webodec3ARCHIVEPreview
Open in TheBrain

LEADERSHIP INST 2

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see main and morton blackwell

MERRI OK ?

see 2025 SPOC KARO

see m4l w heritage

also incubators, pioneer

FUNDERS DONORS TRUST KOCH, MERCER

capt 722 html wa city paper

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stalking horse TP USA?

JOK, jordan, ali alex?!

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TYLER ONEIL ~ SJLP WEAPONIZATION JORDAN

INCUBATOR: He graduated in 2012 with a bachelor's degree in history at Hillsdale College. He interned with the National Journalism Center and studied journalism at the Leadership Institute.

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neo confed // alt rt xian nat?

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Sludge/Right Wing Watch reached out to the Leadership Institute for comment on this story via a contact form listed on its website and Witoslawski via Facebook Messenger, but received no response.

Other GOP megadonors in the Koch network have also helped fund the organizations linked to Magill and Witoslawski. From 2013 to 2017, shipping supplies magnate Richard Uhlein, the fourth-biggest federal political donor of 2018 and a patron of Koch-backed political groups, gave $1 million each to the Leadership Institute and IHS through his family foundation. The family foundation of discount store magnate Art Pope, an IHS board member who co-founded the political nonprofit Americans for Prosperity with Charles and David Koch, gave over $1.6 million to IHS and $40,000 to FEE. The foundation of the parents of Education Sec. Betsy DeVos, gave $50,000 to the Leadership Institute from mid-2013 through mid-2018. DeVos’s in-laws have also attended Koch donor conferences.

“There is no question that the far right political world is radicalizing people into white nationalism and growing its ranks,” the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Beirich said. “Some of the GOP’s current positions on immigration are no different than those of white nationalists, so we shouldn’t be surprised. We even saw last week that a synagogue attacker followed this pathway, through conservative politics to Ben Shapiro and on to pure hatred. Unfortunately, this is becoming a more well worn path these days.”

Tags: Alt-Rightmoney in politicswhite nationalismFoundation for Economic EducationIdentity EvropaInstitute for Humane StudiesLeadership InstituteYoung Americans for Liberty

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AN 8 25

When President Donald Trump returned to the White House, it was obvious that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had a radically different approach from the two women who held that position under former President Joe Biden: first Jen Psaki (now an MSNBC host), then Karine Jean-Pierre. While Psaki and Jean-Pierre were happy to debate conservative reporters or disagree with them, they welcomed their presence — Leavitt, in contrast, regularly attacks and berates journalists.

Leavitt had a reputation for being a MAGA attack dog well before she joined Trump's second administration. And according to the Daily Beast, she "once played a starring role in a training video created by the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank responsible for the president’s Project 2025 playbook."

"Long before Donald Trump was swooning about her being a White House star with 'lips that move like a machine gun," Daily Beast reporters David Gardner, Farrah Tomazin, and Sarah Ewall-Wice explain in an August 21 report, "Karoline Leavitt was teaching aspiring politicos how to conduct themselves if they ever landed a job in the (Trump) Administration…. The 30-minute guide, titled 'The Art of Professionalism,' was produced before Trump returned to the Oval Office and features Leavitt providing tips on everything from competence ('you have to be resourceful,' she says); to 'knowledge' ('reading the news of the day'); and 'confidence' ('just be prepared')."

READ MORE:Aides sat 'helpless' as 'incoherent' Trump displayed 'stunning ignorance': biographer

The Beast reporters continue, "Leavitt had not yet graced the podium when she filmed the video with Chris Hayes, who was then the careers coordinator at the right-wing Leadership Institute, and not to be confused with the left-wing MSNBC host of the same name....

bucks beacon

cunningham

remember in the Wizard of Oz when the cloth is pulled back and “the great and powerful Oz” warns “pay no attention to that man behind the curtain”? Moms for Liberty has a curtain too. They’ll present themselves as suburban moms at their national summit in Philadelphia, but behind the curtain is Morton Blackwell, a right-wing patriarch who has been around so long he was a 1964 Goldwater delegate.

Moms for Liberty (M4L) has been designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an extremist group, has been identified by PENAmerica as leading the country’s book banning movement, and called out by the Human Rights Campaign in its recent declaration of a national emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans. It celebrated a Hitler quote then apologized for the reference but not the substance of his ideas about education.

IFrame Content

Blackwell founded the Leadership Institute (LI) in 1979 to train conservative activists. LI has asserted virtual dominion over M4L’s operations. Blackwell is also a co-founder of the Council for National Policy, which has advocated for abolishing public schools and voluntarily replacing them with “free-market private schools, church schools, and home schools.” M4L co-founder Tiffany Justice, appearing on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, boasted:

*“We’re going to take over the school boards, but that’s not enough. Once we replace the school boards, what we need to do is we need to have search firms, that are conservative search firms, that help us to find new educational leaders, because parents are going to get in there and they’re going to want to fire everyone.”

LI and M4L teamed up for a School Board Activist Workshop in January 2022 and LI was responsible for three M4L School Board Activism and Campaign Trainings in February 2022. In early 2023 LI and M4L assembled an Iowa Town Hall featuring Governor Kim Reynolds, a Story Telling Workshop, Grassroots Fundraising and a busy week of trainings in Maryland, New York, and Georgia including appearances by Betsy DeVos and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green.

LI was the largest sponsor for M4L’s first summit last year in Tampa. A national conference is a difficult undertaking for a one-year-old organization like M4L, but it is business as usual for the Leadership Institute. Speakers included Governor Ron DeSantis, Senator Rick Scott, Betsy DeVos and Ben Carson. LI’s Dylan Craig wrote:

*“I’m proud to say Leadership Institute partnered with Moms for Liberty and supported the Summit as the top sponsor, official photographers/videographers, trainers, and all-around support. LI held training for attendees on Candidate Vetting, Grassroots Lobbying, Communications, Running for Office, Strategic Research, Vote Goals, and four hours of Media Training.”

Leadership Institute is a lead sponsor for M4L’s 2023 summit, which features appearances from Republican presidential candidates including Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump. LI will again oversee training. As Kyle Spencer writes in *Raising Them Right: The Untold Story of America’s Ultraconservative Youth Movement and Its Plot for Power, LI’s trainings produce “ruthless operatives schooled in the magic art of what Blackwell called ‘political technology.’”

IFrame Content

Bridget Ziegler is an M4L co-founder. After she was re-elected to her own school board seat, Blackwell hired her to run Leadership Institute’s School Board Campaign Trainings. Ziegler had resigned from the M4L board in February 2021, to be succeeded by LI graduate Marie Rogerson.

Prior to her roles with M4L and the Leadership Institute, Ziegler had been a co-founder and president of the right-wing Florida Coalition of School Board Members. When Ziegler left her presidency she was succeeded by Tina Descovich, a communications professional and later, with Ziegler, a co-founder of Moms for Liberty. M4L claims it is grassroots but it is really political professionals.

READ: To Understand Groups Like Moms For Liberty And The Republican Party’s MAGA Base, Look To The John Birch Society

M4L has registered over one hundred 501(c4)s (political dark money vehicles) with the IRS. One high ranking figure told the New Yorker that M4L is a “media company.” In Shadow Network: Media, Money and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right, Anne Nelson shows that a combination of organization and media is Morton Blackwell’s philosophy.

Look behind the curtain. You may not like what you see.

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4 24

Leadership Institute (LI) is a right wing Virginia-based training organization for potential conservative political leaders.

According to the group's website, the Leadership Institute was founded in 1979 by its president, Morton C. Blackwell. "LI provides training in campaigns, fundraising, grassroots organizing, youth politics, and communications. The Institute teaches conservatives of all ages how to succeed in politics, government, and the media. The Institute offers more than 50 types of training schools, workshops, and seminars; a free employment placement service; and a national field program that trains conservative students to organize campus groups. Since 1979, LI has trained more than 250,000 conservative activists, leaders, and students. The Institute's unique college campus network has grown to more than 2,300 conservative campus groups and newspapers."[1]

The Leadership Institute is a "partner" of the State Policy Network (SPN).[2]

Contents

News and Controversies

Launches The Riley Gaines Center

The Riley Gaines Center at the Leadership Institute was launched in August of 2023 under the direction of Riley Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer who campaigns for the exclusion of trans women from women's sports. The center's website describes its mission to create "courageous leaders to protect women in America," as well as to identify and recruit "those targeted by the left." In addition, the website lists the center as the home of Gaines' activism through speaking events and media appearances, coalition building, and grassroots organization.[3]

From September through November 2023, Gaines embarked on a national speaking tour funded by the Leadership Institute, which included thirteen events held at various universities.[4] Several of Gaines' speaking appearances were met with organized protests. This includes a walk-out during Gaines' speech at the University of Wyoming, according to the Branding Iron, UW's student newspaper. The publication notes that Gaines' speech "opened with allegations of an assault at San Francisco State University, made specific note that she was attacked by ‘men in dresses with beards’ and that she was apparently held ransom along with police officers until she gave the protestors $10.00 each," though these specific claims are unable to be independently substantiated.[5] A similar protest occurred at Harvard University on October 26, 2023. The Harvard Crimson, the university's student newspaper, reported that dozens of students demonstrated against the event, with several student groups gathering an hour before the event began to create posters and give speeches in opposition to Gaines.[6]

According to WUWM 89.7, Milwaukee's NPR station, around 30 members of the Coalition to March on the RNC protested outside the Pfister Hotel, shortly before the August 23, 2023 GOP debate at Fiserv Forum. WUWM 89.7 reported that these protesters were "primarily focused on an appearance inside by swimmer Riley Gaines."[7]

Opposition to Democratic Reforms Proposed in H.R.1

The For the People Act (H.R.1), an election and ethics reform bill championed by Democrats, was introduced in the House in January 2021. Conservative Action Project, an arm of the Council for National Policy (CNP), published a statement in opposition to the bill. The statement claimed that the bill would serve to "protect incumbents, at the expense of the First Amendment, federalism, and individual voter integrity."[8] LI President Morton C. Blackwell joined other right-wing leaders in signing. Though the bill successfully passed in the House on March 2021, it was unable to pass in the Senate due to the slim Democratic majority and the filibuster rule that imposes a de-facto 60-vote hurdle to enact most legislation.[9]

Sponsorship of 2021 CPAC annual conference

The Leadership Institute was a sponsor of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) annual conference in February 2021. The theme of the conference was "America Uncanceled," a focus on right-wing opposition to "cancel culture." In addition, the Center for Media and Democracy's PRWatch noted that the program was heavily focused on the "Big Lie" of widespread voter fraud, an unsubstantiated electoral strategy employed by numerous Republican politicians and allies of the Trump administration.[10]

Support for Overturning 2020 Presidential Election Results

In a Conservative Action Project letter published in December 2020, Leadership Institute President Morton C. Blackwell joined leaders from other right-wing groups to demand that state legislature in six swing states throw out the election results and appoint new Electoral College electors.[11] The statement calls for this course of action in order to illegally overturn the results of 2020 U.S. presidential election, asserting "There is no doubt President Donald J. Trump is the lawful winner of the presidential election. Joe Biden is not president-elect." ^[12]

COVID-19 Relief Funding

Leadership Institute President Morton C. Blackwell is a signatory of a May 8, 2020 letter put together by the Conservative Action Project, joining leaders from dozens of other right-wing groups to urge Congress to reject bailouts of state and local governments facing budget shortfalls caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter claimed that many states had been fiscally irresponsible and that "a federally funded state bailout would reward the reckless states while punishing the prudent ones." ^[13]

However, an investigation by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) found that the Leadership Institute accepted Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) forgivable loans in April and May of 2020, receiving between $1 million and $2 million to retain 70 jobs. Other organizations whose leadership signed the May 8 letter and accepted PPP loans include Kelly J. Shackelford of the First Liberty Institute, Charlie Copeland of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy, and Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel. ^[14]

Activities

Campus Leadership Program

According to the organization's website, the program provides grants for activism, speakers, and publications; resource materials and activism ideas; in-person training and personal assistance.[15]

The Leadership Institute identifies, organizes, and trains conservative college students to promote and defend their values on campus. Tomorrow's conservative leaders begin their activism and political careers with the Institute's campus programs today. LI's unique network includes more than 1,884 campus groups in all 50 states.

