Mike Thompson works on preparing the food for the event. Photo by Maile Field.

LAKEPORT – About 250 people turned out for Mike Thompson’s 16th annual ravioli feed Saturday night.

Brad Onorato, Thompson’s aide, said the annual event is an important fundraiser for the First District congressman.

Mike Thompson, D-Napa, thanked the crowd, which honored him with a standing ovation after he updated it for about 20 minutes on changes in Washington D.C.

“I’m much more excited this year at pasta time,” Thompson said, calling Congress “no longer a place where great ideas go to die.”

He briefed the audience on the latest round of Iraq bills, summarizing that “the Iraq supplemental debate isn’t over.”

Thompson said he was “cautiously optimistic” about immigration reform and said he hopes Congress will tackle the other “big issues” of health care and education before the “political nonsense of 2008” takes over.

He expressed concern that the Bush administration wants to privatize Social Security.

Thompson also spoke briefly about his recent appointment to the House Intelligence Committee, after which he was named chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Human Intelligence.

He described the meetings he attends six times a week as cloaked in secrecy in a lead room from which nothing can be removed – no notes, nothing.

“We need to be doing the right things in the right places,” he said of the intelligence work.

In recent months Thompson has worked closely with presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama on legislation to end the Iraq war. Thompson introduced the House companion bill to Obama's legislation in the Senate.

So, with Obama in the race for president, is Thompson in the running for a vice presidential nod?

In a private interview during the event Thompson denied he was on Obama’s short list for a vice presidential candidate.

E-mail Maile Field at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Thompson serves up pasta for pear packing house owners Toni and Phil Scully. Photo by Maile Field.

{mos_sb_discuss:3}