Inside Washington 2014 - The Washington Center

Transcription

Inside Washington 2014
Exploring Bipartisan Solutions presented in partnership with
January 5–11, 2014 | Washington, D.C.
Politics and the Media presented in partnership with
January 12–18, 2014 | Washington, D.C.
Academic Seminar Handbook Addendum
Table of Contents
Academic Seminar Agenda ............................................................................................................................... 3
Speaker Biographies and Site Profiles........................................................................................................... 15
Week Two: Politics and the Media................................................................................................................ 26
Solutions Group Assignments ....................................................................................................................... 45
2 The Washington Center • Inside Washington 2014 | Addendum
Academic Seminar Agenda
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Check into Washington Center Housing by 6:00 p.m.
Evening Meeting with Student Services Staff at 7:00 p.m.
Monday, January 6, 2014
8:15 a.m.
Academic Seminar Check-In (for late arrivals and those not staying in TWC Housing)
The Washington Center – Residence and Academic Facility at NoMa
1005 3rd ST NE, P1 Level Lounge
Washington, D.C.
8:30 a.m.
Academic Seminar Begins
P1 Level – Blinken Auditorium
8:40 a.m.
Ice-Breaker Activity
9:05 a.m.
Welcome to “Inside Washington 2014: Exploring Bipartisan Solutions”
Kelly Eaton, Ph.D. - Senior Vice President & Chief Academic Officer
The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars
9:10 a.m.
Introduction of Academic Seminar Staff
Kevin Nunley – Managing Director – Academic Internships, Academic Seminars, Federal
Relations and Student Services
Tony Cerise – Director of Academic Seminars – Academic Seminars
Patricia Guidetti – Senior Program Manager – Academic Seminars
Danielle Samsingh – Program Assistant – Academic Seminars
James Liska – Program Assistant – Academic Seminars
Ann Reynolds – Senior Academic Program Advisor
9:20 a.m.
Schedule Overview
Tony Cerise – Director of Academic Seminars – Inside Washington 2014
9:35 a.m.
Academic Framework
Alan Grose, Ph.D. – Director of Academic Affairs
9:40 a.m.
Exploring Bipartisan Solutions Project
9:45 a.m.
Introduction of Seminar Faculty
Nancy Cade, Ph.D. – University of Pikeville
Kristine Glynn, M.A. – Suffolk University
Anthony Moretti, Ph.D. – Robert Morris University
Cameron Morgan, M.A. – Elon University
Dennis Plane, Ph.D. – Juniata College
Borjan Savic, Ph.D. – Elon University
Merle Treusch, M.A. – Kean University
Michael Williams, Ph.D. – University of San Diego
9:55 a.m.
Introduction of Faculty Director
10:00 a.m.
Exploring Bipartisan Solutions
Meena Bose, Ph.D. – Faculty Director
Director, Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency
Peter S. Kalikow Chair in Presidential Studies - Professor of Political Science
Hofstra University
10:40 a.m.
Introduction to the Bipartisan Policy Center
Jason Grumet
Founder and President, Bipartisan Policy Center
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Bipartisan Policy Center’s Commission on Political Reform
Eric Larson – Moderator
Policy Analyst
Democracy Project, Commission on Political Reform
Bipartisan Policy Center
Secretary Dan Glickman
Senior Fellow
Former Secretary of Agriculture
Senator Robert Bennett
Senior Fellow & Commission on Political Reform
Former U.S. Senator (R-UT)
12:30–2:30 p.m.
Lunch (on your own) and Small Group Meetings
2:30–4:00 p.m.
Solutions Group Discussions
4:00–7:00 p.m.
Bus Tour of Washington D.C.
Bus Departs from RAF at NoMa
Stops will include:*
United States Marine Corps (Iwo Jima) Memorial
Korean War Veterans Memorial
Abraham Lincoln Memorial
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
World War II Memorial
Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
Drive by West Front of The United States Capitol
*Tour is limited to three hours. The ability to see all scheduled stops is subject to traffic, weather conditions,
unpredictable site closures, and timely boarding of buses at scheduled stops.
6:50 p.m.
Bus drops off at Union Station (Red Line Metro Station and food court)
7:00 p.m.
Bus drops off at RAF
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
8:30 a.m.
Morning Business/Framing the Issues
Hofstra University
9:00 a.m.
Grover Norquist
President
Americans for Tax Reform
10:00 a.m.
Realizing the Dream – The Fair Immigration Reform Movement
Tolu Olubunmi
Senior Policy Analyst
Center for Community Change
11:00 a.m.
Small Group Discussions
11:45 a.m.
Lunch (on your own)
12:30–2:00 p.m.
Energy & Environment Panel
Margot Anderson - Moderator
Executive Director
The Energy Project
Todd Foley
Senior Vice President, Policy & Government Relations
American Council on Renewable Energy
Kathryn Clay, Ph.D.
Executive Director
American Gas Foundation
David Conover
Senior Vice President
Grayling
Christopher Guith
Vice President for Policy
Institute for 21st Century Energy
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
2:00-6:00 p.m.
Solutions Group and Site Visits
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
8:30 a.m.
Hofstra University
9:00 a.m.
The Federal Budget – Financing The American Dream
Governor Howard Dean
Founder – Democracy for America
Former Chairman – Democratic National Committee
Former Presidential Candidate
Former Governor of Vermont
10:00 a.m.
Energy Exploration and the Environment – Finding a Balance
Erik Milito
Group Director, Upstream and Industry Operations
American Petroleum Institute
11:00 a.m.
11:45 a.m.
Lunch (on your own)
12:30–2:00 p.m.
The Federal Budget – Financing The American Dream
Shai Akabas – Moderator
Associate Director of Economic Policy, Economic Policy Project
G. William Hoagland
Senior Vice President, Bipartisan Policy Center
Sam Gilman
Co-Founder and President, Common Sense Action
Belle Sawhill
Co-Director, Center on Children and Families, Budgeting for National Priorities
Senior Fellow, Economic Studies
The Brookings Institution
2:00–5:00 p.m.
6:00–8:00 p.m.
Reception
The Bipartisan Policy Center
1225 I St. NW; 10th Floor
Washington, DC
6:30 p.m.
Welcome
Michael B. Smith
President
Jason Grumet
Founder and President
Senior Fellow
Thursday, January 9, 2014
8:30 a.m.
Hofstra University
9:00 a.m.
David Inserra
Research Assistant, National Security and Cyber Security
The Heritage Foundation
10:00 a.m.
Getting there is Half the Battle… Maximizing the Use of Our Natural Resources
Lt. Col. Joseph Kopser
Chief Executive Officer
Ridescout
11:00 a.m.
11:45 a.m.
Lunch (on your own)
12:30–2:00 p.m.
The Path to Immigration Reform
Ben Ludwig - Moderator
Legislative Assistant, Bipartisan Policy Center Advocacy Network
Randy Johnson
Senior Vice President, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Greg Chen
Director of Advocacy, American Immigration Lawyers Association
Angie Kelley
Vice President, Immigration Policy, Center for American Progress
Congressman John Shadegg
Immigration Task Force, Bipartisan Policy Center
Former Member of Congress (R-AZ-3)
2:00-6:00 p.m.
Friday, January 10, 2014
8:30 a.m.
Hofstra University
9:00 a.m.
Solutions Group Presentation
Financing The American Dream – How Our Budget Reflects Our Values
10 minute Progressive Viewpoint
10 minute Conservative Viewpoint
10 minute Exploration of Bipartisan Solution
10 Minute Q&A
9:40 a.m.
Finding Fair and Comprehensive Immigration reform
10 Minute Q&A
10:20 a.m.
Finding the Balance – Energy Exploration and Environment
10 Minute Q&A
11:00 a.m.
Bipartisanship, The Path Forward
Senator Tom Daschle
Founder
12:00 p.m.
Lunch (on your own)
1:00 p.m.
Closing Remarks
1:30 p.m.
Seminar Wrap Up
Tony Cerise – Director of Academic Seminars
2:30–5:00 p.m.
Lunch (on your own), Small Groups, and Independent Exploration
Saturday, January 11, 2014
No Programming Scheduled
Week 1 only participants must check out of Washington Center housing by 12:00 p.m.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Check into Washington Center Housing by 6:00 p.m.
Evening Meeting with Student Services Staff at 7:00 p.m. for Second week Students
Monday, January 13, 2014
8:15 a.m.
Seminar Check-In (for late arrivals and those not staying in TWC Housing)
1005 3rd ST NE, P1 Level Lounge
Washington, D.C.
8:30 a.m.
Seminar Begins
1005 3rd ST NE, P1 Level – Blinken Auditorium
Washington, D.C.
8:40 a.m.
Ice-Breaker Activity
9:05 a.m.
Welcome to “Inside Washington 2014: “Politics and the Media”
Kelly Eaton, Ph.D. - Senior Vice President & Chief Academic Officer
9:10 a.m.
Introduction of Seminar Staff
Kevin Nunley – Managing Director – Academic Internships, Academic Seminars, Federal
Relations and Student Services
Tony Cerise – Director of Academic Seminars – Academic Seminars
Patricia Guidetti – Senior Program Manager – Academic Seminars
Danielle Samsingh – Program Assistant – Academic Seminars
James Liska – Program Assistant – Academic Seminars
9:20 a.m.
Schedule Overview
9:35 a.m.
Academic Framework
Alan Grose, Ph.D. – Director of Academic Affairs
9:40 a.m.
Introduction of Seminar Faculty
Eric Belokon, Ph.D. – Miami-Dade Honors College
Carmen Bucher, M.A. – Miami Dade Honors College
Nancy Cade, Ph.D. – University of Pikeville
Kristine Glynn, M.A. – Suffolk University
Anthony Moretti, Ph.D. – Robert Morris University
Cameron Morgan, M.A. – Elon University
Dennis Plane, Ph.D. – Juniata College
Christopher Robichaud, Ph.D. – Harvard University
Borjan Savic, Ph.D. – Elon University
Merle Treusch, M.A. – Kean University
Michael Williams, Ph.D. – University of San Diego
10:00 a.m.
Politics and the Media
Steven L. Scully, M.S. – Faculty Director
Senior Executive Producer and Political Editor
Host – Washington Journal
C-SPAN
11:00 a.m.
The 2014 Midterms, The Road to the White House 2016 and New Media Politics
Betsy Fischer Martin
Senior Executive Producer and Managing Editor
NBC News Political Programming
NBC News
Michael Steele
Former Chairman
Republican National Committee
Former Lt. Governor
Maryland
Adam Sharp
Director, Government & Politics
Twitter
Chris Cillizza
Editor – the Fix
Reporter – The Washington Post
12:00–5:00 p.m.
Lunch (on your own) Small Group Meetings & Site Visits
2:00–5:00 p.m.
Bus Tour of Washington D.C. (Week 2 Participants Only)
Bus Departs from RAF at NoMa
Stops will include:*
 United States Marine Corps (Iwo Jima) Memorial
 Korean War Veterans Memorial
 Abraham Lincoln Memorial
 Vietnam Veterans Memorial
 World War II Memorial
 Thomas Jefferson Memorial
 Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
 Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
 Drive by West Front of The United States Capitol
*Tour is limited to three hours. The ability to see all scheduled stops is subject to traffic, weather conditions,
unpredictable site closures, and timely boarding of buses at scheduled stops.
4:50 p.m.
5:00 p.m.
5:00 p.m.
Bus drops off at Union Station (Red Line Metro Station and food court)
Bus drops off at RAF
Dinner (on your own)
7:30 p.m.
A Conversation with Justice Stephen Breyer
Pete Williams
Justice Correspondent, NBC News
The Honorable Stephen G. Breyer
Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
8:30 a.m.
C-SPAN
The Media and The United States Senate
Presented by:
9:00 a.m.
Norman Ornstein - Moderator
Resident Scholar
American Enterprise Institute
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) (Invited)
(To be determined by legislative calendar)
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) (Invited)
(To be determined by legislative calendar)
10:30 a.m.
Covering Congress is it “The Broken Branch”
Tom Mann - Moderator
Senior Fellow, Governance Studies
Brookings Institution
Kelly O’Donnell
Chief Congressional Reporter
NBC News
Lorelei Kelly
Research Fellow
Open Technology Initiative
New America Foundation
Bob Cusack
Managing Editor
The Hill
Ed O’Keefe
Congressional Reporter
The Washington Post
12:00–5:00 p.m.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
8:30 a.m.
C-SPAN
9:00 a.m.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL-23)
Chair
Democratic National Committee
9:00 a.m.
Reince Priebus
Chair
10:00 a.m.
“The ’14 Mid-Term Elections: Balance of Power in the House & Senate
Stu Rothenberg
Editor & Publisher
Rothenberg Political Report
Nathan Gonzales
Deputy Editor
11:00 a.m.
From Kennedy & Nixon to Obama & Romney – Stories from the Campaign Trail by
the “Boys on the Bus”
Tom DeFrank
Contributor
National Journal
Roger Simon
Columnist
Politico
12:00–5:00 p.m.
6:00–9:00 p.m.
Reception
The National Press Club
529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor
Washington D.C. 20045
7:05 p.m.
Welcome
7:15 p.m.
“Reporting from The White House…”
Major Garrett
Chief White House Correspondent
CBS News
Thursday, January 16, 2014
8:30 a.m.
C-SPAN
8:40 a.m.
Martha Kumar
Professor of Political Science
Towson University
9:15 a.m.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL-27)
Chair
Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia
10:00 a.m.
Press & the Presidency: A View from the West Wing”
Bill Plante – Moderator
Senior White House Correspondent
CBS News
Dee Dee Myers
Former White House Press Secretary
Clinton Administration
Tony Fratto
Deputy Press Secretary
George W. Bush Administration
Josh Earnest
Principal Deputy Press Secretary
The White House
11:00 a.m.
Getting the inside story on Congress & Washington
Candy Crowley
Chief Political Correspondent
Anchor – “State of the Union”
CNN
12:00–5:00 p.m.
Friday, January 17, 2014
8:30 a.m.
C-SPAN
9:00 a.m.
Money and American Politics
Fred Wertheimer
Founder
Democracy 21
10:00 a.m.
Presidents & First Ladies: From the Campaign Trail to The White House – Lessons
from Residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Michael Beschloss
Presidential Historian and Author
11:00 a.m.