National Field Program

According to LI:[16]

The Leadership Institute's National Field Program is a unique network of independent conservative campus groups and publications with a presence on colleges in all 50 states. LI's campus network is comprised of more than 1,870 campus groups advocating for their principles on issues like limited government, the free market, traditional values, and national defense. This one-of-a-kind network is supported by LI's experienced team of regional field coordinators -- who are ready at a moment's notice to help conservative students promote and defend their beliefs on campus.

CampusReform.org

The website campusreform.org is operated by the Leadership Institute. According to the right wing website, "As a watchdog to the nation's higher education system, Campus Reform exposes bias and abuse on the nation's college campuses. Our team of professional journalists works alongside student activists and student journalists to report on the conduct and misconduct of university administrators, faculty, and students. Campus Reform holds itself to rigorous journalism standards and strives to present each story with accuracy, objectivity, and public accountability."[17]

Conservatism101.org

The website conservatism101.org is operated by the Leadership Institute. Conservatism101 "brings an in-depth exploration of conservative philosophy to your campus or computer -- at no cost to you." The website highlights four areas of conservatism:[18]

The Joseph U. Oswald Patriot Online School Board Training Program

According to the website, the program is a training curriculum for conservatives to run successful campaigns for school board, in opposition to a perceived threat of left-leaning influence in local school districts. In addition, the website notes three specific learning objectives, with participants learning to:[19]

ConservativeJobs.com

ConservativeJobs.com is self-described as "the premier job board for conservative job seekers and employers." ^[20] In addition to providing a platform for conservative recruiters and job seekers to connect, the website also offers resources for interview preparation and navigation of the job search process.[21]

Ties to the Koch Network

LI has received substantial funding from organizations associated with the Koch Network, including several Koch family foundations, and DonorsTrust and the Donors Capital Fund. Between 2010 and 2021, these aforementioned organizations gave nearly one and a half million to LI.

Ties to the Bradley Foundation

Between 2002 and 2022, LI received nearly $950,000 from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and the Bradley Impact Fund.

state Policy Network

LI is listed as a "partner" of the State Policy Network (SPN), a web of right-wing “think tanks” and tax-exempt organizations in 50 states, Washington, D.C., Canada, and the United Kingdom.[22]

SPN is a web of right-wing “think tanks” and tax-exempt organizations in 50 states, Washington, D.C., Canada, and the United Kingdom. As of April 2023, SPN's membership totals 163. Today's SPN is the tip of the spear of far-right, nationally funded policy agenda in the states that undergirds extremists in the Republican Party. SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told the Wall Street Journal in 2017 that the revenue of the combined groups was some $80 million, but a 2022 analysis of SPN's main members IRS filings by the Center for Media and Democracy shows that the combined revenue is over $152 million.[23] Although SPN's member organizations claim to be nonpartisan and independent, the Center for Media and Democracy's in-depth investigation, "EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government," reveals that SPN and its member think tanks are major drivers of the right-wing, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)-backed corporate agenda in state houses nationwide, with deep ties to the Koch brothers and the national right-wing network of funders.[24]

In response to CMD's report, SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told national and statehouse reporters that SPN affiliates are "fiercely independent." Later the same week, however, The New Yorker's Jane Mayer caught Sharp in a contradiction. In her article, "Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?," the Pulitzer-nominated reporter revealed that, in a recent meeting behind closed doors with the heads of SPN affiliates around the country, Sharp "compared the organization’s model to that of the giant global chain IKEA." She reportedly said that SPN "would provide 'the raw materials,' along with the 'services' needed to assemble the products. Rather than acting like passive customers who buy finished products, she wanted each state group to show the enterprise and creativity needed to assemble the parts in their home states. 'Pick what you need,' she said, 'and customize it for what works best for you.'" Not only that, but Sharp "also acknowledged privately to the members that the organization's often anonymous donors frequently shape the agenda. 'The grants are driven by donor intent,' she told the gathered think-tank heads. She added that, often, 'the donors have a very specific idea of what they want to happen.'"[25]

A set of coordinated fundraising proposals obtained and released by The Guardian in early December 2013 confirm many of these SPN members' intent to change state laws and policies, referring to "advancing model legislation" and "candidate briefings." These activities "arguably cross the line into lobbying," The Guardian notes.[26]

Ties to the Council for National Policy

LI President Morton C. Blackwell is one of the co-founders of the Council for National Policy (CNP), an umbrella organization and networking group for conservative and Republican activists in the United States. In addition, Blackwell is listed in the September 2020 CNP Membership Directory as the Treasurer of the Executive Committee and a member of the Board of Governors.[27] However, as of October 2023, Blackwell appears to no longer hold the position of Treasurer.[28]

cnp table

Ties to Moms For Liberty

The right-wing nonprofit Moms for Liberty (MFL) and LI have fostered a synergistic relationship based upon shared political objectives, as exemplified in the former's mission statement to "organize, educate and empower parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government." ^[29] LI's Digital Media Manager Dylan Craig detailed this collaboration with LI since M4L's beginning, writing in a July 2022 online post:[30]

As they saw their school boards dominated by Covid-19 fearmongers and leftist activists politicizing the classroom and corroding educational integrity, the founding members of Moms for Liberty quickly organized. They got advice from my boss, Morton Blackwell, and used Leadership Institute trainings and sheer determination to quickly become a national force.

According to an opinion piece published by the Bucks County Beacon, LI and M4L both organized a School Board Activist Workshop in January 2022, and LI facilitated three M4L School Board Activism and Campaign Trainings in February 2022. LI was the largest sponsor for M4L's national summit in July of 2022, which included Ron DeSantis, Rick Scott, Betsy DeVos and Ben Carson as speakers. LI was also a lead sponsor for MFL's 2023 national summit, and oversaw trainings for attendees on candidate vetting, grassroots lobbying, communications, running for office, strategic research, vote goals, and media.[31]

M4L co-founder Bridget Ziegler stepped down from her position as director in spring of 2021, and was subsequently hired by LI to serve as the Vice President of the School Board Leadership Program.[32]

Funding

LI is not required to disclose its funders but major foundation supporters can be found through their IRS filings. Here are some known contributors:

Core Financials

2022[33]

Grants Distributed

2021[34]

Grants Distributed

2020[35]

Grants Distributed

2019[36]

Grants Distributed

2018[37]

2017[38]

2016[39]

2015[40]

2014[41]

2013[42]

2012[42]

Past Students

Personnel

Board of Directors

As of November 27, 2023:

Former Board of Directors

Staff

As of November 27, 2023:[43]

Former Staff

Contact Information

Employer Identification Number (EIN): 51-0235174

Leadership Institute

1101 North Highland Street

Arlington, VA 22201

Phone: (703) 247-2000

Fax: (703) 247-2001

Web: http://www.leadershipinstitute.org

Twitter: @Leadershipinst

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeadershipInstitute/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-leadership-institute/

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Leadership Institute - DeSmog

4 24 2017 update

The Leadership Institute (LI)

Background

The Leadership Institute (LI) was founded in 1979 by Morton C. Blackwell who serves as its current president. The Institute specializes in training potential conservative political leaders in campaigns, fundraising, grassroots organization, youth politics, and communications.1

According to their website, “The Institute teaches conservatives of all ages how to succeed in politics, government, and the media” and has trained more than 168,000 conservative activists, leaders, and students.2 The website also states that the Leadership Institute “doesn’t analyze policy; it teaches conservative Americans how to influence policy through direct participation, activism, and leadership.”

In their own words, the Leadership Institute hosts sessions across their country where they train “freedom fighters” to “learn how to defeat the radical left.”3

Morton Blackwell has also served as Executive Director of the secretive Council for National Policy, a foundation Right Wing Watch describes as composed of leaders of right wing public policy organizations, major donors, and noted conservative leaders. Blackwell is also the Chairman and founder of the Conservative Leadership PAC.4 5

The Leadership Institute runs the Campus Reform project (CampusReform.org), which has encouraged students to set up programs on their campuses to help “expose the leftist abuses on your campus.”6

The Leadership Institute proclaims that it “actively supports the entire conservative movement.”7

Stance on Climate Change

The Leadership Institute offers an “activism idea” to create a “Global Warming Beach Party” and further offers activism grants to help cover the cost of materials.8

The video (see below) quotes climate change skeptic Richard Lindzen and suggests to “distribute literature that highlights misinformation spread by environmental extremists and shows the damage that liberal environmental policies cause the economy.” The Leadership Institute promises to promote some of these user-submitted videos on their Campus Reform website as well as other media.

Here is a quote taken from the Leadership Institute’s Campus Reform project blog in 2009:

“For the leftist activists, COP 15 and the protest was about changing the system (aka ending capitalism). Climate change is merely an excuse to collapse capitalism and switch to socialists economic systems.”9

Funding

The following is based on data the Conservative Transparency project compiled from publicly available 990 tax forms. Note that not all values have been verified by DeSmog.10

See the attached spreadsheet for additional information on the Leadership Institute’s funding by year (.xlsx).

Leadership Institute as Recipient

DonorTotal
F.M. Kirby Foundation$1,200,000
Ed Uihlein Family Foundation$1,165,000
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation$950,000
DonorsTrust$848,788
Dorothy D. and Joseph A. Moller Foundation$796,725
Schwab Charitable Fund$739,321
Donors Capital Fund$630,500
Castle Rock Foundation$630,000
The Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation$425,000
Adolph Coors Foundation$385,000
Armstrong Foundation$375,000
Stuart Family Foundation$277,000
Bochnowski Family Foundation$230,000
Bill and Berniece Grewcock Foundation$220,000
The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation$220,000
The Rodney Fund$207,000
Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation$137,138
Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation$137,000
National Christian Charitable Foundation$129,175
Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation$109,500
Orville D. and Ruth A. Merillat Foundation$102,000
Bradley Impact Fund$100,000
DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative$75,000
Diana Davis Spencer Foundation$63,000
Charles Koch Institute$55,654
The Whitcomb Charitable Foundation$52,000
John William Pope Foundation$50,000
Dodge Jones Foundation$50,000
Joe R Lee Family Foundation$45,000
National Philanthropic Trust$33,650
The Vernon K. Krieble Foundation$31,500
Holman Foundation$30,000
JM Foundation$28,000
The Roe Foundation$26,000
Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation$25,000
The Challenge Foundation$22,500
Dunn’s Foundation for the Advancement of Right Thinking$19,900
Legett Foundation$17,500
Kickapoo Springs Foundation$15,000
Richard Seth Staley Educational Foundation$10,000
True Foundation$10,000
Eric Javits Family Foundation$9,500
John Templeton Foundation$8,000
Lowndes Foundation$6,000
The Howell Foundation$5,500
The Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation$5,000
John P and Kathryn G Evans Foundation$3,800
The Randolph Foundation$3,000
Robert and Marie Hansen Foundation$3,000
The A William and Eileen Pratt Foundation$2,300
Cato Institute$2,000
Concerned Women for America$1,000
Jewish Community Fund$1,000
Joyce and Donald Rumsfeld Foundation$500
Heritage Foundation$200
George and Reva Graziadio Foundation$100
Grand Total$10,724,751

