The Heartlander: August-September 2008

OCTOBER 2: EMERGING ISSUES FORUM

Trevor Martin, Heartland’s vice president for government relations, has announced the tentative agenda for the fifth annual Emerging Issues Forum, to be held Thursday, October 2, from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., in Chicago. The agenda includes a keynote address by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Terry Savage and panels addressing education, climate change and the environment, health care, infotech and telecommunications, and business climate/economic development.

The agenda is available online at http://www.heartland.org/EIF2008/EIFschedule.pdf.

The Emerging Issues Forum will be held in Cathedral Hall of the University Club, 76 East Monroe Street, Chicago. It is the premier day-long policy conference for elected officials, government relations professionals, and think tank and policy experts, brought together to discuss the biggest public policy issues on the horizon.

Registration

Registration for the Emerging Issues Forum opens August 1. Watch Heartland’s Web site for details.

Admission to the Emerging Issues Forum and 24th Anniversary Benefit Dinner is free for elected officials and their spouses. Members of The Legislative Forum at The Heartland Institute also will receive a travel allowance and complimentary lodging.

Sponsorship opportunities are available to members of the private sector. For additional information, contact Brian Costin at 312/377-4000, email bcostin@heartland.org.

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OCTOBER 2: 24th ANNIVERSARY BENEFIT DINNER

Heartland will celebrate the 24th anniversary of its founding on Thursday, October 2, from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Hilton Chicago Hotel. Peter Brimelow and Jacob Hornberger have agreed to face off in a debate addressing “Immigration Policy for a Free Society.”

Registration and a cocktail reception open at 5:30 p.m., dinner is served at 7:00 p.m., and the debate starts at 7:45 p.m. A dessert reception with open bar will follow.

Guest Speakers

Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. He received his B.A. in economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the University of Texas. He was a trial attorney for 12 years in Texas. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught law and economics. In 1987, Hornberger left the practice of law to become director of programs at the Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, publisher of The Freeman.

In 1989, Hornberger founded The Future of Freedom Foundation. He is a regular writer for the foundation’s publication, Freedom Daily, and co-editor of or contributor to the foundation’s eight books.

Fluent in Spanish and conversant in Italian, Hornberger has delivered speeches and engaged in debates and discussions about free-market principles with groups all over the United States, as well as in Canada, Europe, and Latin America.

Hornberger also has advanced freedom and free markets on talk radio across the country as well as on FOX News’ Neil Cavuto and Greta van Susteren shows. His editorials have appeared in the Washington Post, Charlotte Observer, La Prensa San Diego, El Nuevo Miami Herald, and many other publications, both in the United States and in Latin America.

Peter Brimelow is the editor of VDARE.com and a columnist for CBS MarketWatch. He was a senior fellow with the Pacific Research Institute until about two years ago. A financial journalist, he has written extensively about the economics of education, immigration, and a wide range of other topics.

Brimelow is the author of The Worm in the Apple, a devastating critique of how teacher unions act as a political and economic monopoly that is choking the education system. He is also author of The Patriot Game: Canada and the Canadian Question Revisited and Alien Nation: Common Sense About America’s Immigration Disaster. He contributed to Debating Immigration, edited by Carol M. Swain.

After graduating from the University of Sussex and Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Brimelow became a senior editor and writer for Forbes magazine, and a contributing and then senior editor at National Review. He has written for MacLean’s, Financial Post, Fortune, and Barron’s and has appeared in Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and the Washington Post.

Brimelow is president of the Center for American Unity, a national non-profit educational organization dedicated to preserving our historical unity as Americans into the twenty-first century.

Reserve Your Table Today!

Reserving a table at a Heartland Benefit is a great way to support Heartland; impress family members, friends, and colleagues; and make the evening truly memorable. And with some 600 people seated at more than 60 tables expected, it is also the best way to ensure a good view of the speakers.

Platinum Tables are closest to the speakers’ platform, with Gold Tables behind them. Silver Tables and Nonprofit Tables follow, and open seating is behind the Nonprofit Tables.

All table buyers will be thanked by name in the evening’s official program. If you reserve a Platinum Table, your name will also appear on a display at the registration table and you will be thanked by the master of ceremonies at the beginning of the Benefit. Mr. Hornberger, Mr. Brimelow, and other special guests--including journalists, think tank leaders, authors, and elected officials--will be seated at open seats at Platinum Tables. (Not having a head table is a Heartland tradition.)