The Rise of Politico in America’s 21st Century Information Revolution
John F. Harris
Editor in Chief
Politico
12:00 p.m.
Closing Remarks
Steve Scully, M.A. – Faculty Director
12:30 p.m.
Seminar Wrap Up
Tony Cerise – Director of Academic Seminars
1:00–5:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
No Programming Scheduled
Participants must check out of Washington Center housing by 12:00 p.m.
Speaker Biographies and Site Profiles
Jason Grumet
Founder and President
Jason Grumet is founder and
president of the Bipartisan Policy
Center (BPC). Throughout his
career, Grumet has worked at the
intersection of policy and politics.
In 2007, with the leadership of
former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker,
Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell, he
founded BPC to develop and promote bipartisan
solutions to the country’s most difficult public policy
challenges. From 2001 to 2011 Grumet directed the
National Commission on Energy Policy (NCEP) which
is now a former BPC project. Prior to leading the
Energy Commission, Grumet was the Executive
Director of NESCAUM (Northeast States for
Coordinated Air Use Management), a nonprofit
association of air quality agencies in the Northeast.
Grumet has been a frequent witness at Congressional
hearings and regularly appears in print and electronic
media. Grumet received a Bachelor of Arts degree
from Brown University and his Juris Doctorate from
Harvard University. He lives with his wife, Stephanie,
and their three children in Washington, D.C.
Eric Larson – Moderator
Policy Analyst
Democracy Project, Commission
on Political Reform
Eric Larson joined the Bipartisan
Policy Center’s Democracy Project
in November 2011. He supports
BPC’s Commission on Political Reform and
Democracy Project researching election administration
and Congress. Originally from Chicago, Larson
graduated from Dartmouth College in 2010 with an
A.B. in Economics and Native American Studies. Prior
to joining BPC, Larson interned for Congresswoman
Louise M. Slaughter and the House Committee on
Natural Resources.
Secretary Dan Glickman
Senior Fellow
Former Secretary of Agriculture
Dan Glickman is a BPC senior
fellow, and he co-chairs its
Commission on Political Reform,
Democracy Project, Nutrition and
Physical Activity Initiative, and
Task Force on Defense Budget and Strategy.
Glickman is the executive director of the Aspen
Institute Congressional Program, a nongovernmental,
nonpartisan educational program for members of the
United States Congress. Previously, he was chairman of
the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc.
(MPAA), which serves as the voice and advocate of the
U.S. motion picture, home video, and television
industries. Prior to joining the MPAA, Glickman was
the director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard
University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Glickman also served as a partner and senior advisor to
the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in
Washington.
Glickman served as the U.S. secretary of agriculture
from March 1995 until January 2001. Under his
leadership, the Department of Agriculture administered
farm and conservation programs, modernized foodsafety regulations, forged international trade
agreements to expand U.S. markets, and improved its
commitment to fairness and equality in civil rights.
Before his appointment, Glickman represented the 4th
Congressional District of Kansas for 18 years in the
U.S. House of Representatives. During that time, he
was a member of the House Agriculture Committee,
including six years as chairman of the subcommittee
with jurisdiction over federal farm policy issues.
Moreover, he was an active member of the House
Judiciary Committee, chairman of the House
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and was
a leading congressional expert on general aviation
policy.
Senior Fellow & Commission
on Political Reform
Robert F. Bennett is a BPC
senior fellow. Bennett currently
resides in Washington, D.C.,
where he served as a U.S.
senator for 18 years. A Washington figure for decades,
his advice is sought and relied upon by U.S. Presidents,
Cabinet officials, and members of Congress.
He is highly regarded as a pragmatic problem-solver
and has established himself as a powerful consensus
builder among colleagues, constituents, and clients. His
contributions have been both creative and based in
common sense. One of his colleagues praised him as
being "the smartest man in the Senate."
Bennett served as the senior member of both the
Senate Banking Committee and the Joint Economic
Committee. As such, he has been an active participant
in forming national economic policy over the course of
several years.
As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee,
Bennett worked to balance fiscal discipline in
government with the needs of maintaining a vital
national economy. He understands government
spending and is intimately familiar with the process
that makes it happen.
Bennett is a highly successful entrepreneur. Prior to his
senate career, he served as the CEO of Franklin Quest,
Inc. (NYSE) where he was a founding shareholder.
One of his great passions has been the process of
growing new opportunities into mature and developed
business enterprises. He has been a key participant in
multiple private and publicly held companies. He sees
clearly the inter-dependence of private enterprise and
an expanding national economy.
Throughout his career, Bennett has been praised for
two innate qualities—his intellect and his integrity.
Former President Bill Clinton described him as "a
highly intelligent old-fashioned conservative," while
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid praised him by
saying, "there is no more honorable member of this
body than Bob Bennett."
Grover Norquist
President
Grover Norquist is president of
(ATR), a taxpayer advocacy
group he founded in 1985 at
President Reagan’s request. ATR
works to limit the size and cost
of government and opposes
higher taxes at the federal, state, and local levels and
supports tax reform that moves towards taxing
consumed income one time at one rate. ATR
organizes the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, which asks
all candidates for federal and state office to commit
themselves in writing to the American people to
oppose all tax increases. In the 113th Congress, 219
House members and 39 Senators have taken the pledge.
On the state level, 14 governors and 1,035 state
legislators have taken the pledge.
Norquist chairs the Washington, DC - based
“Wednesday Meeting,” a weekly gathering of more
than 150 elected officials, political activists, and
movement leaders. The meeting started in 1993 and
takes place in ATR's conference room. There are now
60 similar "center-right" meetings in 48 states.
Mr. Norquist also Serves on the board of directors of
the National Rifle Association of America, the
American Conservative Union, the Parental Rights
Organization and Center for the National Interest
(formerly The Nixon Center.) He serves as a
Contributing Editor to the American
Spectator Magazine and serves as president of the
American Society of Competitiveness.
Mr. Norquist has authored three books: Rock the
House; Leave Us Alone – Getting the Government’s
Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives; and
(with co-author John Lott) Debacle: Obama’s War on
Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to
Regain Our Future
In the past, Mr. Norquist served as a commissioner on
the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce, a
commissioner on the National Commission on
Restructuring the Internal Revenue Service, economist
and chief speech-writer, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
(1983-1984.), campaign staff on the 1988, 1992, 1996
Republican Platform Committees, executive director of
the National Taxpayers’ Union and executive director
of the College Republicans.
promoting political, social, and economic equality of all
people.
Arianna Huffington calls Norquist “The dark wizard of
the Right's anti-tax cult.” According to John Stossel,
“No one in modern times has fought harder to shrink
the state than the founder of the group Americans for
Tax Reform” and in the words of Newt Gingrich,
Grover Norquist is “the person who I regard as the
most innovative, creative, courageous and
entrepreneurial leader of the anti-tax efforts and of
conservative grassroots activism in America . . . He has
truly made a difference and truly changed American
history.”
She is an inaugural Leadership Institute fellow with the
Center for American Progress and holds a ChemistryEngineering degree from Washington and Lee
University.
Mr. Norquist holds a Masters of Business
Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics,
both from Harvard University. He lives in Washington,
DC with his wife, Samah, and his daughters, Grace and
Giselle.
Tolu Olubunmi
Senior Policy Analyst
Center for Community Change
Tolu Olubunmi is a Senior
Policy Analyst at the Center for
Community Change (CCC), a
national social justice
organization. Tolu’s principal,
though not exclusive, area of
focus is policy analysis and legislative advocacy to win
just and humane immigration reform for the 11 million
aspiring Americans living within our borders.
Tolu began her career in public policy as fellow with
National Immigration Law Center (NILC), where she
advocated for passage of the DREAM Act and access
to postsecondary education for all immigrants. She
then served as the communications director for the
United We Dream Network (UWD) and led a
communications task force of national DREAM Act
stakeholders.
Prior to joining CCC, Tolu ran a consulting firm
specializing in communications, federal legislative and
administrative policy analysis, and advocacy, to defend
and advance human and civil rights.
Tolu has been a leader in national and grassroots
coalitions working to achieve commonsense
immigration policies and has dedicated her career to
Margot Anderson
Executive Director
The Energy Project
Margot Anderson is the
executive director of the Energy
Project at the Bipartisan Policy
Center (BPC). Prior to joining
BPC, she was a senior advisor to
the deputy secretary of energy. From 2004 to 2009,
Anderson was an office director at the Department of
Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA)
where she was responsible for EIA’s short-term energy
forecasts, U.S. energy consumption surveys, and the
international statistics program.
From 2000 to 2004, Anderson was deputy assistant
secretary for Policy Analysis, Department of Energy,
where she worked on a wide range of energy and
environmental policy issues. From 1998-2000,
Anderson directed USDA’s Global Change Program
focusing on the economics of climate change on
agriculture and forestry and on international climate
negotiations. Prior to 1998, Anderson held various
staff and management positions at the Economic
Research Service, USDA. She has received two
Presidential Rank Awards for her federal career
achievements. Anderson holds a B.A. in economics
(University of Cincinnati) and an M.S. and Ph.D. in
agricultural economics (University of Illinois).
Todd Foley
Policy & Government
Relations
American Council on
Renewable Energy
Todd Foley, ACORE’s
Senior Vice President, Policy
& Government Relations,
leads strategic integration of
policy development, research, external communications
and interaction with federal and state government and
regulatory officials. He has over 25 years experience in
Federal and state policy, renewable energy market
design, business development and sales.
Prior to joining ACORE, he directed global and US
policy, communications and business development and
profile sales for BP Solar. Prior to moving into BP’s
renewables business, he directed US environmental,
government and regulatory affairs for BP America. He
also served in several US government positions,
including the White House, US Senate, US EPA and
OSHA. He has served on the Board of Directors of
the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the
Solar Alliance, Solar Electric Power Association
(SEPA) and the Texas Renewable Energy Industries
Associations (TREIA). He received his B.S. from
Boston College and law degree from the Washington
College of Law at American University.
Kathryn Clay, Ph.D.
Executive Director
American Gas Foundation
Dr. Kathryn Clay is the Executive
Director of the American Gas
Foundation. Founded in 1989,
the AGF is a 501(c)(3)
organization focused on being an
independent source of information research and
programs on energy and environmental issues that
affect public policy, with a particular emphasis on
natural gas. AGF funds independent, critical research
that can be used by policy experts, government officials,
the media and others to help formulate fact-based
energy policies.
Previously, Dr. Clay was the Vice President of
Research and Technology Policy for the Alliance of
Automobile Manufacturers. She served as a member
of the professional staff of the Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee, where she worked to
develop the Energy Independence and Security Act of
2007 and the Energy Policy Act of 2005. She was also
centrally involved in the development and passage of
legislation (the America COMPETES Act of 2007) to
promote federal investment in science and the
development of innovative technologies.
Dr. Clay has also served in positions with the staff of
the Energy Subcommittee of the U.S. House of
Representatives Committee on Science, at the
Massachusetts Division of Energy Resources, and as a
research fellow in the Alternate Fuels Vehicle Division
of Ford Motor Company. She is an adjunct professor
of physics at Georgetown University, as well as the cofounder of the University’s Program on Science in the
Public Interest. She holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics
and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering, both from the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
David Conover
Grayling
Dave Conover is currently
Managing Director with the
global consulting firm Grayling
-- formerly known as Dutko
Grayling. In that capacity he
serves on the firm’s global
leadership team and advises a
variety of clients with interests in public policy. His
background is a mix of government and the private
sector including acting assistant secretary and principal
deputy assistant secretary for policy and international
affairs at the Department of Energy, director of the
U.S. Climate Change Technology Program, staff
director & chief counsel for the U.S. Senate
Environment and Public Works Committee, Federal
Affairs Director at CH2MHILL – a global engineering
and construction firm and Senior Vice President at the
Bipartisan Policy Center – a think tank/advocacy
group. He holds a law degree from Georgetown and
his undergraduate degree is from the University of
Virginia.
Christopher Guith
Vice President for Policy
Institute for 21st Century Energy
Christopher Guith is vice
president for policy at the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce’s
Institute for 21st Century
Energy. He is responsible for
developing the institute’s policies and initiatives as they
apply to the legislative, executive, and regulatory
branches of the federal and state governments.
Previously, Guith served as deputy assistant secretary
for nuclear energy at the U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE), where he developed the administration’s
nuclear energy policies and coordinated the
department’s interactions with Congress, stakeholders,
and the media. He was also the deputy assistant
secretary for congressional affairs at DOE. While there,
Guith was a chief representative of the administration
during the drafting and debate of the Energy Policy
Act of 2005.
Earlier in his career, Guith served as Congressman Bob
Barr’s legislative director and Congressman Tim
Murphy’s counsel and policy advisor. He was also
legislative counsel for the Environment, Technology &
Regulatory Affairs Division at the U.S. Chamber.
Guith is a graduate of Syracuse University College of
Law and the University of California Santa Barbara.
Governor Howard Dean
Founder – Democracy for
America
Former Chairman –
Democratic National
Committee
Former Presidential Candidate
Former Governor of Vermont
Governor Howard Dean,
former DNC Chairman,
presidential candidate, six term Governor and
physician, currently works as a part time independent
consultant focusing on the areas of health care, early
childhood development, alternative energy and the
expansion of grassroots politics around the world.
Dean serves as a CNBC contributor and is the founder
of Democracy for America. He also serves on the
board of the National Democratic Institute.
Respected on both sides of the political aisle, Dean was
chairman of the National Governors' Association and
the Democratic Governors' Association. Dean left
office in Vermont to run for President in 2003 where
he implemented innovative fundraising strategies such
as use of the Internet.
As chairman of the Democratic National Committee,
Dean created and implemented the “50 State Strategy”
and the development of 21st century campaign tools.
Dean is credited with helping Democrats make historic
gains in 2006 and 2008.
Erik Milito
Group Director, Upstream and
Industry Operations
American Petroleum Institute
Erik Milito is the Director of
Upstream and Industry
Operations for the American
Petroleum Institute (API),
which is the national trade
association representing more than 500 companies
involved in all aspects of the oil and gas industry,
including exploration production, refining and
transportation. Mr. Milito’s work covers regulatory
and legislative matters related to domestic exploration
and production, including access to domestic oil and
natural gas resources both onshore and offshore. Prior
to his current position, Mr. Milito served as managing
counsel covering a host of legal issues, including oil
and gas leasing, royalty, environmental, fuels,
transportation, safety, and civil justice reform.
