Heartlanders: Kevin Doherty

Kevin Doherty’s connection with The Heartland Institute dates back before its existence, through his friendship with Heartland’s founder Dave Padden.

“I remember being at a barbecue in Dave’s backyard and he told me about this idea he had to create a free-market think tank,” says Kevin, now a Heartland supporter.

For a South Side Irish Catholic, “between the church and the Democrats, you were supposed to trust them to figure it all out for you – it was the only world I knew.” But Padden sent Kevin, at the time 18 or 19 years old, to a seminar in Chicago sponsored by the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). “I had never been exposed to a large group of adults thinking completely rationally, and it was refreshing.”

Kevin earned a liberal arts degree from St. Xavier College in Chicago. While going to school, he took a $3.50 an hour job at M&O Insulation. More than 20 years later, Kevin is now president of the company. His wife, Jane, is an artist and calligrapher, currently studying botanical illustration. Kevin and Jane taught their six children to be contrarians and to question everything, “and they have, including us!”

Kevin and Jane participate in the Visitation Scholarship Program (VSP), of which he is a board member. For more than 15 years, VSP has been providing opportunities for children living on Chicago’s South Side to continue their education at Catholic high schools, an alternative to the failing local public schools.

For the past four years, the Dohertys sponsored student Ashton Moore, who in June graduated valedictorian of his class. Ashton will attend Purdue University in the fall. Says Kevin, “We’re fulfilling an immediate need by providing these kids with school choice. They’ve earned it through their hard work – we are just the conduit to supply it to them.”

Kevin describes himself as “a professional dabbler” who reads widely. Without time to study every policy issue, he needs organizations he can trust to apply libertarian principles consistently. He supports the Cato Institute and The Heartland Institute, considering the relationship not as giving to a charity but as having “a paid contractor” to represent him in the marketplace of ideas. “Their perspective on political and civil life is who I am. It isn’t often I disagree with something that comes out of Heartland.”

Kevin constantly refers people to Cato and to Heartland, passing on articles and giving paid subscriptions away to friends. But when asked how best to approach people about the ideas of liberty, he says Padden taught him that “you can get a lot more out of people by asking a question instead of pretending you have the answers.”

Kevin finds young people open-minded. “Kids are not turning to the old guard, they are well-reasoned and thinking for themselves.” Concludes Kevin, “The world is going to change dramatically in the next 30 years. Better times are ahead.”

Cece Forrester (cforrester@heartland.org) is senior development assistant for The Heartland Institute.