All tables are assigned on a “first come, first served” basis! Watch Heartland’s Web site for online registration, or call Heartland Membership Manager John O’Hara at 312/377-4000 to reserve your table today!

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SOCIAL SERVICES

Welfare Reform

Welfare Reform After Ten Years: A State-by-State Analysis can be downloaded in Adobe’s PDF format from Heartland’s Web site at http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=23500. Heartland donors and members may also request printed copies by calling administrative assistant Cheryl Parker at 312/377-4000. Others may purchase copies for $39.99.

When President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, he gave the states unprecedented flexibility in implementing welfare reform.

Elected officials and human services professionals in Maryland, Idaho, Illinois, Florida, Virginia, and California most successfully seized the opportunities provided by the new law, developing thoughtful policies and integrating services needed to help recipients move into the workplace.

Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Kansas, Vermont, and Missouri were less ambitious, benefitting from the policy changes at the national level but not making the most of opportunities available to improve effectiveness at the state level.

Welfare Reform After Ten Years: A State-by-State Analysis ranks the 50 states and the District of Columbia, grading them by the success of their anti-poverty efforts and by the reform policies they adopted. The research project was directed by Gary MacDougal, author of Make a Difference: A Spectacular Breakthrough in the Fight Against Poverty.

With 100 being the highest possible score on the Report Card, the top six states achieved scores between 72.7 (California) and 83.0 (Maryland). The scores of the five lowest-ranking states ranged from 31.0 (Rhode Island) to 25.2 (Missouri).

Nearly 4,000 copies of the Report Card have been mailed to media outlets -- including talk radio show hosts and more than 550 human services beat reporters at newspapers and magazines -- elected officials and agency staff with a special interest in human services policy, and think tanks.

We are targeting the 10 F-graded states for special media and public relations efforts, including state-specific news releases, press conferences and editorial board meetings with MacDougal, and events with elected officials. If you live or have special contacts with folks in Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, or Vermont and would like to help with these efforts, please contact Executive Vice President Dan Miller at 312/377-4000 or dmiller@heartland.org.

Housing Policy

Heartland Policy Study No. 121, “Housing Policy for the 21st Century,” can be downloaded in Adobe’s PDF format from Heartland’s Web site at http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=23542. Heartland donors and members may also request printed copies by calling administrative assistant Cheryl Parker at 312/377-4000. Others may purchase copies for $19.95.

“Summer 2008 could be considered a perilous time to be making recommendations on housing policy for the twenty-first century,” admits William Higginson, author of a new Heartland report on affordable housing in the U.S. “Nevertheless, the clamor for change in this political year provides an opportunity to offer some fresh ideas on the role government should play in the production, quality, availability, and affordability of housing in our nation.”

In “Housing Policy for the 21st Century,” Higginson outlines several key policy recommendations he says “would have a dramatic effect on affordable housing.” Among his proposals:

 

• Use the FHA’s Guaranteed Insurance program to re-finance endangered subprime loans, but don’t bail out irresponsible lenders or borrowers.

 

 

• Improve the liquidity of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by easing their capital requirements, allowing them to sell stock, and having them concentrate on loan guarantees in the coming year.

 

 

• Shift public funding away from the production of new units of housing and toward supplementing the incomes of low-income families, enabling them to rent or own the affordable housing that is already available in the market.

 

 

• Reform housing choice vouchers by making them temporary, rather than permanent, and contingent on the participant getting an education, job training, or employment. Turn vouchers into a means to economic self-reliance.

 

 

• Lift the income cap on eligibility to rent units built or renovated with funding raised through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program.

 

Higginson is the retired president and CEO of Chicago Equity Fund, a Chicago-based real estate investment fund, and its four affiliated companies. Over a 20-year career he has developed and invested in hundreds of affordable housing projects in Georgia and Illinois.

More than 2,000 copies of “Housing Policy for the 21st Century” were mailed to every member of Congress, state elected officials and reporters with a special interest in the issue, and think tank, civic, and business leaders across the country.