Leadership Institute as Donor

RecipientTotal
Longwood University$50,000
St. Andrews Episcopal School$50,000
The Heritage Foundation$45,935
National Right To Work Legal Defense Fund$44,435
Alliance Defense Fund$42,435
Campus Crusade$42,435
Gideons International$42,435
International Mission Board$42,435
Pacific Legal Foundation$42,435
Citizens Against Government Waste$30,518
Langdon School$25,000
Cato Institute$21,218
Concerned Women for America$21,217
Media Research Center$92,818
Free Congress Foundation$10,000
Mercatus Center$3,500
Bill of Rights Institute$2,500
Mass Eye and Ear Institute$2,500
Milton Rose D Friedman Foundation$1,500
Princeton University$1,500
Tax Foundation$1,500
American Red Cross$1,000
David Horowitz Freedom Center$1,000
Hillsdale College$1,000
Intercollegiate Studies Institute$1,000
Parents TV Council$1,000
Salvation Army$1,000
The Claremont Institute$1,000
The Fund for American Studies$1,000
The James Madison Institute$1,000
The National Center for Public Policy$1,000
The Objectivist Center$1,000
US English Foundation$1,000
Young America’s Foundation$1,000
American Council on Science Health$500
Americans for Prosperity$500
Competitive Enterprise Institute$500
Freedom Works$500
Hospice Education Institute$500
Institute for Justice$500
ProEnglish$500
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library$500
US Naval Academy Foundation$500
Grand Total$633,816

Koch Funding

The Leadership Institute has received at least $278,958 from Koch-related foundations between 2003 and 2017.11

*Note that original tax records prior to 1997 are not available for verification.12

YearCharles G. Koch Charitable FoundationClaude R. Lambe Charitable FoundationCharles Koch InstituteGrand Total
1995*$12,000$12,000
2003$15,000$15,000
2004$50,000$50,000
2006$24,500$24,500
2012$7,199$20,000$27,199
2014$52,112$19,200$71,312
2015$39,979$11,200$51,179
2016$14,812$8,000$22,812
2017$11,036$5,920$16,956
2018$11,334$11,334
Grand Total$137,138$109,500$55,654$302,292

Other Funding

Information from the 1995 “Foundation Directory” (PDF) archived by Greenpeace shows that the Leadership Institute Received $65,000 from the Carthage Foundation in 1992.13

The LI has in turn funded the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), PR watch reports.14

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evil but

Leadership Institute (LI) is a conservative educational organization that influences public policy through direct citizen participation and activism. LI provides training in leadership, campaigning, organizing, and youth politics. 1(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-1-39022)

The Leadership Institute was founded in 1979 by Morton Blackwell, a longtime member of the Republican National Committee as committeeman for Virginia. LI has trained over 200,000 conservative activists and leaders and claims a college campus network of over 1,700 groups and newspapers. 2(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-2-39022)

The Leadership Institute is an associate member of the State Policy Network, a coalition of free-market state-level policy organizations. 3(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-3-39022)

CONTENTS

Activity

The Leadership Institute provides training for conservative activists on topics that include the history of the Constitution, the foundations of conservatism, conservative podcasting, and how to become a pundit. 4(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-4-39022) Additionally, LI offers a series called the “Campaign Academy,” which trains future candidates, campaign managers, and campaign staff. The Academy training includes segments on campaign creation, budget development, fundraising, and targeting and mobilizing voters. 5(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-5-39022)

The Leadership Institute claims that the majority of school boards are run by liberal parents and that teachers’ unions back candidates that favor a liberal agenda, including the teaching of critical race theory. In response, LI launched its “School Board Campaign Training” in 2021 in order to train conservatives to win school board races and restore American education. 6(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-6-39022)

The Leadership Institute hosts the “Wednesday Wake-up Club Breakfast,” a monthly video featuring a conservative speaker. Past speakers include Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), Grover Norquist (president of Americans for Tax Reform), James Lindsay (founder of New Discourses), and Michael Farris (president and CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom). 7(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-7-39022)

The Leadership Institute’s other projects include Campus Reform, an online news site that acts as a conservative watchdog exposing liberal bias on college campuses, 8(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-8-39022) and ConservativeJobs.com, a jobs website specifically designed for conservative employers and job seekers. 9(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-9-39022)

Funding

The Leadership Institute is funded by donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations. While LI does not disclose its donors, tax filings confirm donations from Greater Horizons ($6.1 million in 2015), 10(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-10-39022) the Sedwick Charitable Foundation ($100,000 in 2016), 11(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-11-39022) and the Charles Koch Foundation ($52,112 in 2014). 12(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-12-39022)

People

Morton Blackwell is the founder and president of the Leadership Institute and a member of the Republican National Committee as national committeeman for Virginia. Blackwell is the former national vice chairman at large of the Young Republican National Federation and former executive director of the College Republican National Committee. Blackwell sits on the Republican National Committee’s Standing Committee on Rules 13(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-13-39022) and sits on the boards of the American Constitutional Rights Union, 14(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-14-39022) the American Conservative Union, the American Civil Rights Union, the Conservative Leadership PAC, the Free Congress Foundation, and the National Right to Work Committee. 15(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-15-39022)

David Fenner is vice president of programs at LI. Fenner formerly worked as director of programs at the Council for National Policy (CNP), vice president of CNP Action, and treasurer of the Conservative Leadership PAC. 16(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-16-39022)

Board of Directors

Ed Corrigan is the secretary of the board of the Leadership institute. Corrigan formerly worked as the group vice president for policy promotion at the Heritage Foundation, as a senior adviser on policy and strategy to former Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), and as the executive director of the Senate Republican Steering Committee. 17(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-17-39022)

Chuck Cunningham was the senior advisor for intergovernmental and external affairs at the Department of Energy In the Trump administration. Cunningham is a former vice president at Securing America’s Future Energy, a former senior policy advisor at Take Back Our Republic, and a former senior advisor at the National Rifle Association. 18(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-18-39022)

Dario Paya is the president of The Leadership Institute in Chile and a co-founder and secretary general of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI), a center-right political party in that country. 19(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-19-39022)

Justin Ouimette is a former policy director of the Freedom Caucus. 20(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-20-39022)

Star Parker is the founder and president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. 21(https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-leadership-institute/#easy-footnote-bottom-21-39022)

References...

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https://www.mediamatters.org/moms-liberty/salems-eric-metaxas-defends-moms-liberty-quoting-hitler

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https://www.mediamatters.org/moms-liberty/inside-moms-libertys-summit-big-money-and-even-bigger-conspiracy-theories

mma 7 23

last weekend’s Moms for Liberty summit cemented the group as a key player in Republican politics, with the party’s presidential primary front-runners Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis addressing attendees both at the conference and at home via livestream. But it’s what happened in the breakout strategy sessions that were closed to the press that reveals why the group has become so effective — and dangerous. 

In session after session, speakers offered a warped view of reality aimed at manipulating parents into believing they’re righteous liberators battling some ambiguous enemy located in public schools. They warned audience members that theteachers unions and other school officials that are “indoctrinating our kids” are on a mission to do everything from grooming their children to securing “world domination.” 

I’ve been following Moms for Liberty for over two years, and it’s now the fastest-growing self-described “parental rights” organization in the United States, hiding behind the innocuous descriptor to covertly push a far-right agenda. Its meteoric rise has coincided with an alarming increase in harassment and threats directed at teachers, administrators, and school officials across the country — so much so that theSouthern Poverty Law Center designated Moms for Liberty as an extremist group this year.

What always strikes me about Moms for Liberty is the leadership’s ability to provoke such intense and hateful reactions from members, like threatening gun violence against librarians and bringing a 10-year-old to tears. I was morbidly curious about what exactly they were telling them. Although I pieced together a decent enough picture by viewing recorded meetings, streamed events, documents, and interviews, I felt like I was missing something because I was behind a desk, not on the ground.

Until I attended this year’s summit.

The gathering lasted from Thursday night until Sunday morning, drawing over 700 attendees and a steady group of protesters positioned outside of the hotel. It was divided into two types of events: general sessions and breakout sessions. General sessions included big name speakers — Trump, DeSantis, Nikki Haley — catered meals, and a designated press area.

Both the breakout sessions and the main stage included speakers doubling down on a local Indiana chapter's uncritical use of an Adolf Hitler quote printed on the front of their newsletter. NBC News reported that a speaker at a breakout session told attendees to “never apologize.” At Saturday night's general session, co-founder Tiffany Justice said, “One of our moms in a newsletter quotes Hitler. I stand with that mom.” The crowd cheered.

Manufacturing terror to mobilize parents

We wanted to get a closer look at how Moms for Liberty instructs members behind closed doors, so Madeline Peltz, my colleague who was with me at the summit, and I split up the breakout sessions to cover more ground.

Kim Hermann, a lawyer affiliated with the Southeastern Legal Foundation, spoke in a breakout session which, according to the event description, was about “navigating legal challenges and advocating for your family.” She began by warning parents that they were “fighting a constitutional war.”

She said those running schools (“teacher unions, those that are indoctrinating our kids”) want to “undermine our republic and our way of government” and claimed that schools are intentionally withholding information from kids about their constitutional rights.

Her speech only got more extreme from there: She claimed that thesesame powerful actors are “trying to get rid of our Constitution” — somehow through critical race theory — and that their ultimate goal is to “destroy” America.

In another breakout session,Deb Fillman, a “homeschool consultant,” spent over an hour ranting about a faceless enemy attacking children through the weapon of social-emotional learning.

Fillman said that while she didn’t exactly know who benefits from this alleged child exploitation, she tends to agree that they’re probably “Marxists or globalists.”

But whoever they are, they’re out to “replace parents,” groom your children by creating an inappropriate “trust bond,” gather your child’s data to manipulate them, and ultimately pursue “world domination.” 

Conspiracy theories about impending child microchips and Bill Gates were sprinkled in the presentation, too. Fillman suggested that math software owned by Gates’ Microsoft is being nefariously used to “get every data point they possibly can on a kid.” In the same vein of corrupt data collection, she told audience members that she fears that microchips tracking students in schools (allegedly an “experiment” in China) is coming to the United States soon, which means the government would “know everything.” 

Education consultants teach how to overwhelm opponents 

Amid all of the conspiracy theories and fearmongering, there were select breakout sessions that offered actual strategies to “fight” the evils attendees had learned about.

Education consultant Jordan Adams’ presentation was focused on successfully flipped school boards, and it included detailed instructions about how to get newly elected board majorities to bulldoze through Moms for Liberty policy priorities.

Adams presented audience members with a how-to guide on destabilizing school districts within the first 100 days of taking office, including a worksheet that he encouraged participants to fill out listing a timeline of tangible steps meant to overwhelm the opposition (the image includes my notes for his suggested actions based on the presentation). The reverse side of the handout encouraged attendees to familiarize themselves with and counter common talking points from adversaries.

In order to pass controversial policies without backlash, Adams suggests that school boards bombard the district with an array of demands and changes so that the opposition can’t keep up. “These [school] boards, these majorities, they need to be meeting on multiple fronts, multiple issues,” he said. “They need to keep moving, and the idea is that the other side, the powers that be, they cannot keep up with all of it. Right? Oftentimes there will be one small thing, one thing at a time. And they can rally people around that. They can’t counter everything.”

