Cliff May

Cliff May

Clifford D. May is the President of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focusing on terrorism created immediately following the 9/11 attacks on the United States. He is also the Chairman of the Policy Committee of the Committee on the Present Danger (CPD), an international, non-partisan organization based in Washington D.C. comprised of leading members of the national security community. The Daily Telegraph (U.K.) named May one of the “100 most influential conservatives in America” this year (as well as in its earlier tally). Mr. May has had a long and distinguished career in international relations, journalism, communications and politics. A veteran news reporter, foreign correspondent and editor (at The New York Times and other publications), he... Read More

John C. Fortier-Research Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute

John C. Fortier-Research Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute

John Fortier is the principal contributor to the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project and executive director of the Continuity of Government Commission. A political scientist who has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Delaware, Boston College, and Harvard University, Mr. Fortier has written numerous scholarly and popular articles. His books include Second-Term Blues: How George W. Bush Has Governed (Brookings Institution Press, 2007); Absentee and Early Voting: Trends, Promises, and Perils (AEI Press, 2006); and After the People Vote: A Guide to the Electoral College (AEI Press, 2004). Mr. Fortier writes a column for Politico and is a frequent radio and television commentator on the presidency, Congress, and elections.  Read More

Congressman Kevin Brady

Congressman Kevin Brady

Kevin Brady considers it an honor to be representing the 8th District of Texas in the U.S House of Representatives. A pro-family, pro-small business conservative, Kevin’s strong belief in free enterprise guides him as the Senior House Republican on the Joint Economic Committee. A Deputy Whip for the GOP Leadership team, Kevin serves on the House Ways & Means Committee, considered by many to be the most powerful committee in Congress, with jurisdiction over 2/3 of the federal budget including taxes, Social Security, Medicare, international trade and welfare. As the Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Trade and a member of the Social Security Subcommittee, Kevin fights for free market solutions to our country’s economic challenges and preservation of the programs that help our seniors. As... Read More

Congressman Tom McClintock

Congressman Tom McClintock

Congressman Tom McClintock was elected in November 2008 to represent the 4th Congressional District in the United States Congress. During 22 years in the California State Legislature, and as a candidate for governor in California’s historic recall election, Tom McClintock has become one of the most recognizable political leaders in California. First elected to the California Assembly at the age of 26, McClintock quickly distinguished himself as an expert in parliamentary procedure and fiscal policy. He served in the Assembly from 1982 to 1992 and again from 1996 to 2000. During these years, he authored California’s current lethal injection death penalty law, spearheaded the campaign to rebate $1.1 billion in tax over-collections to the people of California, and became the driving force... Read More

John G. Carlson-Former White House Assistant Press Secretary

John G. Carlson-Former White House Assistant Press Secretary

Mr. Carlson has more than thirty years of domestic and international experience in full-time and consulting-based service to the government and private industry. The White House Assistant Press Secretary under President Nixon and Deputy Press Secretary under President Ford, Mr. Carlson was an integral part of the team that established diplomatic relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Subsequent to his White House service, he has held key positions with Fortune 500 companies, including Summa Corporation (Howard Hughes conglomerate) and Kilroy Realty, and a variety of mid-sized and multinational corporations in the areas of management and administration, domestic and international marketing and sales, with emphasis on Asia and Latin America. Serving as Assistant... Read More

Ken Spain-Republican Congressional Committee Communications Director

Ken Spain-Republican Congressional Committee Communications Director

As communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), Spain attempts to craft winning messages for Republican candidates throughout the country. The NRCC’s goal is to elect or re-elect Republicans to the House. Spain, who worked on Republican congressional campaigns as well as on the 2004 George W. Bush re-election campaign, collaborates with Republican candidates, incumbents and House leadership to engage in message battles at the local and national levels. “We build overarching narratives by working with the House Republican leadership, fight the national message war, and put Democrats on the defensive,” Spain said in an email. Interview with WhoRunsGov.com, July 8, 2009(1)Interview with WhoRunsGov.com, July 8, 2009 He and his team often target vulnerable... Read More

David Drucker-Staff Writer for Roll Call Newspaper

David Drucker-Staff Writer for Roll Call Newspaper

David M. Drucker is a staff writer for Roll Call covering the Senate and broad, national political trends. David helped lead Roll Call’s coverage of President Barack Obama’s drive to pass historic health care reform legislation, after previously working on the newspaper’s Politics team reporting on Congressional campaigns. A Malibu, Calif., native, David came to Roll Call in August 2005 from the Sacramento, Calif., bureau of the Los Angeles Daily News, where he covered the politics and policy of California government, including the historic 2003 gubernatorial recall campaign that saw Arnold Schwarzenegger advance to the governor’s office. David graduated from UCLA in June 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in history, and before returning to UCLA in 2000, he spent eight years working... Read More

Steve Lombardo-President and CEO of Lombardo Consulting Group

Steve Lombardo-President and CEO of Lombardo Consulting Group

Steve has been an adviser to both political candidates and major corporations, cutting across a variety of industries including telecommunications, healthcare, financial services, and entertainment. His areas of expertise include public policy/issue management, advertising, and communications evaluation and branding strategy for dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, trade associations, and political candidates. He has managed numerous international projects, including several Pan-European image and communications studies for Fortune 100 companies. He brings a perspective to public affairs and issue management that comes from a background in electoral politics. He has handled polling and communications research for several U.S. Senate, gubernatorial and congressional candidates. Steve worked... Read More

Founder and Champion of Native American Gaming and Creator of $39 Billion Industry: Seminole Chief James Billie

Founder and Champion of Native American Gaming and Creator of $39 Billion Industry: Seminole Chief James Billie

As the most powerful Native American leader of the past century, Chief James Billie of the Seminole Tribe is the man responsible for bringing casino gambling to the Seminole tribes through out America. Chief Billie takes pride in his heritage as a Seminole and is an expert at building palmetto-thatched chickees. His ring finger on his right hand is kept in a bottle in his pocket, a reminder of an ancient battle with an alligator. He is also an accomplished musician, playing Seminole music while opening for the Beach Boys with hits like “Big Alligator” Chief James Billie served as Chairman of the Seminole Tribe of Florida for 22 years, a longer-term as an elected leader than anyone in the Western hemisphere other than Castro. At the height of his power, he was personal friends with... Read More

Terry Moe-Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution

Terry Moe-Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution

Terry M. Moe is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a member of the Institution’s Koret Task Force on K–12 education, and the William Bennett Munro Professor of political science at Stanford University. He is an expert on educational policy, U.S. political institutions, and organization theory. His current research projects are concerned with school choice, public bureaucracy, and the presidency. Moe has written extensively on educational issues. His book (with John E. Chubb), Politics, Markets, and America’s Schools, is among the most influential and controversial works on education to be published during the last decade, and has been a major force in the movement for school choice in America and abroad. In Liberating Learning:Technology, Politics, and the Future of America... Read More