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INSURANCE & FINANCE

Subprime Lending

On June 28, the Hartford Courant (circ. 175,759) published a letter to the editor by Heartland Legislative Specialist Intern Ryan Krause, criticizing the recently passed Connecticut mortgage bailout. He wrote, “If Gov. Rell truly wants to help people, she should stop trying to save them from themselves, and let them bear the consequences of their actions, good or bad.”

Anti-subprime lending legislation was defeated in California, a state targeted by Legislative Specialist Matthew Glans for several informative emails to legislators. New York is currently considering a bill designed to bail out homeowners, and Glans sent a Research & Commentary email on subprime lending to finance and banking legislators in that state.

Property and Casualty Insurance

On June 1, Glans emailed a Research & Commentary on property and casualty insurance to legislators in Florida and Pennsylvania, following up with individual telephone calls. “On balance, states with less-regulated insurance markets provide more consumer choice, more predictable rates, and insurance premiums that better reflect actual risk than do states with heavily regulated markets,” Glans noted.

A media advisory citing experts on state-subsidized coastal hurricane insurance was put together by Glans in response to reports that an increasing number of homeowners are moving to state-run insurers of last resort. The advisory was sent on June 6 to legislators and media outlets in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas.

In response to the proposed federal regulatory blueprint, on June 7 Glans distributed a media advisory addressing the Bush Administration’s proposed insurance regulatory changes. The advisory, which focused on the proposed optional federal charter, was emailed to insurance legislators and the media. “Government should not subsidize private insurance business,” wrote Glans.

On June 7, a letter written by Glans criticizing Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s approach to property and casualty insurance was printed in the Tallahassee Democrat (circ. 54,695). Glans noted Crist’s big-government approach to hurricane coverage seems to be in direct conflict with his private-sector-oriented health care reform agenda. “Why are state insurance regulations depicted positively in one instance, despite their negative effect on rates, and negatively in another, when the effect is clearly the same?” asked Glans.

On June 10, a letter written by Glans commenting on the irony of Florida Insurance Commissioner McCarty’s insurance system being held up as a model at a congressional hearing was printed in the Palm Beach Post (circ. 175,495). “Accurate rates ensure that one consumer does not end up subsidizing another’s risky behavior. Insurance scoring streamlines the rate-making process, resulting in a better product for consumers,” Glans wrote.

On June 19, a new Research & Commentary addressing the National Catastrophe Insurance Program was published and emailed by Glans to legislators in exposed coastal states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. Individual policy update emails were sent to Alabama and Louisiana. “In 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that 35.3 million people live in hurricane-prone coastal areas stretching from North Carolina to Texas,” Glans wrote. “The NCIP would encourage people to ignore important market signals and the real risks of living in the path of danger.” The Research & Commentary is available online at http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=23412.

Payday Lending

In response to payday loan legislation proposals, Glans sent out a Research & Commentary and policy update emails to legislators in Colorado, Louisiana, and Ohio. Ohio has passed a 28 percent payday loan interest rate cap. Glans responded to that move with a letter to the editor printed on June 14 in the Dayton Daily News (circ. 121,574). “The unintended consequences of this ban will be strongly felt for years to come, all at the cost of the consumer. Government intervention should never override consumer choice,” Glans wrote.

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BUDGET & TAX

Budget & Tax News

The July 2008 issue of Budget & Tax News highlights private options for financing highways and bridges, Vallejo, California’s bankruptcy, Maryland’s millionaires tax, sales taxes, taxation of hospital services, Chicago Cubs for sale, federal tax reform, prevailing wage laws, right-to-work in Colorado, spending transparency, and more.

The August issue offers a special report on state lotteries and reports on the Alternative Minimum Tax, spending transparency, excise taxes, entitlement spending, mortgage guarantees, income tax surcharges, smoking bans, gas tax holidays, unions, business taxes, school funding, and more.

In the News, On the Air

On June 8, Local Legislation Manager Ralph Conner was a guest on Bruce DuMont’s Beyond the Beltway radio/TV show. Conner discussed Illinois politics, referring to Illinois as “the one-party state.”

On June 13, Legislative Specialist John Nothdurft had a letter to the editor published in the Buffalo News (circ. 181,540). While a property tax cap may be a good place to start addressing budget problems, Nothdurft noted, spending is where the real solution lays. “[A] cap alone will not solve the entire problem,” Nothdurft wrote. “In the end, superfluous spending is the true culprit that needs to be handcuffed with a cap of its own.”