Prior to joining API, Mr. Milito served for over four
years on active duty in the U.S. Army as a judge
advocate, and additional four years in the U.S. Army
Reserve, resigning at the rank of Major. Mr. Milito was
assigned to active duty tours in Hawaii, Korea and
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, and he served as
a prosecutor, defense attorney and command advisor.
Mr. Milito was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal
and Army Commendation Medals during his military
tenure. After leaving the Army, Mr. Milito worked as a
career attorney with the Solicitor’s Office of the U.S.
Department of the Interior. While at Interior, Mr.
Milito worked on royalty, employment law, and
disability access issues.
Mr. Milito attended the University of Notre Dame on
an R.O.T.C. scholarship, and received a bachelor’s
degree in business administration. Mr. Milito then
received his juris doctor from Marquette University
Law School, where he was a member of the law review.
Mr. Milito has testified about industry efforts related to
the Macondo incident before the House Committee on
Natural Resources, the House Committee on Science
and Technology, the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans,
Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard, the National
Commission on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, and
the National Academy of Engineering Investigation of
the Spill. Mr. Milito also has testified before the Senate
Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the
House Natural Resources Committee on offshore oil
and gas issues, and the House Subcommittee on
Energy and Mineral Resources in hearings related to
development of unconventional oil and gas resources.
Mr. Milito has authored and co-authored several papers
related to natural resources issues and routinely appears
as a keynote and guest speaker on U.S. exploration and
development topics.
Mr. Milito formerly served on the Board of Trustees of
the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, and on
the Board of Directors of the Alexandria, Virginia Boys
and Girls Club. Mr. Milito and his wife Elizabeth have
four children, William, Helen, Evelyn, and Jacob and
live in Alexandria, Virginia.
Shai Akabas – Moderator
Associate Director of
Economic Policy
Economic Policy Project
Shai Akabas is the associate
director for economic policy at
the Bipartisan Policy Center
(BPC). He joined BPC’s
Economic Policy Project in
2010, staffing the DomeniciRivlin Debt Reduction Task Force that year, and then
assisting Visiting Scholar Jerome Powell in his work on
the federal debt limit in 2011. Since then, Akabas has
worked on a variety of economic policy issues,
primarily focused on federal fiscal policy, including
entitlement reform, tax reform, and sequestration.
Prior to joining BPC, Akabas worked as a satellite
office director on New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg’s 2009 campaign for reelection. He
currently serves on the board of trustees for Beit
Rabban, a Jewish day school on the Upper West Side
of Manhattan. He was born and raised in New York
City, and received his B.A. in economics and history
from Cornell University.
G. William Hoagland
The Bipartisan Policy Center
G. William Hoagland is a
senior vice president at the
Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC).
Hoagland has completed 33
years of federal government
service, 25 spent as staff in the
U.S. Senate. In 2007 CIGNA Corporation appointed
him as vice president of public policy to work with
CIGNA business leaders, trade associations, business
coalitions, and interest groups to develop CIGNA
policy particularly on health care reform issues at both
the federal and state levels. Prior to coming to CIGNA
from January 2003 to January 2007, he served as the
director of budget and appropriations in the office of
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D. (R-TN). In this
role he served as a liaison to the leadership of the
Senate and House of Representatives. He assisted in
evaluating the fiscal impact of major legislation and
helped to coordinate budget policy for the Senate
leadership.
From 1982 until 2003, Hoagland was a staff member
of the Senate Budget Committee, serving as that
committee’s staff director from 1986 to 2003, reporting
to Senator Pete V. Domenici (R-NM), chairman and
ranking member during this period. He participated in
major federal budget legislation including the 1985
Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Budget Deficit Reduction
Act, the 1990 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act and
the historic 1997 Balanced Budget Agreement. In 1981
Hoagland served as the administrator of the
Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition
Service and as a special assistant to the Secretary of
Agriculture. He was one of the first employees of the
then newly created Congressional Budget Office in
1975, working with its first director, Alice Rivlin.
The 1997 and 2005 National Journal listed him as one
of the Washington 100 Decision Makers and referred
to him as a “bottom-liner who is not a hard-liner.” Roll
Call, the daily publication of Capitol Hill consistently
named Hoagland as one of the top 50 Hill Staffers. In
2002, he received the James L. Blum Award from
Distinguished Service in Budgeting. The National
Association of State Budget Officers honored him in
2004 with its Leadership in Budgeting Award and in
2006 he was inducted as a Fellow in the National
Academy of Public Administration. Hoagland is an
affiliate professor of public policy at the George Mason
University and a board member of the Committee for a
Responsible Federal Budget; National Campaign’s
Public Policy Advisory Group focusing on teen
pregnancy and unwanted pregnancy; the National
Academy of Social Insurance; and the National
Advisory Committee to the Workplace Flexibility 2010
Commission. In 2009 he was appointed to the
Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform
examining the overall structure of the budget,
authorization, and appropriations process and was a
member of BPC's Debt Reduction Task Force that
published Restoring America’s Future in November
2010.
Born in Covington, Indiana, he attended the U.S.
Maritime Academy and holds degrees from Purdue
University (B.S.) and the Pennsylvania State University
(M.S.). His family’s Indiana family farm was awarded
by that state as a “Hoosier Homestead” for having
remained in the family for over a century.
Sam Gilman
Co-Founder and President
Common Sense Action
Sam is a junior at Brown
University, pursuing a
Bachelor’s degree in public
policy. He is a C.V. Starr
Social Innovation Fellow for
his work on Common Sense
Action. Sam is currently
student body Vice President
at Brown and previously
served as Treasurer and Communications Director. In
the summer of 2012, he interned at the Bipartisan
Policy Center where he did research for a book on the
causes and implications of gridlock in American
politics. He is the director of the Janus Forum Steering
Committee, which constructs bipartisan debates to
challenge campus perspectives on major public-policy
issues. Sam also has experience as the editor in chief of
a newspaper, The Augur Bit.
Belle Sawhill
Co-Director, Center on Children
and Families, Budgeting for
National Priorities
Senior Fellow, Economic
Studies
The Brookings Institution
Isabel V. Sawhill is a senior
fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings
Institution. She serves as co-director of the Budgeting
for National Priorities project and co-director of the
Center on Children and Families. She holds the Cabot
Family Chair. In 2009, she began the Social Genome
Project, an initiative by the Center on Children and
Families that seeks to determine how to increase
economic opportunity for disadvantaged children. She
served as vice president and director of the Economic
Studies program from 2003 to 2006. Prior to joining
Brookings, Dr. Sawhill was a senior fellow at The
Urban Institute. She also served as an associate director
at the Office of Management and Budget from 1993 to
1995, where her responsibilities included all of the
human resource programs of the federal government,
accounting for one third of the federal budget.
Her research has spanned a wide array of economic and
social issues, including fiscal policy, economic growth,
poverty and inequality, welfare reform, the well-being of
children, and changes in the family. In addition, she has
authored or edited numerous books and articles
including Creating an Opportunity Society with Ron
Haskins; Restoring Fiscal Sanity 2005: Meeting the
Long-Run Challenge and Restoring Fiscal Sanity: How
to Balance the Budget, both with Alice Rivlin; One
Percent for the Kids: New Policies, Brighter Futures for
America’s Children; Welfare Reform and Beyond: The
Future of the Safety Net; Updating America’s Social
Contract: Economic Growth and Opportunity in the
New Century; Getting Ahead: Economic and Social
Mobility in America; and Challenge to Leadership:
Economic and Social Issues for the Next Decade.
Dr. Sawhill helped to found The National Campaign to
Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and now
serves as the President of its board. She has been a
Visiting Professor at Georgetown Law School,
Director of the National Commission for Employment
Policy, and President of the Association for Public
Policy Analysis and Management. She also serves on a
number of boards. She attended Wellesley College and
received her Ph.D. from New York University in 1968.
David Inserra
Research Assistant, National
Security and Cyber Security
The Heritage Foundation
David Inserra specializes
in cyber and homeland security
policy, including protection of
critical infrastructure, as research
assistant in The Heritage
Foundation’s Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies.
In addition to co-authoring research papers, Inserra
contributes posts on national security to the think
tank’s policy blog, The Foundry. He also plans and
coordinates all public events for the Allison Center.
Inserra, who joined Heritage in 2012, grew up in Bucks
County, PA. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in
government and economics from the College of
William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA. He and his wife,
Cayla, currently reside in Arlington, VA.
Lt. Col. Joseph Kopser
Chief Executive Officer
Ridescout
Joseph Kopser is the CEO and
co-founder of RideScout, an
Austin startup working to
revolutionize how people view
ground transportation. He is
also Co-Chairman of the
Defense Energy Summit.
Before building RideScout, Joseph served for 20 years
in the U.S. Army, including an assignment in the
Pentagon as a Special Assistant to the Army Chief of
Staff. During his Army career, he earned distinction as
a Cavalry officer, Bronze Star recipient and Army
Ranger. Joseph graduated from West Point as an
Aerospace Engineer in 1993 and subsequently received
a Masters in Government Policy from the Harvard
Kennedy School.
In November 2013, the White House recognized
Joseph as a Champion of Change for his work as a
Veteran in Clean Energy. In addition, he is a Next
Generation Project Texas Fellow at the Strauss Center
for International Security and Law at UT-Austin with a
focus on Energy Policy. He serves on the Board of
Directors of the CleanTX Foundation and is a
founding member of the Steering Committee for the
Defense Energy Center of Excellence Initiative
(DECEI).
He lives in Austin with his wife and three daughters.
Ben Ludwig
Legislative Assistant
Advocacy Network
Ben Ludwig joined the
Bipartisan Policy Center in
March 2011. Previously, he
served as a legislative assistant
and correspondent in
Congressman Bob Goodlatte’s office. Ludwig's
portfolio consisted of financial services, entitlement
reform, government oversight, and seniors issues. In
addition, he worked closely with the Congressman to
expand the use of new media in order to provide a less
formal means of communication with his constituents.
Ludwig is originally from Staunton Virginia. He is a
2006 graduate of Hampden-Sydney College where he
received a B.A. in history and a concentration in
political science. While at Hampden-Sydney College,
Ludwig assisted the Student Development Committee
in fundraising and event planning to help grow the
Peter C. Bance Scholarship Fund.
Randy Johnson
Randel K. Johnson joined the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce on
December 1, 1997. As senior
vice president, he is primarily
responsible for labor,
immigration, and employee
benefits issues pending before Congress and the federal
agencies.
Consulting with the Chamber’s member policy
committees and his staff of 11, Johnson determines the
Chamber’s position and sets strategy on a wide variety
of issues that fall within the jurisdiction of his division.
These include union-driven initiatives such as card
check legislation, ergonomics, and blacklisting
regulations; pension funding reform and health care;
civil rights and wage and hour; and comprehensive
immigration reform, including visa and border policy.
Johnson regularly testifies before Congress and is
widely quoted in the media on employment and
immigration issues as a recognized expert in these
fields.
Johnson serves on the board of directors of the
National Immigration Forum and the Lutheran
Immigration Refugee Services agency and on the
Quality Alliance Steering Committee. Previously, he
was a member of the Department of Homeland
Security Data Management Improvement Act Task
Force on border entry and exit issues, the Chicago
Council on Foreign Relations Immigration Task Force,
the 21st Century Workforce Commission, and the
Carnegie U.S.-Mexico Migration Study Group.
Before joining the Chamber, Johnson was the
Republican labor counsel and coordinator for the U.S.
House of Representatives Committee on Education
and the Workforce where he supervised a staff of
professionals and was responsible for employment
policy and legal issues before the committee. His work
centered on legislative activity under the Occupational
Safety and Health Act, the National Labor Relations
Act, the Congressional Accountability Act, the Family
and Medical Leave Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act,
the Civil Rights Act of 1991, and the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990.
His prior experience includes six years as an attorney
with the U.S. Department of Labor where he was the
special assistant to the Solicitor of Labor for
Regulatory Affairs and the department’s liaison to the
Office of Management and Budget, specializing in the
areas of equal employment opportunity and
occupational safety and health. He also served as a
lobbyist in the labor relations, immigration, and job
training areas with the National Association of
Manufacturers; as an attorney with the Department of
Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges; and as a
law clerk to a Baltimore city trial judge immediately
following law school. Between college and law school,
Johnson worked for IBM in Bethesda, Maryland.
Johnson is a graduate of Denison University and the
University of Maryland School of Law and earned his
Master of Laws in labor relations from the
Georgetown University Law Center. He received a
graduate certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School
of Government for Senior Managers in Government
and is a fellow of the College of Labor and
Employment Lawyers.
Greg Chen
Director of Advocacy
American Immigration Lawyers
Association
Gregory Chen is Director of
Advocacy for the American
Immigration Lawyers
Association. Prior to
joining AILA in 2010, Greg served as Director for
Legislative Affairs with Lutheran Immigration and
Refugee Service and as Director for Policy and
Advocacy at U.S. Committee for Refugees and
Immigrants. He came to Washington DC after
spending five years in San Francisco at Legal Services
for Children representing children in detention and
removal proceedings and other immigration matters as
well as child welfare, juvenile delinquency, and
education law proceedings. He is a graduate of
Harvard College and NYU Law School and clerked for
the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the 9th Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals. Greg and his wife, Joanne Lin,
reside in Washington, DC with their two children:
daughter Tenaya and son Shanwai.
Angie Kelley
Vice President, Immigration
Policy
Center for American Progress
Angela Maria Kelley, a wellknown authority on the policy
and the politics of immigration,
joined American Progress in
2009 as Vice President for
Immigration Policy. As Vice President, Kelley applies
her many years of experience in the immigration field
to the Center’s immigration policy work. In the years
since Kelley’s arrival to American Progress, the
organization has published numerous impactful reports
and analyses on a range of immigration issues including
the economic impact of state anti-immigrant laws, the
economic value of immigration reform, the cost of
mass deportation, and the integration trends of
America’s newcomers. Kelley is widely quoted in the
press, including The New York Times, The
Washington Post, and Politico, and makes frequent
radio and television appearances, including appearances
on PBS, MSNBC, Fox News, and NPR.