Some of the first steps include putting school administrators “on notice that they need to cooperate with all of this” and advertising “the values” the new board is implementing when posting job ads for new teachers.

The second month is defined by policies: “Start introducing policies on CRT [critical race theory], eliminating DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] offices, reviewing contracts and initiatives, eliminate student surveys.” He also suggested putting a “moratorium on new technology.” 

Nearly every action step Adams discussed was also a consulting service he could both provide and profit from. Adams runs Vermilion Education, an education consulting business specializing in transparency audits, curriculum design, board advising, and teacher training. Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler (who also chairs the Sarasota County school board) suggested hiring Adams to her school system, which was the first to consider it. 

Meanwhile, Adams suggested that schools are “raking in cash from the state, from taxpayers” and “funneling it off to their friends.”

His wasn’t the only session to highlight school finances.

The Heritage Foundation runs the show

Learning that there was going to be a “dark money in education” breakout session at the summit made me laugh (the irony!). Learning who the speakers were — Katie Gorka (former research fellow at The Heritage Foundation and wife of far-right political commentator Sebastian Gorka) and Rhyen Staley (a researcher at Koch-connected Parents Defending Education) — made me attend.

The message of the session was “follow the money.” Aside from some absurd conspiracy theories about the Centers for Disease Control trying to install puberty blockers “without the barrier of parental permissions”and Gorka’s claim that there’s dark money behind critical race theory, sex education, drag queen story hour, and transgenderism, the session loosely taught the audience how to determine who is really behind different educational organizations.

To determine influence, the speakers instructed audience members to look at who sponsors conferences and what foundations are giving them money in order to exert control. The examples they used were aboutteachers unions, but they could have also pointed to the summit’s sponsors.

The event, held in Philadelphia, was lavish: Nearly every meal was elaborately catered and served by waiters. The organizers also booked the Museum of the American Revolution and chartered buses to get attendees there, which wasn’t a cheap endeavor.They had money, but whose? Ticket sales and meager membership dues wouldn’t likely cover this kind of costly event.

Applying the same logic I learned in the “dark money” session to Moms for Liberty would suggest that the group’s chapters are shills for organizations like The Heritage Foundation and The Leadership Institute, a decades-old nonprofit that trains young conservative activists and policy leaders to sell right-wing ideals.

Both Heritage and Leadership sponsored the summit at the highest tier possible. Both have regularly partnered with and given resources to Moms for Liberty since the group’s infancy.And co-founder Ziegler is now**running the Leadership Institute’**s School Board Leaders Program. 

And there’s more. Breakout session speaker “Billboard Chris” Elston, a Canadian anti-trans activist, revealed that the Heritage Foundation identified and brought together 40 people, including him, in March 2022 to “fight gender ideology” — indicating that the think tank is helping to organize this coalition.

In the same session, Jay Richards, a senior research fellow at Heritage, claimed that he was the first one to approach Heritage with the idea to “fight gender ideology”and has spearheaded that movement.

Moms for Liberty was awarded Heritage’s Salvatori Prize for American Citizenship in 2022 for embodying “the virtues of the American Founding.” It also came with a nice little $25,000 prize.

Backed by and affiliated with individuals and organizations attempting togut and privatize public schools, Heritage is one of the leading crusaders trying to destabilize public education. So it’s no surprise that it’s using Moms for Liberty members as pawns to further that cause.

Having closely monitored Moms for Liberty longer than just about anyone else, I can say with confidence that the group is only becoming more openly extreme. It’s been headed that way for years, but now the mask is off.

Moms for Liberty is embracing rhetoric that not only appeals to far-right conspiracy theorists, but creates them.

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9/20 billed as alt to cpac for the hep kids?

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https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/its-back-after-2019-outrage-american-priority-festival-and-conference-2020-promises-golf-tournament-and-a-whos-who-of-far-right-speakers/

doral

It’s Back: After 2019 Outrage, American Priority Festival and Conference 2020 Promises Golf Tournament—and a Who’s Who of Far-Right Speakers

By Kristen Doerer | September 15, 2020

Simona Papadopoulos (left) poses with her husband George Papadopoulos (center) and another model after her bathing suit fashion show at the American Priority Festival and Conference. Screenshot of Simona Papadopoulos' since deleted tweet.]

At last year’s American Priority Festival and Conference, a macabre video that superimposed President Donald Trump’s face on a figure shooting the president’s perceived political opponents in a mass killing spree, reported on by The New York Times, caused outrage. This year, the AMP festival, unhindered by the global coronavirus pandemic, will feature a who’s who of right-wing and far-right speakers, all gathered together at the Trump National Doral Miami Oct. 8-11.

The “YUGE lineup”—their words, not ours—includes returning speakers, such as far-right Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, convicted felon Roger Stone, whose sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump, and far-right activist and One America News Network figure Jack Posobiec, who pushed the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, according to an organizer’s email Monday.

Anti-Muslim activist and right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer will also return to the stage. After winning the GOP nomination to represent Florida’s 21st Congressional District in the U.S. House in August, Loomer received Trump’s congratulations as she rubbed shoulders with a series of far-right figures at her victory party. Failed congressional candidate and QAnon conspiracy theorist DeAnna Lorraine, who recently accused Trump of “taking his base for granted” by wearing a mask, is another featured speaker. (We’ll see how many COVID-19 cases come out of this year’s festival.)

George Papadopoulos—who went to federal prison for making false statements to FBI agents about the timing of his contact with Russian intermediaries in 2016—will return to Trump Doral as well. Last year, Papadopolous spoke on an “Unmasking the Russian Hoax” panel, while his wife Simona Papadopolous held a swimsuit fashion show during the pool party portion of the festival.

Described as “Four days of God, country, and MAGA at the spectacular Trump National Doral resort in Miami, FL,” the conference promises “everything you could want in a patriot event.” And in case that description doesn’t excite you, the email promotes a golf tournament for an additional cost, a “MAGA pool party”—which no doubt means more patriotic swimsuits—and even spa deals:

AMP is also hosting a celebrity golf tournamenton the world-famous Blue Monster course with net proceeds benefiting the American Priority Foundation! Come play golf with some of the most patriotic names in sports, TV, and politics. Tournament entry is $500 and available as an option when you register. This makes a great gift for those golf fans!

AMP is also hosting a screening of Dinesh D’Souza’s blockbuster new film ‘Trump Card’, shooting a music video for a brand new patriot anthem by Alex Jordan, kicking off with a MAGA pool party, and hosting many surprise special guests.

The festival and conference was conceived as a pro-Trump, millennial-focused alternative to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference held in Washington, D.C., byAli Alexander, a right-wing political operative, and Alex Phillips, a conservative donor who owns a small telecom company in Virginia. Alexander—who previously went by Ali Akbar and who has ties to far-right figures such as Unite the Right white supremacist attendee Matt Colligan—has recently floated the idea of revamping a 2018 effort discredit mail-in voting ahead of the 2020 presidential election, dispatching Trump supporters to places where ballots are being counted?. Posobiec, who helped announce the first AMP festival in 2018, also promoted Alexander’s latest ploy to discredit mail-in voting.

The first AMP festival, held in 2018 in Washington, D.C., was effectively a flop, with one speaker even canceling after seeing the dismal turnout. Last year’s event, held in Doral, managed to attract more attendees but not quite the millennial and Gen Z crowd that was intended. Though younger conservatives were in attendance, the event attracted plenty of Generation X and baby boomer attendees, featuring such groups as the graying “Bikers for Trump.” Millennial MAGA stars were featured, including the Deplorable Choir, Ricky Rebel, a singer-songwriter known for being unapologetically both pro-Trump and gay, and right-wing activist Scott Presler.

It also ironically prevented reporters from covering its events—centered around the concept of free speech and the First Amendment—by allowing only “invited” media, barring Right Wing Watch’s Jared Holt from entry. In 2018, Alexander had explained the “invite only” policy this way: “Frankly, any press reporter who writes a hit piece on us is not getting a press credential.”

An Aug. 7 email promises panels with “leading experts on Medical Tyranny, Tech Censorship, Educational Freedom, The China Threat, Pandemic Response, and much more!” Last year, speakers peddled conspiracy theories and called for civil war. After coverage of the events and the crude video by the New York Times, ProPublica, and other outlets, AMP temporarily took down its page.

As Right Wing Watch reported last year, “The conference could have been dismissed as a meeting of the fringe, but big-ticket speakers like Don Trump Jr. and Sarah Huckabee Sanders lent legitimacy to the conference, as did more respectable Republican groups like the Leadership Institute, which held a series of trainings in side rooms.” While AMP 2020 has yet to secure high-profile Trump administration or Trump family speakers, its location at the Trump Doral and the degree of coziness Trump has gotten with such formerly fringe figures say enough.

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https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/hiding-in-plain-sight-the-white-nationalist-who-toiled-inside-a-right-wing-media-powerhouse

no lnx pix many

Right Wing Watch

Trending Donald Trump Impeachment Immigration White Nationalism

Hiding in Plain Sight: The White Nationalist Who Toiled Inside a Right-Wing Media Powerhouse

By Jared Holt | February 3, 2020 9:00 am By Angry White Men | February 3, 2020 9:00 am

The following article was reported in collaboration with Angry White Men. It also appears on Angry White Men.

Michael J. Thompson demanded that someone turn down the “horrifying music” so that he could introduce Scott Greer, then editor of The Daily Caller, whose first book Thompson had helped publish. He took nervous pulls from a can of Coors Light beer as he addressed the crowd assembled in the offices of the right-wing publication, mixing self-deprecating jokes about the “Walmart spread” of food offered to guests and seemingly earnest calls to action.

“Do not underestimate the value of your voice in influencing people in the Trump administration. You’ve got to keep fighting, because guess what, no one else is gonna do it. You have to do it,” Thompson told the crowd of people assembled on a March 2017 evening in downtown Washington, D.C., in remarks captured in a Periscope video.

Less than 24 hours before the party, an article appeared on a blog operated by Thompson; the author, writing under the name Paul Kersey, claimed to know why people were supposedly afraid to go travel to Baltimore, Maryland: “Blacks. Nothing more. Nothing less.” The closing kicker of the blog post stated the writer’s prejudice in stark terms: “No blacks, know peace; know blacks, no peace. It’s really this simple.” It is just one of more than 3,500 analogous articles that exist today on Thompson’s blog, “Stuff Black People Don’t Like.”

Thompson is just one of many members of the white nationalist movement in the United States that attempted to reinvent its public image with the “alt-right” moniker and rose to a flash of influence in Republican politics amid the 2016 presidential campaign of? Donald J. Trump. Leading up to that political moment, a clique of the movement’s believers had situated themselves inside GOP-aligned institutions and media outlets in and around Washington, where they used the resources at their disposal to advance their cause. Thompson’s career took him inside the Leadership Institute, a pillar of the conservative movement for more than 40 years, and ultimately to the right-wing tabloid-style website, WorldNetDaily.

The story of Thompson’s career is not one of a random internet blogger; it’s a blueprint that others have followed.

A barely underground member of the white nationalist movement, Thompson has toiled undisturbed, until recently, in conservative spaces, even as a number of his associates have since been exposed for supporting the movement that left blood in the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, at the 2017 Unite the Right white supremacist gathering.

Right Wing Watch and Angry White Men, a not-for-profit blog tracking figures in the white supremacist movement, can report that Thompson is the previously unknown author of racist material that has appeared on blogs and the best-known white nationalist publications for more than a decade under the Paul Kersey pen name. Angry White Men contributed in-depth research to this article while Right Wing Watch completed the investigative reporting.