On June 28, the Albany Times Union (circ. 90,216) published “Property tax cap can rein in expenditures,” a letter to the editor by Nothdurft responding to the governor’s proposal for a property tax cap. He wrote, “A cap would foster more efficient expenditure decisions as well as hold government more accountable by requiring public votes on larger tax increases when schools truly do need more revenue.”

On June 29, the Los Angeles Times (circ. 1,101,981) published another Nothdurft letter to the editor, titled “Include spending in budget debate.” The letter addressed the need for a spending cap in the state, noting, “The budget debate must center on how to reduce and cap spending rather than how to increase revenue.”

On the Road

On July 11-13, Heartland President Joseph Bast and Executive Editor Diane Bast traveled to Kansas City to attend an annual meeting of the Council of Georgist Organizations, themed “The Value and Importance of Land.” Joe Bast spoke on two separate panels.

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TOBACCO

Heartland Hosts Famed Epidemiologists

On June 26, Legislative Specialist John Nothdurft attended the Society for Epidemiologic Research’s annual meeting at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chicago. There he spoke with epidemiologists from around the country concerning secondhand smoke and the reliability of observational research.

Among those Nothdurft met were epidemiologists Jim Enstrom of UCLA and Geoffrey Kabat of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Enstrom and Kabat are the authors of “Environmental tobacco smoke and tobacco related mortality in a prospective study of Californians, 1960-98,” published in the British Medical Journal in May 2003. It remains the most rigorous study of the effects of secondhand smoke on human health ... and, because it found little if any negative impact, also the most controversial.

At a lunch meeting June 27 hosted by Heartland Board Member Paul Fisher, an attorney with McGuire Woods, Enstrom and Kabat described their work not only on secondhand smoke but also on the epidemiology of air quality and human health generally. Kabat briefly discussed his new book, Hyping Health Risks: Environmental Hazards in Daily Life and the Science of Epidemiology, and Enstrom described the personal and professional attacks he has been subjected to since the BMJ study was published.

We are in the early stages of planning several joint projects with Enstrom and Kabat. As Heartland President Joe Bast told Enstrom, “The indignities you’ve had to endure at the hands of partisan hacks and toadies are a stain on the academy and on the American traditions of scientific inquiry and free speech. I hope we can play some role in setting things right.”

If you might be interested in working with us on epidemiology projects with Enstrom and Kabat, contact Legislative Specialist Zonia Pino at 312/377-4000, zpino@heartland.org.

In the News

On June 9, State Health Notes interviewed Nothdurft for an article concerning legislative attempts to stop pharmacies from selling tobacco products. He noted, “Banning a legal product from being sold at a privately owned business because government feels the sale of tobacco goes against what they believe drugstores should promote is a dismal argument.”

On June 12, the Charlotte Observer (circ. 210,616) published “N.C. house is smart to reject ‘sin taxes,’” a letter to the editor by Nothdurft praising the state legislature for rejecting the governor’s plan for increased taxes on alcohol and cigarettes.

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HEALTH CARE

Health Care News

The July 2008 issue of Health Care News covers reforms in Georgia and Colorado, medical tourism, the uninsured, e-health information systems, insurance premiums, health care entrepreneurs, Britain, Medicaid, and more. August covers health care innovation, SCHIP, obesity, insurance mandates, transparency, and more. The August issue covers health care innovation, SCHIP, obesity, insurance mandates, transparency, and more.

On the Road

On June 26, Heartland Executive Vice President Dan Miller and Vice President Sandy Bourne attended a meeting of the Health Care Freedom Coalition in Washington, DC.

Events Manager Nikki Comerford and CHCC Assistant Robin Knox staffed the Heartland exhibit at the June 29-July 1 conference of the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU) in San Diego, California. They promoted Health Care News, signed up new subscribers, and distributed materials for Consumers for Health Care Choices at The Heartland Institute.

Heartland Senior Fellow Dr. Richard Dolinar moderated a session and delivered a presentation titled “What to Do When You Get Sick” to roughly 1,500 people who attended Freedom Fest in Las Vegas, Nevada, July 10-12.