Before joining American Progress in 2009, Kelley
served as director of the Immigration Policy Center, a
research and rapid-response organization providing
policymakers, academics, the media, and the general
public with access to accurate information about the
effects of immigration on the U.S. economy and
society. Prior to that Kelley was deputy director at the
National Immigration Forum, where she headed its
legislative, policy, and communications activities and
oversaw its operations. During her service at the
Forum, Kelley was a frontline negotiator as Congress
debated proposed comprehensive immigration reform
legislation. Kelley was also at the forefront of advocacy
that secured key legislative victories including the Legal
Immigration Family Equity Act, the Haitian Refugee
Immigration Fairness Act, and the Nicaraguan
Adjustment and Central American Relief Act.
Kelley, the daughter of South American immigrants,
began her career as an attorney for a legal services
agency in Washington, D.C., representing low-income
immigrants on immigration and family matters. She is a
graduate of The George Washington University Law
School and a Georgetown University Law School
Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellow.
Congressman John Shadegg
Immigration Task Force
Bipartisan policy Center
Former Member of Congress (RAZ-3)
John B. Shadegg, a former US
congressman, is a partner
in Steptoe's Washington and
Phoenix offices. Mr. Shadegg was
elected to the US House of Representatives in 1994
and served eight terms before retiring from Congress
in 2010. He currently practices in Steptoe’s
Government Affairs & Public Policy Group.
Mr. Shadegg consults on matters related to energy,
healthcare and healthcare reform, as well as
telecommunications. He also focuses on a variety
of issues in state and federal trial and appellate courts,
in state legislatures and Congress, and before regulatory
agencies.
During his 16 years in Congress, Mr. Shadegg served
on the Energy and Commerce Committee and a variety
of its subcommittees, including Energy and Power,
Environment, Health, and Telecom. Mr. Shadegg was
also named to the House Select Committee on Energy
Independence and Global Warming. In addition, he
served on the Budget, Financial Services, Natural
Resources, and Government Reform committees and
the Select Committee on Homeland Security. Mr.
Shadegg was an advocate for American-made energy,
and his efforts to promote hydroelectricity spilled over
into his fight to save and preserve Lake Powell located
in Northern Arizona. As a member of the Select
Committee on Energy Independence and Global
Warming, Mr. Shadegg led a delegation of House
members to ANWR in August 2008. He also
accompanied then Speaker Dennis Hastert on a tour of
nuclear generating facilities in Japan in 2009.
Along with his focus on energy and environmental
policies, Mr. Shadegg is passionate about healthcare
reform. He introduced legislation signed into law that
encourages and assists states in covering people with
pre-existing conditions and introduced legislation that
allows the sale of health insurance across state
lines. From 2005-2006, Mr. Shadegg served as
chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee,
the fifth-ranking position in elected House Republican
Leadership. Previously, he chaired the Republican
Study Committee, the largest conservative organization
in the House. Under Congressman Shadegg’s
leadership, the organization grew from 40 to more than
70 members, and became the most influential and
respected force in the US House shaping policy for the
country.
Prior to being elected to Congress, he practiced law
privately in Phoenix, served as a special assistant
attorney general in Arizona and as special counsel to
the Arizona state House Republican caucus. He was a
founding director of the Goldwater Institute for Public
Policy and is now a senior fellow of the Institute. He
also served as an assistant to former Arizona Governor
Jack Williams and clerked for Chief Justice James Duke
Cameron of the Arizona Supreme Court.
Senator Tom Daschle
Founder
Born in Aberdeen, South
Dakota, Tom Daschle
graduated from South Dakota
State University in 1969. Upon
graduation, he entered the
United States Air Force where
he served as an intelligence
officer in the Strategic Air Command until mid-1972.
Following completion of his military service, Senator
Daschle served on the staff of Senator James Abourezk.
In 1978, he was elected to the U.S. House of
Representatives where he served for eight years. In
1986, he was elected to the U.S. Senate and eight years
later became its Democratic Leader.
Senator Daschle is one of the longest serving Senate
Democratic Leaders in history and the only one to
serve twice as both Majority and Minority Leader.
During his tenure, Senator Daschle navigated the
Senate through some of its most historic economic and
national security challenges. In 2003, he chronicled
some of these experiences in his book, Like No Other
Time: The 107th Congress and the Two Years That
Changed America Forever. Today, Senator Daschle is a
Senior Policy Advisor to the law firm of DLA Piper
where he provides clients with strategic advice on
public policy issues such as climate change, energy,
health care, trade, financial services and
telecommunications.
Since leaving the Senate, he has distinguished his
expertise in health care through the publication
of Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care
Crisis and the recently published, Getting It Done:
How Obama and Congress Finally Broke the Stalemate
to Make Way for Health Care Reform. Daschle has
continued to lead on climate change and renewable
energy, as well as a variety of other public policy
challenges. In 2007, he joined with former Majority
Leaders George Mitchell, Bob Dole, and Howard
Baker to create the Bipartisan Policy Center, an
organization dedicated to finding common ground on
some of the pressing public policy challenges of our
time.
Senator Daschle serves on the board of the Center for
American Progress, acts as the Vice Chair of the
National Democratic Institute, and is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations. He also is a member of
the Health Policy and Management Executive Council
at the Harvard School of Public Health in addition to
the Global Policy Advisory Council for the Health
Worker Migration Initiative. He is a member of the
Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation Board of Trustees,
the GE Healthymagination Advisory Board; the
National Integrated Foodsystem Advisory Board; and
the Committee on Collaborative Initiatives at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition,
Senator Daschle’s board memberships include the
Blum Foundation; the Energy Future Coalition, the
Committee to Modernize Voter Registration; the US
Global Leadership Coalition Advisory Council and the
Advisory Committee on the Trust for National Mall.
Week Two: Politics and the Media
Betsy Fischer Martin
Senior Executive Producer
and Managing Editor
NBC News Political
Programming
NBC News
As Senior Executive
Producer and Managing
Editor of NBC News
Political Programming,
Betsy Fischer Martin is
responsible for the
development and execution of political coverage for
NBC News. She provides the editorial direction of
coverage across all of the network’s shows and digital
teams, well as long-range major political coverage such
as the upcoming mid-terms and the 2016 Presidential
election. Additionally, she creates and executes
coverage strategy for NBC News-branded polls and
political data.
Before being promoted to her current position in July
of 2013, Fischer Martin was at the helm of NBC’s
number one rated Sunday morning public affairs
program and the longest running television program in
the world, “Meet the Press,” since July 2002.
In this capacity, as Sr. Executive Producer and
Executive Producer, she produced interviews with U.S.
Presidents, key Cabinet officials, heads of state and
presidential candidates – including a special “Meet the
Press” debate live from New Hampshire with all of the
2012 Republican candidates for president. Fischer
Martin also created and produced an award winning
series of special “Meet the Press” debates with the
candidates from key U.S. Senate races beginning in
2002.
Additionally, she served as Tom Brokaw’s producer for
NBC News’ coverage of the 2008 Presidential Election,
including the conventions, debates, and election night.
Fischer served with Tim Russert in the same capacity
during NBC’s coverage of Special Events, and
throughout the 2000, 2004 and 2008 elections.
Overall, Fischer Martin’s tenure with Meet the Press
extended over 22 years as she held the positions of
Executive Producer, and Senior Producer of “Meet the
Press” and the NBC News Political/Polling Unit. Her
career at NBC News began with an internship at “Meet
the Press” while in college, becoming the political
researcher for the program in 1992. She was promoted
to Associate Producer in 1995, and Producer in 1997.
A native of New Orleans, Fischer Martin did her
undergraduate and graduate work at American
University in Washington, DC. She is a cum laude
graduate of their School of Public Affairs and earned a
master’s degree in Broadcast Journalism from the AU
School of Communications. She currently serves on
the Dean’s Advisory Council for the School of Public
Affairs at American University.
Fischer Martin has been honored with several awards
for her work with NBC, including two News and
Documentary Emmys, the Walter Cronkite Award for
Excellence in Political Journalism, and a Gracie Award
from American Women in Radio and Television. She
has been featured in several publications including
profiles in Television Week, The New Orleans Times
Picayune, Marie Claire Magazine, Washington Business
Journal, Washingtonian’s 50 Best & Most Influential
Journalists, Washington Life’s Power 100, and GQ’s
Powerful People in Washington.
Fischer Martin has recently been awarded the honor of
"Young Global Leader of the World" by The World
Economic Forum, which recognizes 250 global young
leaders for their professional accomplishments, their
commitment to society and their potential to
contribute to the shaping of the future world.
She is a life member of the Council on Foreign
Relations and a member of the National Press Club
and the International Women’s Forum.
She lives in Falls Church, Virginia with her husband,
Jonathan Martin, National Political Correspondent for
the New York Times, and her daughter Ella, a 6th
grader.
Michael Steele
Former Chairman
Former Lt. Governor
Maryland
improving the quality of Maryland’s public education
system (he championed the State’s historic Charter
School law), expanding economic development in the
state and fostering cooperation between government
and faith-based organizations to help those in need.
Michael Steele is former
chairman of the Republican
National Committee, and
former Lieutenant governor of
Maryland. Until recently he was President and CEO of
The Steele Group, a consulting firm working with
institutional and individual clients to design overall
business development, investor, networking, and
communications strategies.
An expert on political strategy and election reform, he
served as Chairman of GOPAC (2007-2009), and also
held posts on the National Federal Election Reform
Commission and the NAACP Blue Ribbon
Commission on Election Reform.
Mr. Steele is a political analyst for MSNBC. Mr. Steele’s
ability as a communicator and analyst have long been
showcased by his position as a contributor on the Fox
News Channel and as a regular host for the Salem
Radio Network’s nationally syndicated Morning in
America Show. Additionally, Mr. Steele has been an
entertaining and eloquent guest on cable political talk
shows such as HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher and
Comedy Central’s Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
Mr. Steele’s personal and political experiences coupled
with his engaging speaking style have launched him
into national prominence. Mr. Steele is represented by
Keppler Speaker’s Bureau and regularly shares his
personal story and political philosophy with a wide
variety of audiences.
Michael Steele served as Chairman of the Republican
National Committee (2009 – 2011). As chairman of the
RNC, Mr. Steele was charged with revitalizing the
Republican Party. A self-described “Lincoln
Republican,” under Steele’s leadership the RNC broke
fundraising records (over $198 million raised during
the 2010 Congressional cycle) and Republicans won 63
House seats, the biggest pickup since 1938. His
commitment to grassroots organization and party
building at the state and local levels produced 12
governorships and the greatest share of state legislative
seats since 1928 (over 600 seats).
Mr. Steele earned a place in history in 2003 when he
was elected Lieutenant Governor of Maryland,
becoming the first African American elected to
statewide office in the state. As Lt. Governor of
Maryland, Mr. Steele’s priorities included reforming the
state’s Minority Business Enterprise program,
Mr. Steele writes a regular column for The Root.com
and BET.com and his writings on law, business and
politics have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The
Washington Times, Politico.com, Townhall.com, ,The
Journal of International Security Affairs and Catholic
University Law Review, among others. He is the recent
author of Right Now: A 12-Step Program for
Defeating the Obama Agenda, which is a call to arms
for grassroots America.
Born at Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George’s
County, Maryland, Mr. Steele was raised in Washington,
DC. He spent three years in the Order of St. Augustine
in preparation for the priesthood. He is a graduate of
Johns Hopkins University (‘81’), Georgetown Law
Center (’91), and an Aspen Institute Rodel Fellow in
Public Leadership.
Adam Sharp
Director, Government &
Politics
Twitter
As Manager of Government
and Political Partnerships for
Twitter, Adam Sharp works
with officials, agencies, and
candidates to make better use
of Twitter's real time information network for civic
engagement. Called "the human embodiment of
Twitter" by the New York Times, Sharp was named
one of Washingtonian magazine's "People to Watch" in
its 2011 "Tech Titans" listing. He previously led digital
efforts at C-SPAN and NBC News and served as
Deputy Chief of Staff to Senator Mary Landrieu (DLa.), working with her through Hurricane Katrina and
her 2008 reelection campaign.
Chris Cillizza
Editor – the Fix
Reporter – The Washington
Post
By uniquely viewing politics as
a “theatre” – or an endless
drama of opposing forces,Chris
Cillizza now stands as one of
Washington’s most exciting
analysts of campaign politics. With both humor and
probing insight, the self-described political junkie
speaks to a variety of audiences with great clarity on
the nuances of national and local campaign politics. His
extensive media appearances, spanning from TV to
print to the blogosphere, have
led The Washingtonian to name him one of the top 50
journalists working in Washington today. Cillizza
seamlessly uses his immense reservoir of political
knowledge to examine the past and provide insights on
the constantly evolving state of Washington politics.
His commentary additionally explores the meaning of
the current presidency with prodigious depth and a
discerning eye for future political trends.
Prior to a five year stay with Roll Call, a Washingtonbased publication covering the legislative and political
events of Capitol Hill, Cillizza reported on
gubernatorial races and southern House races
for Charlie Cook’s Cook Political Report. He also
wrote a column for Congress Daily. Once he
joined The Washington Post, Cillizza became the first
reporter from a major news organization to do online
work as a White House political correspondent. He
also launched the widely popular weblog, The Fix,
which focuses on American electoral politics, including
gubernatorial, Congressional, and presidential
elections. Now regarded as one of the most heavily
trafficked blogs in Washington, The Fix receives
upwards of 575,000 internet hits daily and serves the
readership of both seasoned political veterans and
casual Washington observers. The blog also includes a
weekly “Friday Line” section where the 10 closest
electoral races of an electoral cycle – as judged by
Cillizza – are profiled and analyzed. His freelance
pieces have also appeared in various publications such
as The Atlantic Monthly, Washingtonian, and Slate.
A 1998 English graduate of Georgetown University
and a former student of Pulitzer-prize winning
journalist George Will, Cillizza has cultivated a distinct
reputation as one of the most keen, witty, and impartial
observers of politics inside the Beltway. Having
provided political commentary as a guest on CNN, Fox
News Channel, and MSNBC, Cillizza is able to deliver
penetrating analysis on the ways in which candidates
must meet the 21st century demands of their
constituents. He was also recently named an MSNBC
political analyst. As someone incredibly involved with
and attuned to fluctuating media standards, Cillizza’s
coverage of political races seeks to capture and explain
the complex relationship between politicians and an
evolving electorate. Having appeared on MTV and
YouTube as a debate moderator between presidential
candidates, Cillizza has become aware of the emerging
importance of social media, young voters, and growing
generational influences on campaign politics. As
Cillizza knows well by now, “politics is never over.” In
this light, he consistently dazzles audiences with
unparalleled erudition and a view of politics that is
both thrilling and evocative of today’s world.