Entering the Nucleus of Conservative Media

Michael J. Thompson with friends, including white nationalists Kevin DeAnna and Scott Greer. (Photo courtesy of Katie McHugh)]

The halls of The Leadership Institute’s headquarters are lined with photographs of its distinguished alumni, visual markers of its place in conservative politics. Headshots of notable graduates–figures including Ralph Reed, Rep. Jim Jordan, and even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Mike Pence, among others–are arranged in a single row on each side of a long corridor, all in identical frames. On any given week, young conservatives can attend events in its offices in Arlington, Virginia, for training in skills like public speaking, creative design, campaigning, and fundraising, and opportunities to hear distinguished guests from Capitol Hill and conservative media. On its website, the Leadership Institute claims to have “trained more than 200,000 conservative activists, leaders, and students” since its founding in 1979. It was there that Michael Thompson appears to have entered conservative politics, working as a member of the organization’sCampus Services Program,according to a 2010 press release.

During his tenure at the Leadership Institute, it also appears Thompson wrote articles for its Campus Reform media outlet.Articles bearing his byline have since been deleted but were cached via Google site-search results. Working at the Leadership Institute, Thompson grew close to white nationalist Kevin DeAnna, who was a leader of the Leadership Institute’s campus leadership program and began writing his blog, “Stuff Black People Don’t Like” (a play on the name of an internet-famous early 2000s satire blog, “Stuff White People Like”). In 2011, Thompson authored his first column for the racist publication VDARE, whose editor, Peter Brimelow, is a regular speaker at far-right conferences and has participated in panel discussions with Jared Taylor, founder of the white supremacist American Renaissance website, and Richard B. Spencer, the alt-right impresario who led the 2017 tiki-torch march at the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville on the eve of a violent gathering of far-right groups in the center of town.

You will barely find a trace of Thompson’s years at the Leadership Institute on its website—or anywhere, really. Neither Leadership Institute Communications Coordinator Sarah Morrison nor Campus Reform Editor-in-Chief Cabot Phillips responded to inquiries from Right Wing Watch seeking basic information on Thompson’s position with the organization.

After he left the Leadership Institute, Thompson joined the staff of WorldNetDaily, a right-wing conspiracy-theory website aligned with the Republican Party, where he worked in the marketing department. The site is helmed by founder Joseph Farah, a Trump associate who helped the then-presidential hopeful advance the false claim that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

Thompson’s name appeared on WorldNetDaily’s masthead as early as Jan. 29, 2012, and as late as Nov. 18, 2018, as preserved in online snapshot archives. Throughout his entire tenure at the digital publication run by one of Trump’s loudest boosters, Thompson was moonlighting under a pseudonym at racist and white nationalist publications run by Brimelow and Taylor. Thompson’s work was scrubbed from the WorldNetDaily site, but some of it ?was archived. WorldNetDaily editors, including Farah, ?failed to respond to Right Wing Watch’s emailed requests for comment.

Thompson found himself at WorldNetDaily during the pinnacle of its ascendance in the Republican Party. In its heyday, Farah sought to expand WorldNetDaily into a conservative media powerhouse, publishing books by? Rep. Devin Nunes?, who is now the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, and right-wing activist Phyllis Schlafly, ?who died in 2016, not long after she endorsed Trump for president. Farah even launched a documentary filmmaking company? that produced feature-length movies about gun issues, Christianity, and the supposed secret plots to undermine Western civilization. When Thompson was employed there, Farah and his outlet were enjoying a renaissance of sorts, establishing WorldNetDaily as a mill for the “birther movement,” as the racist narrative questioning Obama’s birth certificate came to be known.

Using his WorldNetDaily position for access, Thompson rubbed shoulders with high-profile Republican politicians and publishers. In 2012, Thompson interviewed Joe Arpaio,then the sheriff of Arizona’s Maricopa County, about Barack Obama’s birth certificate and other birtherism theories for WorldNetDaily (the video has since been deleted from WorldNetDaily’s website?).

During an appearance on “The Hagmann Report” in 2017, Thompson boasted that he had been in contact with former White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon before Bannon joined the Trump campaign. Bannon did not respond to our request for comment.

“You know, I used to share emails three or four times a week with Steve Bannon before he was invited to become part of the Trump campaign,” Thompson told “The Hagmann Report” hosts Joe Hagmann and Jon Robberson.

In one email provided to Right Wing Watch and Angry White Men by former Breitbart editor Katie McHugh, Thompson can be seen pitching conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsias a potential guest on the SiriusXM radio program produced by Breitbart News, which Bannon hosted at the time. Bannon declined, writing back, “Zero interest,” and “Not a fan.”? However, Bannon also instructed Thompson to send “all your other books” from WorldNetDaily authors, presumably for their radio-guest potential.

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jep. Jim Jordan of Ohio addressed a group of conservatives at the Leadership Institute this morning in Arlington, Virginia, for the organization’s Wednesdays Wake-Up Club breakfast series, where he advised those in attendance to avoid talking about socialism and instead frame conversations that would otherwise involve the topic around “the loss of freedom.”

Jordan is a member of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, which was responsible for pushing former speaker John Boehner from power, and has evolved as a group that reliably attacks those who challenge President Donald Trump.

The Leadership Institute is a Washington, D.C., organization that trains right-wing activists, often college-aged or younger, on messaging and activism for conservative causes, and recruits future candidates for elected office with training on how to run a campaign. Scheduled workshops for the month of May include sessions on fundraising, grant writing, communications, debate, and media appearances. The group aims to train mainstream conservative groups, but occasionally far-right activists have enrolled in its training workshops and used those lessons for their own causes. Among those who have received training from LI are James O’Keefe of Project Veritas and Ralph Reed, the Republican political operative who leads the Faith and Freedom Coalition.

Leadership Institute president Morton C. Blackwell opened up the event by talking about ongoing conflicts in Venezuela, where the United States has voiced its support for forces in the country that oppose the embattled President Nicolas Maduro.

“I choose not to predict what is going to happen, but if I had to bet, I would put my money on Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton,” Blackwell said.

Bolton claims that “key figures” in the Maduro regime “committed to support ousting Maduro,” and has been calling on them to “fulfill their commitments.”

After reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and listening to remarks by an intern and a program director at the Leadership Institute, audience members heard from Jordan. The Ohio congressman began his remarks by praising the Leadership Institute, where he said he received media training there early in Congressional career. He went on to say that policies being pushed by prominent figures in the Democratic Party—measures on immigration and voting rights—were among “some of the most radical positions” he had ever seen.

“The reason I think the left is so crazy—they don’t start from the same premise we do. They really don’t, and I think this is important to understand. I think everyone in this room believes that we live in the greatest nation in history. The left doesn’t start there. They think America is just one of the 190-some countries on the planet,” Jordan said. “And when you start from the wrong premise, I think that leads to all kinds of problems.”

Then Jordan told Leadership Institute attendees that the message from the right, when you boil it all down, is: “Freedom is under attack right now in this country.” He cited the debunked notion that conservatives were being “shadow banned” by the social media platforms of technology companies, the rise of “politically correct” environments on college campuses, and Democrats advocating for “big government” and using that power to attack conservatives. Jordan went on advise that conservatives find ways to re-frame their critiques of socialism.

“Don’t talk about socialism. Talk about the loss of freedom,” Jordan told Leadership Institute.

He continued, “It’s about a system that takes away freedom. When you don’t have capitalism, free markets, free enterprise, liberty, freedom, fundamental rights protected, bad things happen, and we are seeing it play out on TV right now in Venezuela. So, our charge is talk what the loss of freedom looks like and how great we’ve had it in this country. If we do that, we’ll be just fine.”

Tags: Jim JordanLeadership Institute

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http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rep-jim-jordan-to-leadership-institute-dont-talk-about-socialism/

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CNN)

The Alameda County District Attorney's Office has filed three felony charges and one misdemeanor against Zachary Greenbergafter an attack on the University of California Berkeley campus against a conservative activist. The attack was caught on video.

UC Berkeley campus police arrested Greenberg on Friday. He bonded out of jail and his arraignment is set for Wednesday. CNN has reached out to Greenberg's representatives for comment.

The attack occurred at Sproul Plaza on February 19, officials said. Turning Point USA identified the alleged victim to CNN asHayden Williams, who had been invited to UC Berkeley to help recruit students for a yet-to-be-formed chapter on campus.

Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Warren filed the charges against Greenberg. They include felony assault, felony battery, felony criminal threats and a misdemeanor vandalism charge. The criminal threats charge says it is a "serious felony" and further alleges "that the threatened crime, on its face and under the circumstances in which it was made, was so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate and specific as to convey to Hayden Williams a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution."

Before the charges were filed, a media representative for Williams said he is a field representative for the Leadership Institute,an organization that helps train conservative leaders. Williams is not a UC Berkeley student, the representative said.

"The fact that the victim was not a campus affiliate has no bearing on this case. He had every right to be on campus, and every right to express his point of view," said university spokesman Dan Mogulof.

Incident caught on video, shows two attackers

A short video recorded by a witness shows Williams and a man struggling before the man punches Williams in the face, knocking his hat off. The alleged suspect then gets close to Williams' face, calls him "racist," and shouts profanities before punching Williams again and walking away.

Williams told CNN shortly after the assault that he was fine but declined to answer other questions. He was treated at the scene, his media representative said.

Arda Erbil, the student who shot the footage provided to CNN, said he saw two men harassing Williams. As one of the men became physical, Erbil began to record video.

"Seeing something like that happen in such an open place was disheartening," he said.

The University of California Police Department said in a statement that officers responded to a "report of a disturbance" on upper Sproul Plaza, a center of student activity on campus, where they found the injured victim. According to the police statement, the victim said that two men approached him, a verbal altercation ensued and he began recording the interaction on his phone.

One of the men "slapped the phone out of the victim's hand," police said. "The suspect then knocked over the table the victim was at and the two men struggled over the phone. During the incident, the suspect punched the victim several times causing injury to the victim's eye and nose."

Williams told Fox News' Sean Hannity shortly after the attack that some students were upset by a sign he had displayed at his recruitment table that said, "Hate Crime Hoaxes Hurt Real Victims" -- apparently a reference to "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett, who has been accused of staging what he maintains was a hate crime against him.

What's next for Jussie Smollett, in his case and his career

"This person claimed we were promoting violence on campus and proceeded to take his aggression out on us," Williams told Hannity.

University condemns assault

UC Berkeley's chancellor and vice chancellor condemned the assault in a statement February 21, calling it "reprehensible."

"That sort of behavior is intolerable and has no place here," the statement said. "Our commitment to freedom of expression and belief is unwavering."

The statement added that university officials have "no information indicating" the perpetrators are affiliated with UC Berkeley.

The incident illustrates the "hate and anger so many on the left harbor and that our student activists encounter on a daily basis," Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA's founder and president, said in a statement last month.

"Our amazing grassroots organizers courageously face threats of violence and discrimination as they fight for the right for conservative voices to be heard on college campuses," Kirk said, adding he was proud of how the group's student activists handled the situation.

Campus known for promoting free speech accused of bias against conservative views

While UC Berkeley has a long history of promoting the tenants of free speech, in recent years there have been protests against conservatives and far right ideologues that have turned violent.

In 2017, a number of protests broke out ahead of speaking engagements by conservative commentators such as Milo Yiannopoulos and Ann Coulter. Neither of those events went forward.

Later that year, conservative radio host Ben Shapiro gave a talk as protesters swarmed outside. Nine people were arrested, but the protests appeared to be mostly peaceful.