Dolinar also was featured in a July 18 webcast presenting information on pay for performance to Pfizer’s Cardiovascular and Metabolic Group, the field-based medical personnel serving on Pfizer’ Diabetes and Obesity Team and its Cardiovascular Team.

On July 30, Dolinar discussed the pitfalls of evidence-based medicine at the “EBM 101" workshop for state legislators attending the Chicago annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

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INFOTECH & TELECOM

Infotech & Telecom News

The July 2008 issue of Infotech & Telecom News features stories about the failure of municipal wi-fi networks across the country and addresses digital television, net neutrality, media cross-ownership, online advertising, open access, and more.

The August issue covers bandwidth metering, technology innovation, airport wi-fi, YouTube, text messaging, community wireless networks, online sales taxes, the D-Block spectrum auction, wireless termination fees, and more.

 

In the News

On June 18, the Chicago Tribune (circ. 559,404) published a letter to the editor online by Legislative Specialist Intern William Gangware, discussing the advantages of the proposed merger by satellite radio giants XM and Sirius. The article was also published online in the Baltimore Sun, Newsday, Dailypress, and the Sun-Sentinel. Gangware explained, “In order to maintain a market for satellite radio that is financially independent from the federal government and price-beneficial for consumers, XM and Sirius should be allowed to merge without the lengthy and political process of FCC approval.”

Heartland on Kindle

Computer Systems Manager Latonya Harris has announced that 13 Heartland Institute books are now available on the Kindle -- Amazon’s portable reading device that allows users to wirelessly download books, blogs, magazines, and newspapers.

More than 140,000 books are currently available on Kindle ... including the following books from Heartland. How best to find a Heartland book? Go to Amazon.com and search Kindle Books for “Heartland Institute.”

The Conscience of Conservative Blacks
Destroying Insurance Markets
Emerging Issues 2005
Emerging Issues 2006
Emerging Issues 2007
Energy Policy for America
Let’s Put Parents Back in Charge - English
Let’s Put Parents Back in Charge - Spanish
Please Don’t Poop in My Salad
Reforming the Health Care System
Skepticism, Faith, and Freedom
We Can Rescue Our Children
What’s Wrong with Importing Drugs

July and August were scheduled skip months for School Reform News: summer break, ya’ know!

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EDUCATION

Can Vouchers Reform Public Schools?

Heartland Policy Study No. 120, “Can Vouchers Reform Public Schools? Lessons from the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program,” can be downloaded in Adobe’s PDF format from Heartland’s Web site at http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=23540. Heartland donors and members may also request printed copies by calling administrative assistant Cheryl Parker at 312/377-4000. Others may purchase copies for $19.95.

As some educators and school choice advocates begin to question whether school vouchers can reform public education, a new Heartland Policy Study of Milwaukee’s pioneering voucher program -- the nation’s oldest and largest city-specific program -- concludes it has had a positive effect on the city’s public schools and will become even more influential in the near future.

The study, “Can Vouchers Reform Public Schools? Lessons from the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program,” was written by Heartland Senior Fellow George Clowes. He finds that most voucher programs today are not universal programs but simply “rescue” efforts that offer a life-line to poor parents in struggling school systems, what Nobel Prize laureate Milton Friedman characterized as “charity” vouchers.

“Since existing voucher programs are limited largely to charity vouchers, or rescue efforts, it is not surprising that they have produced no dramatic improvement in the public schools,” writes Clowes.” Before writing off universal vouchers, it would seem prudent first to actually try them.”

Although the Milwaukee program has been hobbled by legal challenges, offers a voucher amount that is less than half the public school’s per-pupil spending, and faces strict enrollment caps, competition from voucher schools has prompted the Milwaukee Public Schools to implement a long list of reforms, including before- and after-school programs, more Montessori schools, improved teacher selection procedures, decentralization of budgeting authority to local schools, and greater influence of parents in local school councils.

Nearly 4,000 copies of the Clowes Policy Study and/or its Executive Summary have been mailed to elected officials in Wisconsin, and those nationwide with a special interest in education issues; talk radio show hosts and education reporters; and think tank, civic, and business leaders across the country.

On the Road

Heartland Vice President Latreece Vankinscott staffed the Heartland exhibit at the National Charter School conference June 22-25 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Heartland was a media sponsor for the event.