Pete Williams
Justice Correspondent
NBC News
Pete Williams is an NBC News
correspondent based in
Washington, D.C. He has been
covering the Justice
Department and the U.S.
Supreme Court since March
1993. Williams was also a key reporter on the
Microsoft anti-trust trial and Judge Jackson's decision.
Prior to joining NBC, Williams served as a press
official on Capitol Hill for many years. In 1986 he
joined the Washington, DC staff of then Congressman
Dick Cheney as press secretary and a legislative
assistant. In 1989, when Cheney was named Assistant
Secretary of Defense, Williams was appointed Assistant
Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. While in that
position, Williams was named Government
Communicator of the Year in 1991 by the National
Association of Government Communicators.
First Read: Pete Williams blogs for First Read
A native of Casper, Wyo. and a 1974 graduate of
Stanford University, Williams was a reporter and news
director at KTWO-TV and Radio in Casper from 1974
to 1985. Working with the Radio-Television News
Directors Association, for which he served as a
member of its board of directors, he successfully
lobbied the Wyoming Supreme Court to permit
broadcast coverage of its proceedings and twice sued
Wyoming judges over pre-trial exclusion of reporters
from the courtroom. For these efforts, he received a
First Amendment Award from the Society of
Professional Journalists.
The Honorable Stephen G.
Breyer
Associate Justice
United States Supreme Court
Stephen G. Breyer, Associate
Justice, was born in San
Francisco, California, August 15,
1938. He married Joanna Hare in
1967, and has three children Chloe, Nell, and Michael. He received an A.B. from
Stanford University, a B.A. from Magdalen College,
Oxford, and an LL.B. from Harvard Law School. He
served as a law clerk to Justice Arthur Goldberg of the
Supreme Court of the United States during the 1964
Term, as a Special Assistant to the Assistant U.S.
Attorney General for Antitrust, 1965–1967, as an
Assistant Special Prosecutor of the Watergate Special
Prosecution Force, 1973, as Special Counsel of the U.S.
Senate Judiciary Committee, 1974–1975, and as Chief
Counsel of the committee, 1979–1980. He was an
Assistant Professor, Professor of Law, and Lecturer at
Harvard Law School, 1967–1994, a Professor at the
Harvard University Kennedy School of Government,
1977–1980, and a Visiting Professor at the College of
Law, Sydney, Australia and at the University of Rome.
From 1980–1990, he served as a Judge of the United
States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and as its
Chief Judge, 1990–1994. He also served as a member
of the Judicial Conference of the United States, 1990–
1994, and of the United States Sentencing Commission,
1985–1989. President Clinton nominated him as an
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and he took
his seat August 3, 1994.
Norman J. Ornstein
Resident Scholar
American Enterprise Institute
Norman Ornstein is a long-time
observer of Congress and
politics. He is a contributing
editor and columnist
for National Journal and The
Atlantic and is an election eve
analyst for BBC News. He
served as co-director of the AEI-Brookings Election
Reform Project and participates in AEI's Election
Watch series. He also served as a senior counselor to
the Continuity of Government Commission. Mr.
Ornstein led a working group of scholars and
practitioners that helped shape the law, known as
McCain-Feingold, that reformed the campaign
financing system. He was elected as a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004. His
many books include The Permanent Campaign and Its
Future (AEI Press, 2000); The Broken Branch: How
Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back
on Track, with Thomas E. Mann (Oxford University
Press, 2006, named by the Washington Post one of the
best books of 2006 and called by The Economist "a
classic"); and, most recently, the New York Times
bestseller, It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the
American Constitutional System Collided With the
New Politics of Extremism, also with Tom Mann,
published in May 2012 by Basic Books. It was named
as one of 2012's best books on politics by The New
Yorker and one of the best books of the year by
the Washington Post.
Dr. Ornstein’s experiences also include, Contributing
Editor and Columnist, National Journal and The
Atlantic, Election Analyst, BBC News, 2012, Codirector, Project to Examine Alternatives to the
Independent Counsel Statute, Member, Board of
Contributors, USA Today, Founder and Director,
Campaign Finance Reform Working Group, Columnist,
"Congress Inside Out," Roll Call, Senior Adviser, Pew
Research Center for the People and the Press, Election
Analyst, CBS News, and many others over his career.
Dr. Ornstein holds a Ph.D., M.A., political science,
from the University of Michigan and a B.A. from the
University of Minnesota.
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) (Invited)
To be determined by Legislative Calendar
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) (Invited)
To be determined by Legislative Calendar
Tom Mann
Senior Fellow, Governance
Studies
Brookings Institution
Thomas E. Mann is the
W. Averell Harriman Chair
and senior fellow in
Governance Studies at The
Brookings Institution.
Between 1987 and 1999, he
was Director of Governmental Studies at Brookings.
Before that, Mann was executive director of the
American Political Science Association.
Born on September 10, 1944, in Milwaukee, he earned
his B.A. in political science at the University of Florida
and his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Michigan.
He first came to Washington in 1969 as a
Congressional Fellow in the offices of Senator Philip A.
Hart and Representative James G. O'Hara.
Mann has taught at Princeton University, Johns
Hopkins University, Georgetown University, the
University of Virginia and American University;
conducted polls for congressional candidates; worked
as a consultant to IBM and the Public Broadcasting
Service; chaired the Board of Overseers of the National
Election Studies; and served as an expert witness in the
constitutional defense of the McCain-Feingold
campaign finance law. He lectures frequently in the
United States and abroad on American politics and
public policy and is also a regular contributor to
newspaper stories and television and radio programs
on politics and governance.
Mann is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences and a member of the Council on Foreign
Relations. He is a recipient of the American Political
Science Association’s Frank J. Goodnow and Charles E.
Merriam Awards.
Mann's published works include Unsafe at Any Margin:
Interpreting Congressional Elections; Vital Statistics on
Congress; The New Congress; A Question of Balance:
The President, the Congress and Foreign Policy; Media
Polls in American Politics; Renewing
Congress; Congress, the Press, and the Public;
Intensive Care: How Congress Shapes Health
Policy; Campaign Finance Reform: A Sourcebook; The
Permanent Campaign and Its Future; Inside the
Campaign Finance Battle: Court Testimony on the
New Reforms; The New Campaign Finance
Sourcebook; and Party Lines: Competition,
Partisanship and Congressional Redistricting. He has
also written numerous scholarly articles and opinion
pieces on various aspects of American politics,
including elections, political parties, Congress, the
presidency and public policymaking.
He and Norman Ornstein in 2008 published an
updated edition of The Broken Branch: How
Congress is Failing America and How to Get It Back
on Track (Oxford University Press). Their new
book, It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the
American Constitutional System Collided With the
New Politics of Extremism, was published by Basic
Books in the spring of 2012. Mann and Ornstein were
recently named by Foreign Policy Magazine among
“100 Top Global Thinkers of 2012” for “diagnosing
America’s political dysfunction.”
Mann resides in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife
Sheilah, who is also a political scientist. They have two
children, Ted, an assistant curator at the Guggenheim
Museum in New York and a Ph.D. student in the NYU
Institute of Fine Arts, and Stephanie, a marketing
manager at Clorox in Oakland, California.
Kelly O’Donnell
Chief Congressional
Reporter
NBC News
Kelly O’Donnell was named
Capitol Hill Correspondent
in December 2007. She
contributes to all NBC News
properties, including “NBC
Nightly News with Brian
Williams,” “TODAY,” and MSNBC.
O’Donnell previously served as White House
Correspondent for NBC News covering the second
term of President George W. Bush from May 2005 to
December 2007. Prior to that, O’Donnell followed a
broad range of stories as an NBC News correspondent
based in New York City and Los Angeles. She has also
served as news anchor for the weekend edition of
"Today," and as a substitute anchor for other NBC
News broadcasts. She has appeared as a panelist on
“Meet the Press” and “The Chris Matthews Show.”
Her reporting has taken her to all 50 states and to 47
countries. As White House Correspondent, she
traveled extensively with President Bush and followed
the complex issues of his presidency. A veteran of
presidential politics, O’Donnell has also covered the
race for the White House in 2008 following Republican
candidates. In 2004, she followed the Democratic field
and John Kerry from Iowa to the conventions, debates
and election night. In 2000, she reported on the
contested election and Florida recount. In 1996,
O’Donnell traveled with Sen. Bob Dole during his
White House run. Among her notable interviews:
President Clinton, President George H. Bush, Vice
President Dick Cheney and First Ladies Laura Bush
and Rosalyn Carter.
During the Iraq war, O’Donnell was embedded with
the Third Infantry Division during operations in
Fallujah in 2003. She reported exclusively from the
skies above Iraq on a classified combat mission during
the air assault on Baghdad. O’Donnell was also posted
at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Qatar and
aboard three aircraft carriers.
She has covered a wide variety of major events
including the September 11th attacks from Ground
Zero and the Flight 93 Pennsylvania crash site, the
passing of Pope John Paul II from his native Poland,
Queen Elizabeth’s 50th Jubilee, the Shuttle Columbia
disaster, the CIA Leak trial, the Columbine school
shooting, John F. Kennedy Jr’s plane crash, the
Oklahoma City bombing and trials of Timothy
McVeigh and Terry Nichols, and the OJ Simpson
saga. O’Donnell took her feature writing skills to four
Olympic Games: Atlantic ’96, Sydney ’00, Salt Lake
City ’02 and Athens ’04. She traveled to Australia,
Greece, Scotland and Zimbabwe as part of the popular
“Today” series, “Where in the World is Matt Lauer.”
An award winning reporter, O'Donnell was inducted
into the Ohio Radio/Television Broadcasters Hall of
Fame in September 2004. She has received a regional
Emmy Award for outstanding live reporting of an
Ohio prison riot, and has received several national
Emmy nominations. O'Donnell also received two first
place awards from the Los Angeles Press Club for
feature reporting, and has twice been part of the "NBC
Nightly News" team honored with an Edward R.
Murrow Award in 1999 and in 2006.
O’Donnell first joined NBC News as a correspondent
in 1994. Before that, she anchored and reported for
WJW-TV, then the CBS affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio.
O'Donnell began her broadcast career at WJW-TV as
an associate producer and reporter and graduated from
Northwestern University.
Lorelei Kelly
Research Fellow
Open Technology Initiative
New America Foundation
Lorelei is the founder or
director of five projects in
Washington, D.C. with the
purpose of system-level
change in information flows
between Congress and
American citizens. She joined the New America
Foundation's Open Technology Institute to pilot Smart
Congress --a de-centralized system of expert
knowledge and civic participation methods to
modernize Congress and increase evidence-based
decision making. OTI’s mission is to build a peaceful,
connected and open global public square for the 21st
Century. Lorelei is a civil-military expert, and --during
this time of transition-- is looking at the governance
implications of distributed power, including the limits
of military force and the need for civil-military balance
in cyber security policy. She is examining the
requirements of a security strategy for civil society, i.e.
privacy, the right to be connected and how citizens can
better spend their social capital for political power.
Lorelei has degrees from Grinnell College and Stanford
University. After living in Berlin while the Cold War
ended, she taught at Stanford’s Center on Conflict and
Negotiation, then set-up a House-Senate bipartisan
study group on global security. She also attended the
Air Command and Staff College of the US Air
Force. Lorelei has published numerous articles and is
the co-author of 2 books, both free and available
online.
Bob Cusack
Managing Editor
The Hill
Bob Cusack serves as
Managing Editor of Capitol
Hill Publishing Corp. Mr.
Cusack has been reporting on
policy and politics in the
nation's capital since 1995. He
joined Capitol Hill as Business
and Lobbying Editor in 2003 and became the
newspaper's Managing Editor a year later. He regularly
appears on MSNBC, Fox, ABC and CNN as a Political
Analyst. Before joining The Hill, he served as a Chief
Editor at Inside Washington Publishers. He is a
Member of the Screen Actors Guild and has appeared
in commercials, television shows and feature films. He
has won five awards from the National Press Club and
the Society of Professional Journalists for investigative
articles on a range of issues, including national security,
healthcare and 2008 presidential politics surrounding
Hurricane Katrina. He holds a B.A. in Journalism from
Loyola College in Maryland.
Ed O’Keefe
Congressional Reporter
The Washington Post
Ed O’Keefe is a congressional
reporter with The Washington
Post, having covered the 2008
and 2012 presidential and
congressional elections.
Previously, O’Keefe authored
The Post’s Federal Eye blog,
which tracks federal agencies,
federal employees and government oversight issues.
During the 2008 election season, he was one of The
Post’s first reporters to travel the campaign trail as a
video journalist, blogger and contributor to the
newspaper.
O’Keefe joined The Post in 2005 as
a washingtonpost.com home page producer, and
briefly served as a producer and on-air contributor to
Washington Post Radio. He is a frequent guest of radio
and television programs on BBC, Fox News Channel,
MSNBC, NPR, PBS and Sirius/XM.
O’Keefe holds a Bachelor of political science from
American University.
A native of Albany, N.Y., his journalism career began
at a young age when he would summarize the morning
newspaper for his father over breakfast. As a teenager,
he wrote and published a quarterly newsletter for his
extended family, called “O’Keefe Etc.”
Rep. Debbie Wasserman
Schultz (D-FL-23)
Chair
Democratic National
Committee
For more than 19 years, Debbie
Wasserman Schultz has
dedicated her public life to
working on behalf of the
people of South Florida. On November 2, 2004, she
was elected as a member of the United States House of
Representatives, and on May 4, 2011, was elected chair
of the Democratic National Committee.
Rep. Wasserman Schultz represents Florida's 23rd
Congressional district, which encompasses parts of
Florida as far north as Fort Lauderdale and as far south
as Miami Beach. Before joining the U.S. Congress, she
was first a representative and later a senator in the
Florida state legislature.
In the House of Representatives, Rep. Wasserman
Schultz serves on the House Budget Committee. She
also serves as a chief deputy whip, where she works to
advance important legislation, placing her among the
House leadership.
Rep. Wasserman Schultz has commanded the respect
of her colleagues through her tenacity and hard work
on many priority issues, including education, health
care, children's issues, and Social Security, to name a
few.