CNN's Sarah Moon and Margaret Shuttleworth contributed to this report.

==

==

namebase

http://www.nndb.com/org/798/000122432/

===

bossie worked there between elections? after fired?

==

https://www.salon.com/2005/05/25/blackwell_9/

===

https://www.desmogblog.com/leadership-institute

==

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2010/2/1/831311/-

American politics is a battle between the Right Wing GOP gang and the public interest.

The GOP's long-term campaign people include a large number of thugs and shysters.

The 300 largest Rightie organizations run through $500-million a year. A third of that is legitimate policy research. The rest focuses on hate messages and promoting "dirty tricks" and other dishonest acts.

For example, the 501(c)(3) "charity" Leadership Institute has turned out 40,000 "graduate" dirty tricks specialists. Karl Rove was one, but also Jeff Gannon, three of the Louisiana Plumbers, and individuals who have interfered with elections from California to Minnesota to New Jersey.

Disrupting pro-democracy campaigns is standard fare. Manufacturing fake scandals is the current fad.

Welcome to American fascism. If you can't use our own Camp Wellstone... infiltration works, too.

Let Leadership Institute train you... all over the country.

For defense against the Dark Arts. MBTF Strategy, Tactics and Money =VERSUS= America's Issues & Character.

That's pretty much what we've got to deal with. The big money interests are throwing in $300-million from corporations and $200-million from individuals. Most through 501(c)(3) "charity" non-profits.

The office burglary in Louisiana -- aimed to bug or disrupt the telephone system of Senator Mary Landrieu -- is typical of Rightie scams.

Even when they are not breaking laws, this bunch have a particular disdain for democracy. For example. related to Alabama:

"The real crisis is a crisis of leadership," he said. "It’s a lack of understanding [by officeholders] of what things constitute the basis of government by a free people."

Toward that end, he said he is particularly encouraged that an Alabama group led mostly by conservative women launched in May the Alabama Legislative Leadership Initiative, with a goal, like that of the American Majority, of identifying and electing leaders well grounded in conservative philosophy. The group intends to find 15,000 people each to commit $2 per week to a political action committee so that, every four years, some $6 million will be available for conservative candidates in a state whose Legislature heretofore has remained controlled by old-line liberal machine politics.

Alabama, "controlled by old-line liberal machine politics." Sure thing.

The objective is to grab $1,500,000 a year with no strings attached. A mechanism to assure government by a "free people," not exactly.

Its one lie after another. 

LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

Morton Blackwell has run this operation since the 1960s. When the big money came in to save the GOP after 1972, Blackwell expanded his college system. Leadership Institute was started in 1979 and got its share of the pie.

Blackwell came in originally as a teenage Goldwater supporter, then moved over to Ron Reagan. He was a Special Assistant for Reagan in the White House with a portfolio related to outreach to campus conservatives. This connection led to LI taking the lead for training of Rightie activists.

Blackwell is the guy who had the Band-Aid hand outs at the 2004 Republican National Convention. A lifelong chicken hawk.... Vote suppression related to minorities is a special treat for Blackwell activists.

Here's the February schedule -- locations vary month to month:

02 -- Political Communications Workshop -- Reno, NV 

03 -- Wednesday Wakeup Club Breakfast ---- Arlington, VA 

03 -- Fundraising Workshop --------------- Reno, NV 

05 -- Campaign School  ------------------- Winnemuca, NV 

05 -- Fundraising Workshop --------------- Las Vegas, NV 

06 -- Campaign School -------------------- Fallon, NV 

06 -- Campaign School -------------------- Dover, DE 

06 -- Campaign School -------------------- Las Vegas, NV 

06 -- Youth Leadership School ------------ Tulsa, OK 

08 -- Campaign Manager School ------------ Arlington, VA 

09 -- Political Voter Mail Workshop ------ Arlington, VA 

11 -- Youth Leadership School ------------ Raleigh, NC 

18 -- CPAC Grassroots Activist Workshop -- Washington, DC 

18 -- CPAC Student Activist Workshop ----- Washington, DC 

18 -- CPAC Internet Activist Workshop ---- Washington, DC 

19 -- Youth Leadership School  ----------- Cedar City, UT 

19 -- CPAC Public Speaking Workshop ------ Washington, DC 

19 -- CPAC Fundraising Workshop ---------- Washington, DC 

19 -- 2010 CPAC Job & Internship Fair ---- Washington, DC 

19 -- CPAC Television Training ----------- Washington, DC 

20 -- Youth Leadership School  ----------- Des Moines, IA 

22 -- Campaign School -------------------- Anchorage, AK 

23 -- Grant Writing Workshop ------------- Arlington, VA 

24 -- Campaign School -------------------- Wasilla, AK 

27 -- Youth Leadership School ------------ Seattle, WA 

27 -- Campaign School -------------------- Secretary, MD 

27 -- Youth Leadership School ------------ Los Angeles , CA 

27 -- Campaign School -------------------- Fairbanks, AK 

27 -- Youth Leadership School ------------ Pocatello, ID

Campaign School (free) and Fundraising (free) are useful for anyone looking to do grass roots politics.

CPAC Grassroots Activist Workshop (free) is the sure winner. Difficult for any Kossack to keep quiet and take notes. CPAC is where you see the wilder folks.

Fees run max at $75 a course -- $50 for early registration -- for the Political Voter Mail Workshop.

Grant Writing costs $50 -- $35 early registration.

Do well at these courses, you'll get invitations to other LI programs for activists. The interesting stuff is free -- including tickets to CPAC as a volunteer.

BTW: If you can't find a hostel, there's usually a Motel 6 nearby. No conventions, very few drunks at an M6. Trucks can leave a little early.

CONSERVATIVE THINKING

Judge LI by what they recommend.

Its not all crazy. But the majority of the LI book list is either apocalyptic or whiny.

The Seven Fat Years 

     by Robert Bartley

The Law 

     by Frederic Bastiat

Up from Liberalism 

     by William F. Buckley, Jr.

Selected Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke collected 

     by Dr. Peter Stanlis

Suicide of the West 

     by James Burnham

Witness 

     by Whittaker Chambers

Ronald Reagan 

     by Dinesh D'Souza

Advise and Consent 

     by Allen Drury

The Theme Is Freedom 

     by M. Stanton Evans

Capitalism and Freedom 

     by Milton Friedman

Conscience of a Conservative 

     by Barry Goldwater

The Road to Serfdom 

     by F. A. Hayek

The Fatal Conceit 

     by F. A. Hayek

Economics in One Lesson 

     by Henry Hazlitt

Dedication and Leadership 

     by Douglas Hyde

Modern Times 

     by Paul Johnson

The Conservative Mind 

     by Dr. Russell Kirk

Liberty and Tyranny 

     by Mark Levin

The Rise of Radicalism 

     by Eugene Methvin

Defense of Freedom 

     by Frank Meyer

What Is Conservatism? 

     by Frank Meyer

Atlas Shrugged 

     by Ayn Rand

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall 

     by William Riordon

Knowledge and Decisions 

     by Thomas Sowell

The New Right: We're Ready To Lead 

     by Richard Viguerie

Ideas Have Consequences 

     by Richard Weaver

Buckley was far from crazy. Same for Allen Drury, who was friends with my father. Friedman and Goldwater were honest writers.

But the most of this is pitiable. Paranoia and worship of narcissism. Finding a suitable leader changes everything....

What the public interest needs, now, is defense against these propaganda memes.

Present yourself as a middle-of-the-road Ron Paul libertarian-flavor Republican and they'll leave you alone.

Know your enemy. Make friends while you're at it.

Being wrong doesn't make people any less likeable... some of them anyway.

===

see also morton blackwell

capt 318

Arlington va beachhead?

==

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=The_Leadership_Institute

The Leadership Institute is a Virginia based training organisation for potential conservative political leaders.

According to the groups website The Leadership Institute is "the premier training ground for tomorrow's conservative leaders. Conservative leaders, organizations and activities rely on the Institute for the preparation they require for success."

"Since 1979 the Institute's unique seminars and workshops have enrolled more than 61,000 students and taught them how to win. Each year hundreds of Institute graduates obtain positions of influence in public policy because of their Leadership Institute training," its website states.[1]

{nl}* 1 Overview{nl}* 2 Past Students{nl}* 3 Staff{nl}* 4 Contact information{nl}* 5 Articles and Resources{nl} * 5.1 Sources{nl} * 5.2 Related SourceWatch articles|

Overview

Past Students

Staff

Contact information

1101 North Highland Street

Arlington, VA 22201

Phone: (703) 247-2000

Fax: (703) 247-2001

Web: http://www.leadershipinstitute.org

Articles and Resources

Sources

  1. ↑ "About Us", The Leadership Institute, accessed February 2008.

Related SourceWatch articles

Categories: Conservatives | Politics | United States

===

all started w/ incubators:

Stein describes how the message machine works. If Rush Limbaugh wants something on vouchers – it's immediately in his hands; if Fox News' Bill O'Reilly needs a guest to talk about the "death tax," he's got him from one of the think tanks. Stein estimates that 36,000 conservatives have been trained on values, issues, leadership, use of media and agenda development. These are not the elected officials, but rather the cadre of the conservative network. Stein figures that the core leaders of the Big 80 groups he studied are about 2,000 people who make between $75,000 and $200,000 and have all been trained in the Leadership Institute.

stein on alternet

----

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/andrew-breitbarts-nixonian-okeefe-ratfk

O'Keefe and his crew are only following in the footsteps of the worst of the worst. They are funded by a right wing outfit called The Leadership Institute.

Founded in 1979 by veteran Republican activist Morton Blackwell, the Leadership Institute has worked with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Karl Rove and Grover Norquist. The group raked in $6.6 million in 2008, according to its most recent publicly available IRS filings, which doesn’t list donors.

“What we teach is to use creative and imaginative ways to make your points, to reveal what we think is political correctness run amuck, liberal hypocrisy and double standards” on left-leaning college campuses, said Sutton, who supervised O’Keefe at the institute until O’Keefe was asked to leave because his investigative work could interfere with the Institute’s Internal Revenue Service standing...read on

Poor James is ordered to stay at mommy and daddy's house to keep him out of trouble.

James O'Keefe, the 25-year-old conservative filmmaker who was arrested this week in connection with a plot to tamper with phone lines in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office, is out of jail on $10,000 bond, Talking Points Memo reports. The judge ordered O'Keefe to live with his parents until a preliminary hearing set for Feb. 13.

And notice thehigh powered lawyer O'Keefe immediately received. He's backed by big conservative money.

Michael Madigan, O'Keefe's lawyer, said Wednesday that his client was not trying to wiretap or interfere with Landrieu's phones, but he would not explain why O'Keefe was there. He also would not say whether O'Keefe was working for someone or was on his own.

"The truth will come out," said Madigan, a Washington lawyer who represented Sen. Howard Baker, the Republican who famously asked during the Watergate investigation,"What did the President know and when did he know it?"

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/02/03/james_okeefe_white_nationalists

James O'Keefe's race problem
A photo of the righty stuntman at a white-nationalist confab illustrates a career marked by racial resentment

By Max Blumenthal

James O'Keefe, photographed at a white nationalist conference by One People's Project.

This story has been corrected since it was originally published.

Many of the conservatives who gleefully promoted James O’Keefe’s past political stunts are feigning shock at his arrest on charges that he and three associates planned to tamper with Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu's phone lines. Once upon a time, right-wing pundits hailed the 25-year-old O’Keefe as a creative genius and model of journalistic ethics. Andrew Breitbart, who has paid O’Keefe, called him one of the all-time “great journalists” and said he deserved a Pulitzer for his undercover ACORN video. Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly declared he should have earned a “congressional medal.”