A Fan

School Reform News Managing Editor published an oped in the Mesa, Arizona East Valley Tribune (circ. 102,406). She received the following email in response to it.

“I read your “opinion” in the East Valley Tribune this morning regarding education and vouchers, and enjoyed it a lot.

“Our Grandkids are going to a private school (Grandma & I help financially) and are making incredible progress.

“When we visit a class, the teacher asks the kids to say hello. They stop what they are doing, turn, make eye contact, and say hello.

“It is a shame that all kids can’t seem to get a quality education, even with all the money thrown at it in the public system.

“As home owners and taxpayers, we help pay for the public system and the private system. We are not bitter, we just don’t understand.

“We have consciously accepted this “double taxation” process because “our” kids and their future is our primary motivator.

“I simply wanted to say “Thank You” for a nice article this morning.

“Keep up the good work, Karla.

--A fan in Mesa, Arizona

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ENVIRONMENT

Environment & Climate News

The July 2008 issue of Environment & Climate News reports on the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine’s petition project, public lands management in Utah, polar bears, domestic energy production, redwoods vs. solar panels, ethanol, secondhand smoke, carbon cap-and-trade, and more.

The August 2008 issue reports the U.S. Senate’s rejection of the carbon dioxide cap-and-trade measure proposed by Sens. Joe Lieberman and John Warner and covers oil shale, global warming, mercury, nuclear power, hurricanes, wi-fi health threat, milfoil, and more.

On the Road

On June 2, Heartland Science Director Jay Lehr addressed 500 people at a meeting of the Michigan Association of Public Employees Retirement System in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

On June 8, Heartland President Joe Bast delivered a keynote address on global warming to a meeting of the Canadian Erectors in Chicago. Sixty people attended the meeting.

On June 21, Heartland Senior Fellow James M. Taylor spoke on global warming to 100 members of the Outdoor Writers Association at the group’s annual meeting in Bismarck, North Dakota.

On June 26, Lehr spoke to 50 teachers at Ball State University’s Environment and Energy Workshop.

On June 24, Heartland Senior Fellow Maureen Martin described Heartland’s “Gore in the Classroom” project to 30 members of the Green Lake Rotary Club in Green Lake, Wisconsin.

On July 12-13, Lehr spoke to 225 attendees at a meeting of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness in Phoenix, Arizona. He discussed “Burning Food for Fuel and other Ridiculous Energy Options.”

On July 16, Lehr spoke to roughly 300 people on the topic, “The Future of World Agriculture,” at a meeting hosted by the Rain and Hail Insurance Company in Kansas City.

Energy Keepers, Energy Killers

Energy Keepers, Energy Killers: The New Civil Rights Battle, written by Roy Innis, national chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality, makes a compelling case that policies adopted in the name of battling “global warming” would have a disproportionately negative effect on low-income communities. According to Innis, policies advocated by environmental and political elites to eradicate fossil fuel production price energy out of reach and violate the civil rights of all Americans, but hurt the poor and minorities worst. Innis demands an end to this “energy racism.”

The book fills an important niche in the battle for sound science and common sense in environmental policy because the author is a prominent and respected leader of the U.S. civil rights movement, which should get the attention of state and local elected officials.

Heartland edited and reformatted the book and has distributed copies to every state, national, and local elected official in the U.S., black ministers, environment reporters and talk show hosts, business, civic, and think tank leaders, and Environment & Climate News subscribers.

Vital Speeches

In his speech before the delegates to the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change, hosted by The Heartland Institute in New York in March of this year, Czech Republic President Václav Klaus demonstrated his passion for free markets and his disdain for the current state of the environmental movement.

He described a movement dominated by “people who want to stop the economic growth, the rise in the standard of living ... and the ability of man to use the expanding wealth, science, and technology for solving the actual pressing problems of mankind ...” He called for applying economic thought and free-market solutions to global warming and other environmental concerns.

Vital Speeches of the Day, a publication described as a collection of “the best thoughts of the best minds on current national issues,” has republished Mr. Klaus’s speech. Heartland distributed more than 8,000 copies to state and national elected officials, select media outlets, and business, civic, and think tank leaders.