She introduced and helped pass the PROTECT Our
Children Act, which creates the largest law
enforcement effort ever formed for the protection of
children (H.R. 3845), and authored the Virginia
Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (H.R. 1721)
which was passed to combat childhood drowning.
Rep. Wasserman Schultz, the first Jewish
congresswoman ever elected from Florida, introduced
a resolution that passed the House of Representatives
and called on the President to declare a Jewish
American Heritage Month. The President subsequently
did so, with the inaugural month in May, 2006.
harnessing the power of new technology, Reince will
lead the RNC in building the infrastructure needed to
win more elections in 2013, 2014 and beyond.
In March 2009, after she announced her own battle
with breast cancer, Rep. Wasserman Schultz introduced
the Education and Awareness Requires Learning
Young Act, or EARLY Act (H.R. 1740), a piece of
legislation that directs the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention to develop and implement a national
education campaign about the threat breast cancer
poses to all young women, and the particular
heightened risks of certain ethnic, cultural and racial
groups. This bill became law as part of the Affordable
Health Care for America Act in March 2010.
A successful chairman of the Republican Party of
Wisconsin, Reince created the framework that brought
about one of the most historic election cycles
Wisconsin has ever experienced. During Reince’s
tenure, Republicans in Wisconsin not only defeated
Russ Feingold by electing Ron Johnson to the Senate,
but they gained two additional U.S. House seats, won
the Governor’s office, took back both the state
Assembly and the state Senate while defeating the
leaders of both of those chambers.
On April 6, 2011, Rep. Wasserman Schultz was
nominated by President Obama to serve as chair of the
Democratic National Committee. As chair, Rep.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz works every day to
advance President Obama's agenda, to elect
Democratic candidates across the country, and to
promote Democratic values.
Reince has a long history in Republican politics, having
served on his first campaign at the age of 16. Since
then, he worked his way up through the ranks of the
Republican Party of Wisconsin as 1st Congressional
District Chairman, State Party Treasurer, First Vice
Chair, and eventually State Party Chairman. In 2009,
Reince served as General Counsel to the RNC, a role
in which he volunteered his time to help manage the
RNC’s most difficult challenges.
Rep. Wasserman Schultz was born in Long Island,
New York, and received her bachelor's and master's
degrees from the University of Florida. She and her
husband Steve live in Weston, Florida, with their three
children.
Reince and his wife, Sally, have two young children,
Jack and Grace. Reince is a lifelong Packers fan and
calls Kenosha, Wisconsin, home
Reince Priebus
Chair
Reince Priebus was elected
Chairman of the Republican
National Committee on January
14, 2011, and reelected on
January 25, 2013, putting him on
track to become only the seventh
person to serve four years as Republican Party
Chairman. In his first term as Chairman, Reince
oversaw a dramatic turnaround of the RNC, rescuing
its finances, rebuilding the operations and
implementing the best ground game effort the RNC
has ever organized. As former RNC Chairman Ed
Gillespie proclaimed, “Reince saved the RNC.”
In his second term as Chairman, Reince is committed
to taking the party’s message of freedom and economic
opportunity to all states and all communities. Reince
believes growing the party requires making
conservative principles relevant and relatable to all
Americans. By welcoming new voices and voters and
Stu Rothenberg
Editor & Publisher
Stuart Rothenberg is editor and
publisher of The Rothenberg
Political Report, a non-partisan
political newsletter covering U.S.
House, Senate and gubernatorial
campaigns, Presidential politics
and political developments. He is
also a twice-a-week columnist for Roll Call, Capitol
Hill’s premier newspaper.
He holds a B.A. from Colby College (Waterville,
Maine) and a Ph.D. in political science from
the University of Connecticut. He has taught at
Bucknell University (Lewisburg, Pennsylvania) and at
the Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C.).
A frequent soundbite, Mr. Rothenberg has appeared on
Meet the Press, This Week, Face the Nation, The
NewsHour, Nightline and many other television
programs. He is often quoted in the nation’s major
media, and his op-eds have appeared in The New York
Times, The Washington Post, the Wall Street
Journal and other newspapers.
Mr. Rothenberg served as an election night analyst for
the Newshour on PBS in the last three election cycles
and for CBS News in 2006. Prior to that, he was an onair political analyst for CNN for over a decade,
including election nights from 1992 through 2004. He
has also done on-air analysis for the Voice of America.
Nathan Gonzales
Deputy Editor
Nathan L. Gonzales is Deputy
Editor of The Rothenberg
Political Report, a non-partisan
political publication covering
U.S. House, Senate and
gubernatorial campaigns and
Presidential politics. He has
been with RPR for over a decade and is a Contributing
Writer for Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper.
Nathan is also Founder and Publisher
of PoliticsinStereo.com, featuring state-based political
news from the Left, the Right and non-partisan sources.
Since 2002, Nathan has worked as an off-air consultant
for ABC NEWS on their Election Night Decision
Desk. Previously, he worked for CNN.com and as
associate producer for CNN’s Capital Gang.
His quotes have appeared in the New York Times,
Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today,
as well as numerous state and regional newspapers all
across the country. Nathan has also appeared on the
Newshour on PBS, MSNBC's Daily Rundown, CNN,
Fox News Channel, and other local network affiliates.
Nathan grew up in Oregon, earned his M.A. from the
George Washington University's Graduate School of
Political Management (Washington, DC) and his B.A.
from Vanguard University (Costa Mesa, California). He
first came to Washington, D.C. as an intern in the
White House Press Office and now lives in the city
with his wife and three children.
Tom DeFrank
Contributor
National Journal
Tom DeFrank is a legendary
journalist, Best-selling Author
and Contributing Editor, for
National Journal. His reporting
has been praised as
"riveting." ABC News calls him
"excellent, well-connected and
influential" and "legendary." The American Journalism
Review has rated him "one of the unsung stars of
Washington journalism." The New York Times ranked
him as one of the country's best political ghostwriters.
And President Gerald R. Ford called him "one of the
finest journalists I have ever known. Everyone I know
feels the same way: you are fair, trustworthy and
professional."
One of Washington's most respected Presidentwatchers, Tom DeFrank is a veteran political journalist
and author. As Washington bureau chief of The New
York Daily News (1996-2013) he directed coverage of
the nation's capital for the country's fourth-largest
metropolitan daily newspaper. Today he serves as
Contributing Editor for the National Journal.
He has been honored by the White House
Correspondents' Association for "his exclusive
reporting as well as his ability to pack lively analysis
into compact spaces."
His 2007 book on 30 years of private conversations
with President Ford, Write it When I'm Gone, was
a New York Times and Washington Post best seller.
In 2006, DeFrank won the Gerald R. Ford Prize for
distinguished reporting on the Presidency. In
announcing the award, the judges noted: "His coverage
of the White House demonstrated a particularly keen
perception of relationships among principals and how
these relationships influenced official policy. His
articles were consistently accurate, balanced in
judgment, and usually ahead of his competitors. "
The 2008 Presidential campaign was the eleventh he
has covered in 40 years as a Washington reporter. He
has covered the resignation of one President, the
impeachment of a second and was an eyewitness to
two assassination attempts against a third.
DeFrank was Newsweek's senior White House
correspondent for a quarter century and also served as
deputy chief of the magazine's Washington bureau for
twelve years. Assigned to the White House beat since
1970, DeFrank has covered eight Presidents: Nixon,
Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama.
DeFrank has appeared on several public affairs
television programs, including Meet the Press, Face the
Nation, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Larry King Live,
The Beltway Boys, Washington Week in Review, Fox
News, The Charlie Rose Show, Fox & Friends and CSPAN.
He has been a student of the Presidency since 1968,
when he took his first Presidential trip with Lyndon
Johnson as a Newsweek intern. He traveled extensively
with Richard Nixon from 1970 to 1972 and was
assigned to cover Vice President Gerald Ford in the fall
of 1973. A few months before Nixon's resignation, he
was reassigned to the White House and remained when
Ford became President in August 1974. He was an
eyewitness to both assassination attempts against Ford
in 1975.
He has covered 16 United States-Russian summits
beginning with the historic 1974 Ford-Brezhnev
meeting at Vladivostok. He has traveled to all 50 states
and 48 countries as a White House reporter and is a
former president of the White House Correspondents'
Association.
DeFrank has reported on congressional and military
affairs, and in 1973 covered the return of U.S.
prisoners of war from Vietnam at Clark Air Base in the
Philippines. He also reported extensively on the
Persian Gulf War, traveling to Saudi Arabia with
President Bush in November 1990 and Secretary of
Defense Dick Cheney and General Colin Powell in
December 1990.
He is the only newsmagazine correspondent to win
both of the White House Correspondents' Association
awards for distinguished Presidential reporting. He has
also shared in several other reporting awards, including
the Overseas Press Club's award for his reporting of
the 1987 Reagan-Gorbachev summit
and Newsweek's National Magazine Award for the
1992 Presidential campaign.
DeFrank was on active duty at the Pentagon from 1968
to 1970 as a public affairs officer. Before
joining Newsweek, he was a reporter for the Fort
Worth Star-Telegram, Bryan (Texas) Daily
Eagle and Minneapolis Star.
A native of Arlington, Texas, DeFrank is a 1967 high
honors graduate of Texas A&M University, where he
edited the campus newspaper, and has a master's
degree from the University of Minnesota.
Roger Simon
Columnist
Politico
Roger Simon is the Chief
Political Columnist
of Politico. He grew up on
the South Side of Chicago
where politics was a contact
sport.
At the Chicago Sun-Times,
where he wrote a column four times per week, Simon
was taught that the only way for a journalist to look
upon a politician was down. He now fights against that
impulse daily.
Simon also has been a columnist for the Baltimore Sun,
a White House correspondent for the Chicago
Tribune and the political editor of U.S. News World
Report. His column is syndicated to newspapers
around the country. He has written columns from
Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt, Israel and South Africa.
Simon is a New York Times best-selling author. He has
won more than three dozen first-place awards and is
the only person to win twice the American Society of
Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award for
Commentary.
Simon also won the National Headliner Award three
times including 2005 for his coverage of the 2004
presidential election. His work has been included in the
"Best Newspaper Writing in America" in three
different years.
Simon, who has a B.A. degree in English from the
University of Illinois, has been a Poynter Media Fellow
at Yale University, a Hoover Media Fellow at Stanford
University, and in the spring of 2005 was a Kennedy
School of Government Institute of Politics Fellow at
Harvard University. He was also inducted into the
Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame, whose members
include Carl Sandburg, Ben Hecht, Ring Lardner and
Mike Royko.
Post, Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Amarillo
Globe-News.
When Simon dies, he intends to be buried in Chicago,
so he can still participate in the politics of that city.
Garrett is the author of three books: "Common
Cents," with former Rep. Tim Penny (D-Minn.), Little,
Brown Publisher, 1995; "The 15 Biggest Lies in
Politics," St. Martin's 1999; "The Enduring
Revolution," Crown Forum 2005.
Major Garrett
Chief White House
Correspondent
CBS News
Major Garrett was named CBS
News' Chief White House
Correspondent in November
2012. As Chief White House
Correspondent, Garrett reports
for all CBS News broadcasts and platforms. He is also
a substitute anchor of "Face The Nation."
While covering the White House for CBS News,
Garrett reported extensively on the fiscal cliff
negotiations; covered President Obama's second
inauguration; and reported breaking details of Obama's
gun control proposals after the mass shooting in
Newtown, Conn. Garrett also traveled with President
Obama to the Middle East to cover the president's first
foreign trip of his second term in office.
Before joining CBS News as Chief White House
Correspondent, Garrett was a fixture during CBS
News' coverage of Campaign 2012 through a
partnership with the National Journal, where he was
Chief White House Correspondent. He co-hosted the
network's coverage of the 2011 South Carolina
Republican Primary debate alongside "CBS Evening
News" Anchor and Managing Editor Scott Pelley.
Prior to National Journal, Garrett was the Chief White
House Correspondent for Fox News. During his eight
years at Fox, Garrett also covered two presidential
elections, Congress, the war in Iraq and other major
stories. Before joining Fox News, Garrett was a White
House correspondent for CNN during the
administrations of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
Previously, he was a senior editor and congressional
correspondent for U.S. News and World Report,
where he reported on Congress and the impeachment
of President Clinton. He was a congressional reporter
for The Washington Times (1990-95) and the
newspaper's deputy national editor (1995-97). Earlier in
his career, Garrett was a reporter for The Houston
Garrett was graduated in 1984 from the University of
Missouri with degrees in journalism and political
science. A native of San Diego, Calif., he lives in
Washington, D.C.
Martha Kumar, Ph.D.
Professor of Political Science
Towson University
Dr. Martha Joynt Kumar is a
Professor in the Department of
Political Science at Towson
University. As a scholar with a
research focus on the White House,
she is interested in presidential –
press relations, White House communications
operations, and presidential transitions. Her most
recent book, Managing the President’s Message: The
White House Communication Operation, won a 2008
Richard E. Neustadt Award from the presidency
section of the American Political Science Association.
Her previous books include White House World:
Transitions, Organization, and Office Operations and
Portraying the President: The White House and the
News Media with Michael Grossman. Managing the
President’s Message is coming out in April 2010 in a
paperback edition with a postscript comparison of the
communications operations of Presidents Obama,
George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. Her most recent
publication is “The 2008-2009 Transition Through the
Voices of the Participants,” which is in the December
2009 issue of Presidential Studies Quarterly.
She is director of the White House Transition Project,
which is a nonpartisan effort by presidency scholars to
provide information on presidential transitions and
White House operations to those who came into the
White House in January 2009 as the group did in 2001.
She worked with the transition operations of
presidential candidates Barack Obama and John
McCain and with the team representing President
George W. Bush. In the fall of 2008, she testified on
effective practices for presidential transitions before
the House Oversight and Government Reform
Subcommittee on Government Management,
Organization, and Procurement hearing: "Passing the
Baton: Preparing for the Presidential Transition." The
project builds on the earlier White House 2001 Project,
which was designed to build an institutional memory
for seven White House offices in order to provide the
information to new staff coming into the selected
positions in 2001. The White House 2001 Project was
funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and was
associated with the Transition to Governing Project of
the American Enterprise Institute.
Professor Kumar has received grants from the Ford
Foundation as well as The Pew Charitable Trusts. In
1998 she was a fellow at the Joan Shorenstein Center
on Press Politics at the Kennedy School at Harvard
University. Professor Kumar was named by the
University System of Maryland to be a Wilson H.