His right-wing admirers don't seem to mind that O’Keefe's short but storied career has been defined by a series of political stunts shot through with racial resentment. Now an activist organization that monitors hate groups has produced a photo of O'Keefe at a 2006 conference on "Race and Conservatism" that featured leading white nationalists. The photo, first published Jan. 30  on the Web site of the anti-racism group One People's Project, shows O’Keefe at the gathering, which was so controversial even the ultra-right Leadership Institute, which employed O'Keefe at the time, withdrew its backing. O'Keefe's fellow young conservative provocateur Marcus Epstein organized the event, which gave anti-Semites, professional racists and proponents of Aryanism an opportunity to share their grievances and plans to make inroads in the GOP.

One People's Project covered the event at the time, sending a freelance photographer to document the gathering. Project director Daryle Jenkins told O'Keefe manned a literature table  filled with tracts from the white supremacist right, including two pseudo-academic publications that have called blacks and Latinos genetically inferior to whites: American Renaissance and the Occidental Quarterly.  The leading speaker was Jared Taylor, founder of the white nationalist group American Renaissance. "We can say for certain that James O'Keefe was at the 2006 meeting with Jared Taylor. He has absolutely no way of denying that," Jenkins said. O'Keefe's attorney did not respond to a request for comment on his client's role in the conference.

[Subsequent to publication, freelance photographer Isis told Salon she saw O'Keefe helping with the event and believed he staffed the literature table, but her only photograph of O'Keefe was cropped so that the literature table isn't evident. "He was helping Marcus Epstein in the execution of the event," the photographer recalls. "O’Keefe was involved the same way you would be involved if you went to a party and you put out the cups and stocked the cooler.”]

O'Keefe's racial issues can be seen in many of his prior stunts The notorious ACORN videos highlighted images of himself dressed as a pimp, deceptively edited through hidden camera footage as he baited African-American office workers into making statements that could be perceived as incriminating. There were also lesser-known but equally inflammatory  spectacles like the “affirmative action bake sale” O’Keefe and his conservative comrades held when they were students at Rutgers University. During the event, O’Keefe stood at a table in the center of campus offering baked goods at reduced prices to Latinos and African-Americans while whites were forced to pay exorbitant amounts. (Native Americans, he announced, would eat free.)

By O’Keefe’s own account, his racial troubles became acute when he entered the multicultural atmosphere of Rutgers University’s dormitory system. In an online diarythat has since been scrubbed from the Web (but not before being captured on Daily Kos), he wrote that he was forced to live on an all-black dormitory floor after refusing to live with the gay roommate he was initially assigned. O’Keefe claimed his next roommate was “an Indian midget ... who smelled like shit.” The roommate left, however, and was replaced by “a greek kid.” The new roommate complained to a residential administrator that O’Keefe had called his neighbors “niggers,” prompting the school to expel him from the dorm. He rejected the accusation as a “complete lie,” writing, “I was lead out of the room crying and screaming at him and my situation, no friends, no one one [sic] to talk to, forced to go in front of a black man, Dean Tolbert, to defend myself and help explain that I did not call anyone any names.”

The following year, despite this record, O’Keefe secured a dream job in the conservative movement, employed by the Leadership Institute, a Northern Virginia-based outfit that serves as the movement’s most prolific youth training operation. There, O’Keefe met Marcus Epstein, a fellow ideologue who as editor of a conservative publication at the College of William and Mary assailed Martin Luther King Jr. for “philandering and plagiarism” and challenged his patriotism and Christianity.

In August 2006 Epstein planned an event that would wed his extreme views on race with his ambitions. Epstein invited white nationalist  Jared Taylor  and homophobic white-grievance peddler John Derbyshire of the National Review to speak at the Leadership Institute’s Northern Virginia headquarters, at a mock symposium called “Race and Conservatism.”

According to a post on the white supremacist Web site Stormfront, Taylor and Derbyshire debated "the role of race in policy decisions and the racial future of the Republican party."

When the Southern Poverty Law Center denounced Taylor’s participation in the event, sparking damaging publicity for the Institute, Epstein shifted it across the street, where he played host under the auspices of a “traditionalist” group he founded called the Robert A. Taft Club. O’Keefe joined him after the last-minute move. A speaker from the right-wing black front group Project 21, led by white conservative David Almasi, was added at the last minute.

According to One People's Project, which dispatched an undercover reporter to the event, about 40 people attended the event, including several white supremacists. They included Michael Hart, a Jewish astrophysicist and advocate of racially partitioning the U.S., who once clashed with David Duke at a conference over the Ku Klux Klan leader's anti-Semitism.

The event’s headline speaker, Jared Taylor, is the publisher of one of the white supremacist movement’s foremost journals, American Renaissance, which seeks to apply an academic gloss to the racialist screeds contained on its pages. According to a report on the conference published in Taylor's magazine, Taylor argued that a taboo against discussing the alleged criminal behavior and lower intelligence of blacks and Latinos twisted political discourse, and he advocated a strong white nationalism to counter it. Derbyshire denounced “this whole rickety apparatus of affirmative action, discrimination lawsuits, corporate shakedowns, profiling protests and 'speech codes.'” But the National Review editor expressed doubt that a sufficiently large white nationalist movement could be mustered to do much about it.

Epstein and O'Keefe moved on from the "Race and Conservatism" conference to better things. After graduating from the Leadership Institute, Epstein held jobs as executive director of both former Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo’s Team America PAC and Pat Buchanan’s American Cause. He also started a group called Youth for Western Civilization that dedicated itself to “defending the West on campus.” An essay featured on the group’s Web site complaining that “largely Jewish intellectual elites have utterly transformed American social and political discourse” suggested that Epstein’s outfit was only his latest attempt to push white nationalism and anti-Semitism into the conservative mainstream.

Epstein’s career unraveled in June 2009, when a violent racial assault he committed two years earlier was disclosed. According to a court affidavit, Epstein had karate-chopped a random African-American woman in the face and called her a “nigger” during a drunken late-night romp bar-hopping on Washington’s M Street in 2007, leading to his arrest by an off-duty Secret Service agent. He signed a plea bargain requiring him to attend alcohol rehabilitation courses and donate $1,000 to the United Negro College Fund as a token of his contrition.

Meanwhile, O’Keefe lost his job at the Leadership Institute in 2007 after a prank call he made to an Ohio-based Planned Parenthood clinic. During the call, O’Keefe offered a donation to the clinic on the condition that it would be earmarked to pay for aborting African-American fetuses. “Because there's definitely way too many black people in Ohio,” O’Keefe remarked to the receptionist. “So, I'm just trying to do my part.” Leadership Institute founder Morton Blackwell said O'Keefe's stunts went beyond the right-wing group's standards. “He wanted to do sting operations that would affect legislation; he made some calls which have been covered in the news media to Planned Parenthood,"Blackwell told the New York Times. "That was beyond the scope of what we had hired him to do. We are an educational organization. We are not an activist organization.” Blackwell told O'Keefe he had to choose between his job and his activism, "and he said he was committed to the activism," according to the Times.

O’Keefe’s termination by the Leadership Institute hardly ended his career as a conservative activist. Right-wing online publicist Andrew Breitbart, hearing of the merry prankster’s exploits, hired him to carry out the ACORN operation that would make him famous. Since his arrest, however, some of O’Keefe’s former associates are scrambling to save face. "I am shocked by the reports of this behavior,” declared O’Keefe’s collaborator on the ACORN operation, Hannah Giles. (Giles had tarted up as a prostitute for the stunt.)

O’Keefe has now hired a defense attorney and is waging a high publicity battle against charges that could land him in prison for nearly a year. Some of his old allies, like Breitbart, remain in his corner. Fox News' Sean Hannity hosted O'Keefe for a sympathetic sitdown Feb. 1, where the young right-winger played victim, claiming he was being persecuted by "flat-out slandering" and "journalistic malpractice."

---

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/the_leadership_institute_the_group_that_helped_lau.php

$ but no donors named

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morton_Blackwell

---

official bio

Morton Blackwell

Professionally, Morton Blackwell is the president of the Leadership Institute, a non-partisan educational foundation he founded in 1979.

His institute prepares conservatives for success in politics, government and the news media. Over the years the Leadership Institute has trained more than 86,000 students. It currently has revenue of $8.7 million per year and a staff of 53.

In youth politics, Mr. Blackwell was a College Republican state chairman and a Young Republican state chairman in Louisiana.

He served on the Young Republican National Committee for more than a dozen years, rising to the position of Young Republican National Federation national vice chairman at large.

Off and on for five years, 1965-1970, he worked as executive director of the College Republican National Committee under four consecutive College Republican national chairmen.

He served on the Louisiana Republican state central committee for eight years.

First elected to the Arlington County (Virginia) Republican Committee in 1972, he is a member of the Virginia Republican state central committee and was first elected in 1988 as Virginia’s Republican National Committeeman (RNC), a post he still holds. In 2004 he was elected to the Executive Committee of the RNC and served for four years.

Having worked actively in politics for more than forty years, he has probably trained more political activists than any other conservative. Starting in the 1960s, he has trained thousands of people who have served on staff for conservative and Republican candidates in every state.

Mr. Blackwell was Barry Goldwater’s youngest elected delegate to the 1964 Republican National Convention in San Francisco.

He was a national convention Alternate Delegate for Ronald Reagan in 1968 and 1976, and a Ronald Reagan Delegate at the 1980 national convention.

In 1980, he organized and oversaw the national youth effort for Ronald Reagan.

He served as Special Assistant to the President on President Reagan’s White House Staff 1981-1984.

Mr. Blackwell is something of a specialist in matters relating to the rules of the Republican Party. He served on rules committees of the state Republican parties in Louisiana and in Virginia. He serves now on the RNC’s Standing Committee on Rules and has attended every meeting of the Republican National Conventions’ Rules Committees since 1972. 

Morton's Speeches and Writings

==

http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/05/25/blackwell/

When the state or national candidate you're backing wins by a suitably large margin, as he or she surely will, have the nonpartisan group that sponsored the election sign off on your prewritten celebratory press release and send it statewide. Reporters will almost certainly ignore it, but after a dozen similar victories, they'll start dashing off articles about the youth phenomenon behind your candidate's campaign -- or better yet, just start plagiarizing your press releases.

There is no better place to master the art of mock-election rigging -- and there is no better master than Morton Blackwell, who invented the trick in 1964 and has been teaching it ever since. Blackwell's half-century career in conservative grass-roots politics coincides neatly with the fortunes of the conservative movement: He was there when Goldwater lost, when Southern voters abandoned the Democratic Party in droves, and when the Moral Majority began its harvest of evangelical Christian voters. In the 1970s, Blackwell worked with conservative direct-mail king Richard Viguerie; in 1980, he led Reagan's youth campaign. Recently, he's been fighting to save Tom DeLay's job.

Yet Blackwell's foundation, the Leadership Institute, is not a Republican organization. It's a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) charity, drawing the overwhelming majority of its $9.1 million annual budget from tax-deductible donations. Despite its legally required "neutrality," the institute is one of the best investments the conservative movement has ever made. Its walls are plastered with framed headshots of former students -- hundreds of state and local legislators sprinkled with smiling members of the U.S. Congress, and even the perky faces of two recently crowned Miss Americas. Thirty-five years ago, Blackwell dispatched a particularly promising 17-year-old pupil named Karl Rove to run a youth campaign in Illinois; Jeff Gannon, a far less impressive student, attended the Leadership Institute's Broadcast Journalism School....