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URBAN AFFAIRS

Booker T. Washington: A Re-Examination

Booker T. Washington: A Re-Examination, the proceedings of the June 4-6, 2006 symposium convened by Heartland Senior Fellow Lee Walker and cosponsored by Heartland and The New Coalition for Economic and Social Change, was released in July. More than 3,000 copies have been distributed.

The book collects the edited transcripts of all major presentations during the event. Notes Robert L. Woodson, president of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, “This outstanding collection of essays provides new insights into Booker T. Washington’s views about self-reliance and economic advancement and offers some provocative ideas about their significance for the 21st Century.”

John McWhorter, a senior fellow for the Manhattan Institute, agreed. “Somewhere between 1960 and 1970, black America fell for the peculiar notion that claiming helplessness is a way of being strong,” McWhorter wrote. “This book eloquently reminds us that when it came to black pride, Booker T. Washington left footsteps too big for the Stokely Carmichaels of the world to ever fill.”

In the News

On May 22, the Chicago Independent Bulletin (weekly circ. 75,000) published Walker’s oped, “A Community Crime Wave.”

Walker was quoted in Mary Mitchell’s June 19 column for the Chicago Sun-Times (circ. 496,030), commenting on the criticism against presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle.

On the Road

On July 17-20, Walker participated in a Liberty Fund colloquium in Indianapolis, Indiana about the writings and life of Zora Neal Hurston (1891-1960). Walker was joined at the colloquium by Anne Wortham, associate professor of sociology at Illinois State University, and Robert J. Norell, professor of history at the University of Tennessee, both of whom were speakers at the Booker T. Washington Symposium. Their symposium presentations appear in Booker T. Washington: A Re-Examination.

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FACE-TO-FACE

Events Manager Nikki Comerford, Local Legislation Manager Ralph Conner, and Heartland Senior Fellow James M. Taylor attended a meeting of the National Conference of Black Mayors in New Orleans, Louisiana on June 3-8. Heartland had a table in the exhibit hall and Taylor gave the keynote speech at an “eggs and issues breakfast” that Heartland cosponsored. Conner distributed 100 copies of Energy Keepers, Energy Killers, a book by Roy Innis, chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality.

On June 20-24, Conner attended the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Miami, Florida. He distributed Heartland literature to more than 100 mayors in attendance. He met with the mayor of Baltimore, the Hon. Sheila Dixon, about the trans fat issue in Baltimore, and with U.S. Representatives Chaka Fatah (D-PA) and Danny K. Davis (D-IL) about the ex-offenders “Second-Chance” bill sponsored by Davis.

Heartland Research Director Sam Karnick served on a panel at a June 26-29 Liberty Fund conference addressing “Liberty and the Virtue of Liberality,” held in Indianapolis, Indiana.

On July 11-15, Heartland Vice President Latreece Vankinscott and Local Legislation Manager Ralph Conner attended the 2008 Annual Conference and Exposition of the National Association of Counties (NACo) in Kansas City, Missouri.

On July 22-25, several Heartland staff members attended the National Conference of State Legislatures’ (NCSL) 2008 Legislative Summit in New Orleans, Louisiana. Heartland hosted an evening ice cream social, cosponsored by the Center for Competitive Politics, for elected officials during the conference.

The following week, July 30 - August 1, several Heartland staffers attended the 35th Annual Meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in Chicago -- where ALEC was founded.

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PERSONNEL

Heartland Is Hiring

The Heartland Institute is seeking a mainstream media specialist to solicit and submit opeds and letters to the editor, arrange talk radio show appearances, place follow-up calls to journalists, keep mailing and email media lists up-to-date, and track media submissions and “hits.”

This position requires a mature, self-managing individual with strong computer skills, including experience with contact tracking software, Word or WordPerfect, broadcast email programs, and Internet research.

Interested persons should send a resume and cover letter, including salary history, to Latreece Vankinscott, vice president of administration, at lvankinscott@heartland.org or fax it to 773/409-5156.

 

Welcome Aboard!

Darrell E. Moore joined Heartland in May as an administrative assistant/data entry clerk. Darrell is in charge of the phones and also enters information into Heartland’s database system. Prior to joining Heartland, Darrell was a peer qualifier working with Colorado Technical University Online, an accredited online college, where he talked to potential students about joining Colorado Technical University.