Elkins Professor for 2003-2004 and again for 20052006 to support her work on presidential
communications and to fund an interactive course she
has taught each spring beginning in 2004: “White
House Communications Operations.” She interviews
White House officials and reporters in Washington
with her students back at Towson hooked in through
an Internet connection.
In now the seventh year she has taught the course, she
has interviews with over 70 reporters and officials. The
interviews are video streamed nationwide and available
at:
http://www.ucdc.edu/aboutus/whstreaming_archive.c
fm. The Wilson H. Elkins grants also funded her work
on presidential press conferences.
Kumar grew up in the Washington area and went to
Connecticut College for her BA in government and
then an MA and a PhD in political science from
Columbia University. In between her masters and
doctoral degrees, she taught at Tennessee State
University in Nashville and worked as a researcher in
the Election Unit of the News Department at NBC. In
2008, she was elected as a fellow of the National
Academy of Public Administration. In addition to her
scholarly work, Kumar is currently on the board of
directors and the executive committee of the White
House Historical Association, the board of the
National Coalition for History, and serves as the
representative to the National Archives for the
American Political Science Association. She is a
member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (RFL-27)
Chair
Foreign Affairs Subcommittee
on Middle East and South Asia
Congresswoman Ileana RosLehtinen proudly represents
Florida's 27th Congressional
District, a diverse area which
includes Coral Gables, Cutler Bay, Hialeah, Key
Biscayne, Little Havana, Miami, Pinecrest, South Miami,
and Westchester.
The Congresswoman was born in Havana, Cuba in July
of 1952. At the age of eight, she and her family were
forced to flee from the oppressive communist regime
of Fidel Castro. They settled in Miami and put down
permanent roots in their community. She attended
Southside Elementary School in Little Havana, West
Miami Junior High, and Southwest High School. In the
years following, she earned an Associate of Arts degree
from Miami-Dade Community College in 1972,
Bachelors and Masters Degree in Education from
Florida International University in 1975 and 1985
respectively, and a Doctorate in Education from the
University of Miami in 2004. She considers education a
lifelong journey.
Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen began her career as a
Florida certified teacher. She also founded and served
as the principal and teacher of a private bilingual
elementary school in Hialeah. She was inspired to enter
public service by many of the parents and students; to
fight on their behalf for a stronger educational system,
lower taxes, and a brighter economic future.
In 1982 She was elected to the Florida State House of
Representatives and the Florida Senate in 1986,
becoming the first Hispanic woman to serve in either
body. In the state legislature she authored the Florida
Prepaid College Plan, which is now the largest pre paid
college tuition program in the nation. More than one
million Florida families have used this program to send
their children to college.
The Congresswoman was elected to the U.S. House of
Representatives in 1989—the first Hispanic woman to
serve in Congress—following a special election to fill
the seat held by the late Claude Pepper. She has been
strongly returned to Congress since, winning 60% of
the vote in 2012.
To this day, she remains committed to improving the
lives of her constituents and their beautiful South
Florida community. As the economy remains a
pressing issue, she supports reducing taxes and cutting
back unnecessary government spending. She also
supports plans to balance the federal budget and
increase tax incentives for small businesses and middle
class families. South Florida has also felt the
devastating effects of the housing crisis. She has fought
to end predatory lending practices by mortgage
companies and extend the first time homebuyers tax
credit.
Given her background in education, the
Congresswoman has worked to strengthen the Head
Start program. She has also supported legislation to
increase the availability to student financial aid and
revise the cumbersome and complicated Federal
Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) process.
The Congresswoman is a strong advocate of programs
that address the serious problem of domestic violence
against women. She was a lead sponsor of the
reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act,
which increases resources towards the prosecution of
domestic violence, dating violence, and sexual assault.
She also supports legislation to increase criminal
penalties for perpetrators of Medicare fraud. Medicare
fraud is a deplorable practice which robs hardworking
seniors of the benefits they spent a lifetime earning,
while also wasting billions in taxpayer dollars.
As the wife of a Vietnam veteran and step-mother to
Marine aviators, she is passionate about improving our
nation’s military, safeguarding veteran’s health care,
and ensuring that returning veterans have access to a
college education. She has been an outspoken critic of
the Miami VA’s recent failures to notify veterans who
were at risk of infection, due to contaminated
colonoscopy equipment. She also authored legislation
awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the Women
Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). These women
pioneers had been denied recognition for their service
during World War II.
Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen is
Chairman emeritus of the House Committee on
Foreign Affairs and is now Chairman of the
Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.
In this role, she continues to voice her strong support
for the state of Israel and human rights, including her
opposition to Castro’s dictatorial regime in Cuba. She
has also led on pressing foreign policy issues including
the fight against Islamist extremism, and support of
free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and
South Korea.
The Congresswoman also serves as a member of the
House Committee on Rules. This Committee decides
what legislation makes it to the House floor and its
members are chosen by the Speaker of the House. Her
priorities as a member of this Committee are to get our
nation’s economy back on track and ensure passage of
legislation that betters the state of our nation.
Bill Plante
Senior White House
Correspondent
CBS News
Bill Plante has been a CBS News
White House correspondent during
the administrations of Ronald
Reagan (beginning in 1981), Bill
Clinton, George W. Bush and
Barack Obama. During the administration of the first
President Bush, he was CBS News' State Department
correspondent (1989-92). Plante's reports are seen
regularly on "CBS This Morning," where he is senior
White House correspondent, and the "CBS Evening
News with Scott Pelley."
Plante has been based in CBS News' Washington
bureau since December 1976. He has covered every
Presidential campaign since 1968. Before his first
White House assignment, he covered general and offyear elections, including the national political
conventions. In 1968, he reported on the campaigns of
Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon. During the
1972 campaign, Plante's assignments included covering
candidates George McGovern and Sargent Shriver. In
the summer of 1976, he covered Jimmy Carter and
then, in the fall, Walter Mondale's vice presidential
campaign. Plante was a floor reporter at the 1988
Democratic and Republican National Conventions.
During the Reagan presidency, he covered the
President's activities and major overseas trips, including
the historic summit meeting in Moscow with Mikhail
Gorbachev. Plante was part of the CBS News team
that received a 1986 Emmy Award for coverage of the
Reagan-Gorbachev summit at Reykjavik, Iceland. He
also covered Reagan's 1984 reelection campaign and
was part of the CBS News team that won an Emmy
Award for its coverage.
Senator John Glenn on the 50th anniversary of the
nation's first orbital flight.
At the State Department, he covered Secretary of State
James Baker's trips to the Middle East, both before and
after the Gulf War; the changing U.S.-Soviet
relationship during that period; and the 1991 Middle
East peace talks, among many others.
He served as anchor of the "CBS Sunday Night News"
(1988-95).
He has received many major broadcast journalism
awards. In addition to Emmy Awards for his coverage
of the death of Princess Diana, the Reagan-Gorbachev
summit and Reagan's 1984 reelection campaign, he
won an Emmy for his investigative report on the U.S.Soviet wheat deal broadcast on the "CBS Evening
News" (1972). Plante's international work was
recognized with a 1971 Overseas Press Club Award for
his reports on the India-Pakistan War, and a second in
1975 for Best Radio Spot News Reporting for his
coverage of the fall of the South Vietnam and
Cambodian governments and evacuation of American
personnel.
Plante's reporting has not been restricted to politics,
however. He covered the fall of Skylab and Pope John
Paul II's visit to the United States, both in 1979. Earlier
that year, following the Shah's departure from Iran,
Plante reported on the revolution in that country and
was one of two American journalists to cover a
revolutionary trial in Teheran. He was the reporter on a
1977 five-part series examining America's criminal
justice system for the "CBS Evening News with Walter
Cronkite."
Plante served as a correspondent in the Chicago bureau
(1966-76) after he joined CBS News in June 1964 as a
New York-based reporter/assignment editor. During
that time, he served two of his four tours of duty in
Vietnam, reporting on the bombing strikes over North
Vietnam, the Vietnamization and pacification programs
in the south and the fall of the governments in
Vietnam and Cambodia. Plante also covered the civil
rights movement in Mississippi and Alabama, including
Dr. Martin Luther King's historic march from Selma to
Montgomery.
Plante's recent White House coverage includes the first
trip by a U.S. President to Myanmar (Burma) by
President Obama, in addition to his trips to Indonesia
and Korea. Additionally, he reported on the recent
fiscal cliff negotiations, the sex scandal involving Secret
Service agents assigned to protect President Obama
while attending a summit in Cartagena, Colombia, and
the 40th anniversary of Watergate. Plante also provided
the first-ever look inside the exclusive Washington,
D.C. hideaway that serves as a hotel for former
presidents and interviewed astronaut John Glenn on
the 50th anniversary of NASA's launch of Friendship 7.
In addition to his White House coverage, Plante
recently returned to Selma, Ala. in March 2012 to cover
a commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King's historic
march. He also interviewed former astronaut and U.S.
He was born in Chicago. Plante was graduated from
Loyola University in 1959 with a bachelor's degree in
humanities, and he studied political science at
Columbia University (1963-64). He and his wife, Robin
Smith, an award-winning independent documentary
producer, live in Washington, D.C. Plante has six sons.
Dee Dee Myers
White House Press Secretary
Clinton Administration
Dee Dee Myers is a Managing
Director at The Glover Park
Group, one of the nation’s
fastest-growing and most
respected independent
communications companies.
With years of experience in
politics, policy and media, she counsels corporate and
non-profit clients on strategic communications,
reputation management and integrated marketing.
Myers served as White House Press Secretary during
President Bill Clinton’s first term, the first woman to
hold that job. She was the president’s chief spokesman,
managing day-to-day interactions with the media and
providing strategic communications counsel to the
president and his administration.
In addition to her duties at The Glover Park Group,
Myers continues in her role as a respected political
analyst and commentator. She is a Contributing Editor
to Vanity Fair, where she helps shape the magazine’s
coverage of politics and blogs for its website, vf.com.
Her work has also appeared in numerous other
publications, including The New York
Times; Time; O, Oprah Magazine; the Washington
Post; Politico; and the Los Angeles Times. She appears
frequently on network and cable television, radio and
internet programs and is a popular lecturer on politics,
the media and women’s issues.
Her 2008 book, Why Women Should Rule the
World (HarperCollins), became a New York
Times best-seller. Combining the most up-to-date
scientific studies with interviews, anecdotes and
personal experience, Myers makes a compelling case
that women should serve alongside men at the highest
levels of public life – not because it’s politically correct,
but because it’s in our self-interest. The balance of
skills, experience and perspectives that men and
women bring make our businesses more profitable, our
government more representative and our world fairer
and freer, she argues. The book earned Myers an
EMMA Award for Excellence and a Georgetown
University Women’s Leadership Initiative Award.
Myers was an original consultant for the highlyacclaimed NBC drama, The West Wing. Throughout
the show’s long, prize-winning run, Myers worked with
the writers, directors, producers, cast and crew to shape
stories, create the “look and feel” of the production
and contribute to it overall sense of verisimilitude.
Myers was recognized by the Academy of Television
Arts & Sciences for her contributions.
Before joining the Clinton Administration, Myers
worked on numerous political campaigns. She was
National Press Secretary for the Clinton for President
campaign in 1991-1992. She also worked on the
presidential campaigns of Michael Dukakis and Walter
Mondale; the California gubernatorial campaigns of
Dianne Feinstein and Tom Bradley; and a number of
local campaigns. She served as Deputy Press Secretary
for Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and as a district
representative for California State Senator Art Torres.
Myers is a graduate of Santa Clara University. She lives
in Washington, DC, with her husband, Todd S.
Purdum, National Editor of Vanity Fair, and their
children.
Tony Fratto
Deputy Press Secretary
George W. Bush
Administration
With two decades of broad
experience in Washington, DC,
Tony Fratto has earned a
reputation as a trusted and
authoritative voice on
economic, legal, political and
public policy issues.
Tony is an on-air contributor with the CNBC Business
News Network addressing current economic policy
issues, and his columns can be found on CNBC.com.
He is also a member of the Center for Global
Development’s Partners Council.
After serving as Assistant Secretary in the U.S.
Treasury Department, Tony moved to the White
House in September 2006 as Deputy Assistant to the
President and Principal Deputy Press Secretary. He
worked directly with the President and senior
Administration officials, the national press corps,
opinion leaders, and foreign news media, regularly
briefed reporters from the White House podium and
participated in on-camera cable and network interviews.
Tony was the White House communicator responsible
for international and domestic economic policy
issues—including international trade; global financial
markets; banking; and international development and
global health issues. He was also the White House’s
lead spokesman on legal issues; Supreme Court cases;
U.S. intelligence issues; terrorist financing; and financial
crimes.
Before moving to the White House, Tony served as the
U.S. Treasury Department’s chief spokesman on issues
related to domestic finance, debt management, banking,
international economics and international development
policy. He was instrumental in leading the
Administration’s communications strategy in dealing
with emerging market financial crises, currency policy,
macroeconomic policy, and tax policy. Tony assisted
three U.S. Treasury secretaries on activities ranging
from preparation for G7 and G20 finance ministers
meetings, IMF and World Bank meetings,
congressional testimony, media interviews, and
speeches. Combining his work at the Treasury and the
White House, Tony directed and participated in
communications efforts in more than 60 countries
around the world.
Before joining the Bush Administration, Tony served
as a communications specialist for the Bush-Cheney
campaign. Prior to that he served as Vice President of
Government Affairs for the Pittsburgh Regional
Alliance, where he led successful public affairs and
issue campaigns resulting in important infrastructure
investments and legislative policy changes in
Pennsylvania.
Earlier in his career, he served in senior legislative and
communications positions in the U.S. Congress and
Senate, and as a political director to Pennsylvania
Governor Tom Ridge.
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Tony
received his bachelor’s degree in Economics from the
University of Pittsburgh, and attended the university’s
Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.
He lives in Washington, DC with his wife, Judy, and
their young children, Antonio and Juliette.
Josh Earnest
Principal Deputy Press Secretary
The White House
Josh Earnest is Special Assistant
to the President and Principal
Deputy Press Secretary and Chief
of Staff in the White House
Office of Communications. Mr.
Earnest attended Rice University,
where he majored in political science and policy studies.
He joined then-Senator Obama’s presidential campaign
in March 2007 as his Iowa Communications Director.
