senator

Michael Roston

Published: Friday June 8, 2007 Print This Email This

A member of President George W. Bush's cabinet sought a private meeting with Senator Craig Thomas of Wyoming on Thursday afternoon, according to a blog entry at the Washington Post. Thomas passed away on Monday night from complications related to leukemia.

"Maybe Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and his staff are just in denial. Or maybe they don't read the papers, thus missing the sad news that Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) died Monday, seven months after he was diagnosed with leukemia," wrote Mary Ann Akers at her blog 'The Sleuth.' "Whatever the case, Leavitt's office called Thomas's office late Thursday afternoon to request a meeting with the late senator."

Akers shared the text of an e-mail written by a member of Senator Thomas's staff after receiving the request.

"Oh yeah, note to Secretary Levitt's [sic] office: Senator Thomas passed on Monday, 4 June. You may want to pass that along to his staff especially after they called today to get a meeting with the late Senator," the Thomas staffer wrote.

A spokesman for the late Thomas, Cameron Hardy, explained that HHS was probably following up on an earlier request to meet with the Wyoming Republican.

"HHS was following up with us because they hadn't heard from us since early May," Akers reports him saying.

The full entry can be read at Akers' blog.