John Nothdurft and Zonia Pino joined the staff in May as legislative specialists -- John for budget, tax, and tobacco policy, and Zonia for environment and energy issues. Their responsibilities include interacting with elected officials and staff; tracking legislation; and drafting responses to emerging issues via talking points, news releases, and op-ed pieces, with the goal of educating legislators and informing them about free-market ideas.

Prior to joining Heartland, John was the national press coordinator for Americans for Fair Taxation, the largest grassroots tax reform organization in the country. Zonia taught high school history and government at The Master’s Academy in Oviedo, Florida. She also served as a media liaison for the National Rifle Association and as a staff assistant for U.S. Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

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REST IN PEACE

Bernie Baltic

Bernie Baltic passed away in March. His association with The Heartland Institute began nearly 25 years ago, and he and Heartland President Joe Bast were friends and stayed in close touch. Bernie was smart, stubborn, absolutely hard-core libertarian, and generous to a fault with his time, advice, and money. He heard about Heartland shortly after its founding in 1984, joined the board, and helped us start Heartland Ohio. He invested countless hours trying to help the executive directors we recruited for the office.

Writes Bast, “Bernie was an inspiration, a friend, and a genuine hero for freedom. He changed my life and the lives of countless others. He helped lift the chains of oppression from millions of people, even if they never knew who their benefactor was. If we had a thousand Bernie Baltics -- maybe even a hundred -- freedom would be on the march, instead of seemingly cowering in the corner.”

John Berthoud

As we reported in a previous Heartlander, John Berthoud, president of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), died unexpectedly in September 2007.

Heartland senior staff honored Berthoud’s memory in July, when NTU hosted the first annual John Berthoud Legacy Dinner in Washington, DC.

Lauren Chrissos, vice president for development, Sandy Liddy Bourne, vice president for policy, and Trevor Martin, vice president for government affairs, represented Heartland, which helped co-sponsor the event attended by about 150.

To ensure that Berthoud’s leadership in the taxpayer movement lives on, NTU has established the “Happy Warrior Award for Taxpayer Freedom.” The award was presented to Bridgett Wagner, director of coalition relations for The Heritage Foundation, as the first recipient for what NTU President Duane Parde called her “unwavering commitment to limited government and free enterprise.”

Vince Miller

Vince Miller, cofounder and president of the International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL), died on June 28. He was 69 years old.

Noted Bast, “ISIL is one of the most important libertarian institutions in the world. It fills a unique role in the movement by being explicitly libertarian, avoiding short-term public policy debates, effectively using the Internet and inexpensive brochures for outreach, and supporting emerging libertarian activists and movements around the world. It’s important that this remarkable organization survive Vince’s departure.”

Frank O’Connell

Francis A. (“Frank”) O’Connell passed away on June 29 at the age of 94. He was the first executive director of the John M. Olin Foundation, a longtime board member of National Review, and a member of The Philadelphia Society. He was an influential and widely known figure in the conservative movement.

Kent Snyder

Kent Snyder, the campaign chairman for Congressman Ron Paul’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination earlier this year, passed away on June 26. He was 49 years old.

Snyder had worked on Paul’s unsuccessful campaign for president on the Libertarian Party ticket in 1988. He was credited by Paul for encouraging him to run for president again, this time in the Republican primary. The campaign shocked the political mainstream by mobilizing thousands of grassroots activists and raising some $35 million, including $19.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2007, more than any other Republican in the race.

John Templeton

Sir John Templeton, who The Wall Street Journal called “a legendary mutual-fund manager who was a pioneer of international investing,” died on July 8. He was 95.

Sir John was also a bold and generous philanthropist who supported many free-market think tanks and causes. He created the Templeton Foundation in 1987, which now has assets of $1.5 billion and gives away some $70 million a year. Sir John was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1987 for his philanthropic achievements.

In 1972, Sir John created the Templeton Prize, the world’s largest annual cash award given to an individual, to recognize major contributions to religious and spiritual understanding. Bigger than the Nobel Prizes, the award first went to Mother Teresa, and subsequently to such worthy individuals as Billy Graham, Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Michael Novak, and Stanley Jaki.

The Templeton Foundation, along with Sir John’s son, Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr. (a Heartland donor), carry on the great man’s vision and enthusiasm for individual freedom. May he rest in peace, knowing the world was made better by his efforts and will continue to benefit thanks to his planning and foresight.