He is a native of Kansas City, Missouri.
Candy Crowley
Chief Political Correspondent
Anchor – “State of the Union”
CNN
Candy Crowley is CNN's
award-winning chief political
correspondent and anchor
of State of the Union with
Candy Crowley, a political hour
of newsmaker interviews and
analysis of the week’s most important issues. Crowley
took the reins of State of the Union in February 2010.
In her role as chief political correspondent, Crowley
covers a broad range of stories, including presidential,
congressional and gubernatorial races and major
legislative developments on Capitol Hill. Crowley was
selected by the Commission on Presidential Debates to
moderate a 2012 general election debate between
President Obama and Gov. Romney. The town hall
debate, scheduled for Oct. 16, 2012 in Hempstead, NY,
will be the first debate moderated by a woman in two
decades.
Crowley’s assignments have taken her to all 50 states
and around the world. Since taking the anchor chair for
State of the Union, Crowley has interviewed top
newsmakers including: Vice President Joe Biden,
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner, outgoing Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates; former President George W. Bush
together with his brother, former Florida Governor Jeb
Bush; former Vice President Dick Cheney together
with his daughter Liz Cheney; and 2012 Republican
presidential candidates Rep. Michele Bachmann,
businessman Herman Cain, former Speaker of the
House Newt Gingrich, former Utah Gov. Jon
Huntsman, Rep. Ron Paul and former Pennsylvania
Sen. Rick Santorum.
Crowley has co-anchored key primary and caucus
nights throughout America’s Choice 2012 election
coverage. She played a pivotal role in CNN’s America
Votes 2008 Peabody Award-winning coverage,
traveling to both conventions, every debate and
additional stops along the campaign trail. In 2009, she
earned a prestigious Gracie Allen Award for coverage
of Hillary Clinton’s bid for the White House. She also
was part of the network’s Emmy Award-winning 2006
midterm election coverage.
She has covered the presidential campaigns of Pat
Buchanan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill
Clinton, Howard Dean, Bob Dole, Jesse Jackson,
Edward Kennedy, John Kerry, Barack Obama and
Ronald Reagan, among others. Since the presidential
nomination of Jimmy Carter, she has covered all but
one of the national political conventions. She was also
granted an exclusive sit-down interview with President
George W. Bush days before he left office.
Among her most vivid memories as a reporter,
Crowley counts the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in
the Gulf Coast; the impeachment trial of President
Clinton; Election Night 2000; ceremonies marking the
40th anniversary of D-Day on the beaches of
Normandy; Ronald Reagan’s trips to China, Bitburg
and Bergen-Belsen; the night the United States
bombed Libya; and the terrorist bombing of the U.S.
Marine barracks in Beirut.
Crowley began her broadcast journalism career in
Washington, D.C., as a newsroom assistant for
Metromedia radio station WASH. She has served as an
anchor for Mutual Broadcasting and as a general
assignment and White House correspondent for the
Associated Press, where she covered most of the
Reagan era before moving on to NBC-TV to become a
general assignment correspondent in NBC’s
Washington bureau. She came to CNN from NBC
News in 1987. Prior to her current role, Crowley served
as a congressional correspondent for the network.
In 2012, Crowley delivered the commencement address
at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield,
Iowa, where she was presented with the Maharishi
Award. Also in 2012, Crowley was honored with the
American News Women’s Club Award for Excellence in
Journalism. In 2005, Crowley was honored with the
Edward R. Murrow award and the Joan Shorenstein
Barone Award for excellence in journalism for her
reporting on the 2004 presidential election. In 2004,
Crowley won the Gracie Allen Award in the “National
News Story-Series” category for “War Stories” and a
National Headliner and a Cine award for CNN Presents:
Fit to Kill. In 2003, Crowley won an Emmy for her
work on CNN Presents Enemy Within. She won the
1999 DuPont-Columbia University Silver Baton Award
for her coverage of the impeachment and trial of
President Bill Clinton. She won the 2003 and 1998
Dirksen Awards for distinguished reporting on Congress
from the National Press Foundation and the 1997 Joan
Shorenstein Barone Award for her coverage of Bob
Dole’s campaign for the presidency. She received the
Associated Press Broadcasters’ Award for spot news
reporting for her coverage of the Reagan campaign, as
well as the AP Award for in-depth coverage of the 1980
Reagan campaign. Her reporting on more than a dozen
1992 U.S. Senate campaigns was runner-up for the Joan
Shorenstein Barone Award for Outstanding Journalism.
Crowley also won the Columbia University’s Armstrong
Award for Freedom is My Woman, a documentary on a
prison cellblock takeover.
Crowley earned a bachelor’s degree from RandolphMacon Woman’s College.
Fred Wertheimer
Founder
Democracy 21
Fred Wertheimer is the Founder
and President of Democracy 21,
a nonprofit, nonpartisan
organization that works to
strengthen our democracy and promotes government
integrity, accountability and transparency measures to
accomplish its goals.
Wertheimer has spent more than four decades working
on democracy and governance issues, and is a
recognized national leader and spokesman on money in
politics issues, including campaign finance, ethics,
lobbying and transparency reforms.
He has been described by The New York Times as
“the country’s leading proponent of campaign finance
reform,” and “the dean of campaign finance reformers,”
by Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne as “the
eminence grise of the campaign reform movement”
and by The Boston Globe as a “legendary opengovernment activist.”
The Washington Post said “Democracy 21 is one of
Washington’s foremost watchdog groups.”
Wertheimer was named as one of Washington’s 90
greatest lawyers of the last 30 years by Legal Times in
2008 and as one of Washington’s top lobbyists for
several years by The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper.
A graduate of the University of Michigan and Harvard
Law School, Wertheimer served from 1981 to 1995 as
President of Common Cause, a nonpartisan citizens’
lobby. He served in 1996 as a Fellow at the
Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public
Policy at Harvard University, and in 1997 as the J.
Skelly Wright Fellow and Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law
School. Wertheimer also has served as a political
analyst and consultant for CBS News, ABC
News and ABC’s Nightline.
Michael Beschloss
Presidential Historian
Author
Michael Beschloss is an awardwinning historian, Number #1
best-selling author of nine books
and a regular commentator on
both NBC and PBS. He coauthored with Caroline Kennedy
the Number #1 New York Times best seller Jacqueline
Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F.
Kennedy (2011). He is currently working on a history
of American Presidents in wartime from James
Madison to George W. Bush, which will be published
by Crown in 2015.
Newsweek has called Beschloss “the nation's leading
Presidential historian.” The Charlotte Observer has
said, "Michael Beschloss knows more about America's
44 presidents than perhaps anyone on earth."
The New York Times Book Review has called him
"easily the most widely recognized Presidential
historian in the United States." Albert Hunt of
Bloomberg News has called him "a national treasure."
He serves as the NBC News Presidential Historian—
the first time any major network has created such a
position—and appears on all NBC programs. He is
also a regular contributor to the PBS NewsHour. In
2005, he won an Emmy for his role in creating the
Discovery Channel series Decisions that Shook the
World, of which he was the host.
Beschloss was born in Chicago in 1955. An alumnus of
Phillips Academy (Andover) and Williams College, he
also has an advanced degree from the Harvard
Business School. He has been an historian on the staff
of the Smithsonian Institution (1982-1986), a senior
associate member at Oxford University in England
(1986-1987) and a senior fellow of the Annenberg
Foundation in Washington, D.C. (1988-1996).
In 2007, Simon and Schuster published his
book Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How
They Changed America, 1789-1989,which was a
Number #1 Washington Post best seller and a New
York Times best seller for three months. The book
won high praise from readers including the Kirkus
Reviews editor who called it,
“Engrossing. . .marvelous. . .and judicious. . . History
written with subtlety, verve and an almost novelistic
appreciation for the complexities of human nature and
Presidential politics.”
Of The Conquerors (Simon & Schuster, 2002), The
New York Times Book Review said in a front-page
review that the “vigorously written" book was "history
as it was spoken at the time, and there is not a dull
page.” The book was also a New York Times best
seller for three months and was Amazon’s Number #1
best-selling history book of the year.
Taking Charge (Simon & Schuster, 1997) was
Beschloss' first volume on President Lyndon Johnson’s
newly released secret tapes. The Wall Street
Journal called it “sheer marvelous history,” The New
York Timeseditorial page “an important event.” The
sequel, Reaching for Glory (Simon & Schuster, 2001),
was called “an incomparable portrait of a President at
work” by The New York Times Book Review. Both
books were national best sellers.
Beschloss’ first book, Kennedy and Roosevelt: The
Uneasy Alliance (Norton, 1980), started as his senior
honors thesis at Williams College. Mayday: Eisenhower,
Khrushchev and the U-2 Affair (Harper, 1986), was
called “a grand narrative. . .crowded with well-drawn
portraits” by The New Yorker. The Crisis Years:
Kennedy and Khrushchev, 1960-1963 (HarperCollins,
1991), won the Ambassador Book Prize and was called
by The New Yorker the "definitive" history of John
Kennedy and the Cold War.
Beschloss also co-wrote At the Highest Levels: The
Inside Story of the End of the Cold War (Little, Brown,
1993) with Strobe Talbott. As literary executor for the
late Newsweek columnist Meg Greenfield, he edited
Greenfield’s posthumously published
book Washington (Public Affairs, 2001).
Beschloss holds honorary doctorates from Williams
College, St. Mary’s College (Maryland), Lafayette
College, St. Peter's College and Governors State
University. He has also received the State of Illinois’s
Order of Lincoln and the Harry S. Truman Public
Service Award from Independence, Missouri. He is a
trustee of the White House Historical Association, the
National Archives Foundation and the University of
Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs. He lives in
Washington, D.C., with his wife and two sons.
John F. Harris
Editor in Chief
Politico
John Harris stumbled into
journalism during his freshman
year at Carleton College in
Minnesota. A friend worked for
the student newspaper and
asked him to write a couple of
articles. He did, and the effect
was instantaneous. Suddenly, he was certain what he
wanted to do in life.
John had always been fascinated by Washington and
politics, and immediately had his sights on The
Washington Post. Thanks to some good luck, he got
there sooner than he could have reasonably expected.
He graduated from college on a Saturday in June of
1985 and started as a summer intern on a Monday. At
the end of the summer, editors asked him to hang
around a while longer.
That while ended up being more than 21 years. At the
Post, John covered local politics, state politics in
Virginia and national politics. From 1995 to 2001, he
covered the Clinton White House. Later, he expanded
on that reporting in a history of Bill Clinton's
presidency, "The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White
House." He is also co-author, with his friend Mark
Halperin of ABC News, of a book on presidential
politics, "The Way to Win: Taking the White House in
2008."
After 20 years as a reporter, John became drawn to
editing. In part, this was just a sense that he had been
around the track plenty of times and was ready for
something different. Even more, however, it was a
conviction that, at a time when journalism is
undergoing wrenching upheavals, everyone who cares
about the profession should be involved in answering
the question, "What's next?" Becoming an editor was a
way to be more immersed in those conversations about
the future – about how to use the Web more creatively,
about how to sustain serious journalism at a time of
diverse threats.
Johns brief editing career led him and Jim VandeHei –
who worked with him at the Post and is his partner at
The Politico – to have blue-sky conversations about
what they would do if they ever had the chance to start
a publication about politics from the ground up. Those
conversations were mostly a way of passing the time.
Then, in the fall of 2006, they became a lot more
serious. Robert Allbritton made clear that his notions
about the future of journalism were very much in
sympathy with theirs. He offered Jim and John the
chance to start something from scratch, and they took
it.
That is how they wound up at The Politico (their print
newspaper in Washington) and Politico.com (the way
their work will reach a much larger audience around
the country). They have assembled a team of reporters
and editors who will wake up each day looking for
fresh ways to attack the best political stories in and
around Capitol Hill and on the 2008 campaign trail.
Along the way, they hope to add to the conversation
about what's next for journalism. And they are
determined to have fun while doing it – something that
is in lamentably short supply in newsrooms these days.
Solutions Group Assignments
Financing the American Dream – How our Budget Reflects our Values
Progressive – Kristine Glynn
Nicole Cesari
Sara Gabrielle Chiongbian
Ashley Gurevitz
Ella Hirten
Angjelina Koci
Kate Linkosky
Dominique Martin
Kymberly Mattern
Lauren McGuire
Sara Owens
Jung Bin Park
Jemuel Phillips-Spencer
Blaine Volpe
Ashley Wall
Conservative – Dennis Plane
Adele Agbaw
Daria Capaldi
Conor Cappa
Daniella Cardaropoli
Alison Galetti
Alaina Gercak
Michael Greco
Susannah Haynie
Sarah Kinney
Erika Martin
Martha Mora-Hernandez
Gregory Rubino
Laekyn Sanders
Alexis Stone
Brandon Williams
The Path to Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Progressive – Anthony Moretti/Borjan Savic
Lindsey Chaney
Jordan Denecour
Kristina Desir
Ashtin Gill
Clara Gomez
MacKenzie Kiger
Adam Marowski
Dorothy McClure
Sarah Neuhauser
Ryan Paradis
Victoria Rehr
Haley Schneider
Jerome Taylor
Rowland Young
Conservative – Michael Williams
Brittany Bianco
Thomas Browning
Sophie Chambers
Leena Dahal
Mary Decker
Benjamin Delaney
Marissa Espinoza
Karrah Fleshman
Trevor Gervais
Amanda Holt
Lainey McQuain
Nosipho Shangase
Mary Sise
Alexis Waksmunski
Energy Exploration and the Environment – Finding the Balance
Progressive – Cameron Morgan/Merle Treusch
Michael Arthur
Hayley Austin
Gergana Bardukova
Cody Cooper
Feizhen Dang
Michael Hall
Robert Hurley
Cecilia Ibarra
Melissa Mallian
Tenaya Miller
Nicole Olson
Asia Skyers
Amy Sudol
Yolanda Tsuda
Conservative – Nancy Cade
Siavash Arash
Fedjina Charles
Alexandra Glenn
Geert Groeneveld
Maria Hadaya
Shannon Major
Cecilia Martins
Ryan Navarro
Julie Rafatpanah
Sarah Rickman
Saba Shah
Jeffrey Stoddart
Lisa Vander
Annelise Zacapa
46 The Washington Center • Top Secret | Addendum

Inside Washington 2014 - The Washington Center

Transcription

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