It's an approach, Murray believes, that has long since paid off. "Sure, [Blackwell] has trained Karl Rove and Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist and 223 other legislators and members of Congress," Murray notes, "but more importantly, he's trained 40,000 other local organizers." The institute's graduates, in other words, are part of a movement. "We spent $2 billion trying to win this last election," Murray says of progressives. "They already spent 25 years, and nearly $100 million, building the talent pool that won the election. And which will consistently win them elections for the next several decades."

The structure of Blackwell's Campus Leadership Program is simple. The Leadership Institute trains promising conservative college graduates over the summer and dispatches them to campuses in the fall with a mandate to start conservative student organizations. Need $500 and some ideas to start a combative right-wing campus publication? The institute would love to help you. Is the campus administration discriminating against your Second Amendment club? The institute will help you take your cause to the Internet. No one on campus at your Christian college has ever heard of the institute? Staffers will be glad to drive down, take you to a steakhouse, and talk it up. Last year, the CLP doubled in size, to 418 clubs and counting. By the end of 2006, Blackwell is confident he will have created 1,000 conservative campus organizations.

---

http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Morton_Blackwell

---

Members of the Leadership Institute have been known to promote racist and radical events. Morgan Brooke Wilkins, a former CRNC field representative, was hired by the group as a Campus Services Coordinator. She was fired from the CRNC for promoting the racist "catch an illegal immigrant day" and an activity where students would shoot cutouts John Kerry and other Democrats. Apparently, when she was too extreme for the College Republicans, she fit right in at the Leadership Institute.

---

My right-wing degree [52], Jeff Horwitz, Salon, May 24, 2005

        "Yet Blackwell's foundation, the Leadership Institute, is not a Republican organization. It's a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) charity, drawing the overwhelming majority of its $9.1 million annual budget from tax-deductible donations. Despite its legally required "neutrality," the institute is one of the best investments the conservative movement has ever made.

        [. . .] Some progressives have come to that conclusion as well. "This was certainly needed 25 years ago," says Peter Murray, of the Center for Progressive Leadership. "Investing beyond any individual election cycle is the way that we're going to develop the progressive movement into a more robust, coordinated, compact force that can win elections." But getting donors to think beyond 2008 is a tough sell."

---

all

From Salon.com

My Right-wing Degree

How I learned to convert liberal campuses into conservative havens at Morton Blackwell's Leadership Institute, alma mater of Karl Rove, Ralph Reed, Jeff Gannon and two Miss Americas.

By Jeff Horwitz

May 24, 2005 | One recent Sunday, at Morton Blackwell's Leadership Institute, a dozen students meet for the second and final day of training in grass-roots youth politics. All are earnest, idealistic and as right wing as you can get. They take careful notes as instructor Paul Gourley teaches them how to rig a campus mock election.

It's nothing illegal -- no ballot stuffing necessary, even at the most liberal colleges. First you find a nonpartisan campus group to sponsor the election, so you can't be accused of cheating. Next, volunteer to organize the thing. College students are lazy, and they'll probably let you. Always keep in mind that a rigged mock election is all about location, location, location.

"Can anyone tell me," asks Gourley, a veteran mock electioneer, "why you don't want the polling place in the cafeteria?"

Stephen, a shy antiabortion activist sitting toward the rear of the class, raises his hand: "Because you want to suppress the vote?"

"Stephen has the right answer!" Gourley exclaims, tossing Stephen his prize, a copy of Robert Bork's "Slouching Toward Gomorrah."

The students, strait-laced kids from good colleges, seem unconvinced. The lesson -- that with sufficient organization, the act of voting becomes less a basic right than a tactical maneuver -- doesn't sit easy with some students at first. Gourley, a charismatic senior from South Dakota and the treasurer of the College Republican National Committee, assures them: "This is not anti-democracy. This is not shady. Just put [the polling place] somewhere where you might have to put a little bit of effort into voting." The rest, Gourley explains, is just a matter of turnout.

When the state or national candidate you're backing wins by a suitably large margin, as he or she surely will, have the nonpartisan group that sponsored the election sign off on your prewritten celebratory press release and send it statewide. Reporters will almost certainly ignore it, but after a dozen similar victories, they'll start dashing off articles about the youth phenomenon behind your candidate's campaign -- or better yet, just start plagiarizing your press releases.

There is no better place to master the art of mock-election rigging -- and there is no better master than Morton Blackwell, who invented the trick in 1964 and has been teaching it ever since. Blackwell's half-century career in conservative grass-roots politics coincides neatly with the fortunes of the conservative movement: He was there when Goldwater lost, when Southern voters abandoned the Democratic Party in droves, and when the Moral Majority began its harvest of evangelical Christian voters. In the 1970s, Blackwell worked with conservative direct-mail king Richard Viguerie; in 1980, he led Reagan's youth campaign. Recently, he's been fighting to save Tom DeLay's job.

Yet Blackwell's foundation, the Leadership Institute, is not a Republican organization. It's a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) charity, drawing the overwhelming majority of its $9.1 million annual budget from tax-deductible donations. Despite its legally required "neutrality," the institute is one of the best investments the conservative movement has ever made. Its walls are plastered with framed headshots of former students -- hundreds of state and local legislators sprinkled with smiling members of the U.S. Congress, and even the perky faces of two recently crowned Miss Americas. Thirty-five years ago, Blackwell dispatched a particularly promising 17-year-old pupil named Karl Rove to run a youth campaign in Illinois; Jeff Gannon, a far less impressive student, attended the Leadership Institute's Broadcast Journalism School.

The institute's classes aren't tickets into an exclusive and shadowy club, however: I am also an institute graduate. In March, I attended its Youth Leadership School, a one-weekend, 28-hour crash course in political organizing. Registration was open to the public and cost $60, which got me a sourcebook, six free meals, up to three nights in a dorm, and a six-hour lecture on political principles delivered by the 65-year-old Blackwell himself. The morning I arrived at the Leadership Institute, I identified myself as a reporter for Salon. "That's great," said communications director Michelle Miller. By the end of the weekend, Blackwell took me on a tour of the headquarters, chatted with me for nearly an hour, and gave me a copy of the institute's antisocialism in-house film, "The Roots of the Ultra Left." The institute is a very friendly place.

Over the last 25 years, more than 40,000 young conservatives have been trained at the institute's Arlington, Va., headquarters in everything from TV makeup for aspiring right-wing talking heads to prep courses for the State Department's Foreign Service exam. Classes are taught by volunteers recruited from the ranks of the conservative movement's most talented organizers, operatives and communicators.

The Leadership Institute has succeeded, in part, because it's had little to no competition from the left. College campuses may still be havens for liberal thought, but the right-wing students are the ones organized enough to win major battles. Perhaps expecting that American youth would organize themselves as they did in decades past, progressive organizations have been outstripped by their conservative counterparts in professionalizing the ragtag world of college activism. "When it comes to campus controversy, from affirmative action to free speech, the right wing pumps in money and expertise and shows [students] how to out-hustle their opponents," says David Halperin of the liberal Center for American Progress.

Still, Blackwell says conservatives are underdogs on college campuses. Conservative students may be better organized, but they're still outnumbered. The Leadership Institute contends that liberal higher education is robbing the conservative movement of new blood -- and thereby handicapping the institute's efforts. "You know, the most conservative students are the freshmen," Blackwell told me. "There is an acculturation there."

And that's where the institute is taking its fight. For most of its 25-year history, it has focused on grooming students to work in conservative politics; it's now increasingly devoting its efforts to making campuses more conservative places. Through its Campus Leadership Program, the institute is leading a growing effort to found and support a national network of conservative student groups and publications capable of permanently altering the intellectual and social environment of universities to conservatives' advantage. That goal alone is a stark rejection of the standard conservative complaint that post-Vietnam War higher education is not just grossly liberal, but irredeemably so. Already, the program has shown considerable success. Asked about his campus initiative, Blackwell simply says, "You're talking about the major project for the rest of my life."

In the wake of the 2004 election, some progressive groups have been working to reinforce their positions on campus. Last February, the Center for American Progress launched Campus Progress, a student activism support center, to combat what Halperin describes as "30 years of effective organizing" by conservative groups like the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Young Americans for Freedom, and of course, the Leadership Institute. But Blackwell is unfazed by the competition. "If they asked me, which they haven't, I could let them know that it's a lot harder than it appeared on the surface," he told me. "You've got to work years before you see any results."

And Blackwell has put in those years. A young Louisiana Republican in the days when Democrats owned every statewide office, he cut his political teeth on Barry Goldwater's doomed 1964 presidential bid. "Don't fully trust anyone until he has stuck with a good cause which he saw was losing," is an institute maxim rooted in Blackwell's own political education. "After Goldwater's defeat, the number of people who would admit to being movement conservatives could all have fit into an average phone booth," Blackwell said in an interview. "And among us, we didn't have a dime for a telephone call."

That was a long time ago. According to Blackwell, allied "movement conservatives" took the first steps toward outmaneuvering their party's moribund minority leadership in the '70s. More than a test of character, conservatism's formerly abject status provided the key to those gains. With a wealth of political talent but few resources or constituencies, conservatives had no choice but to look beyond the two- and four-year cycles that dictate traditional political strategy. Instead of fighting an intra-party struggle they were certain to lose, they built an infrastructure outside the Republican Party dedicated to promoting talent, not winning the next election.

The Leadership Institute is a perfect example of that strategy, according to Peter Murray, a progressive management trainer who studied the institute's model before launching his own nonprofit political training organization, the Center for Progressive Leadership, last year. "Being a 501(c)(3) not only means they can get tax deductions for their donors and build endowments, but they're forced to look long term," Murray says. "They're not allowed to endorse candidates and get sucked into electoral politics. Year in and year out, all they do is build leaders."

It's an approach, Murray believes, that has long since paid off. "Sure, [Blackwell] has trained Karl Rove and Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist and 223 other legislators and members of Congress," Murray notes, "but more importantly, he's trained 40,000 other local organizers." The institute's graduates, in other words, are part of a movement. "We spent $2 billion trying to win this last election," Murray says of progressives. "They already spent 25 years, and nearly $100 million, building the talent pool that won the election. And which will consistently win them elections for the next several decades."

The structure of Blackwell's Campus Leadership Program is simple. The Leadership Institute trains promising conservative college graduates over the summer and dispatches them to campuses in the fall with a mandate to start conservative student organizations. Need $500 and some ideas to start a combative right-wing campus publication? The institute would love to help you. Is the campus administration discriminating against your Second Amendment club? The institute will help you take your cause to the Internet. No one on campus at your Christian college has ever heard of the institute? Staffers will be glad to drive down, take you to a steakhouse, and talk it up. Last year, the CLP doubled in size, to 418 clubs and counting. By the end of 2006, Blackwell is confident he will have created 1,000 conservative campus organizations.

Unlike chapter-based political organizations, CLP clubs are unaffiliated with either the Leadership Institute or each other. According to Blackwell, this trait offers a serious advantage: "No purges." The clubs' independence also comes with the benefit of plausible deniability. "You can get away with stuff that you would take a lot of flak for doing in the College Republicans," says CLP director Dan Flynn. "Because we're independent, we can do activities that push the envelope," agrees University of Miami senior Sarah Canale, whose CLP-organized Advocates for Conservative Thought threw an affirmative action bake sale last year in which the price of a cupcake varied according to the race of its buyer. That it was controversial, she believes, was a victory in itself.

The Leadership Institute teaches the same principle. Controlled controversy -- making your point in a manner so bombastic that your opponents blow their cool -- is a Blackwell specialty. Before the 2004 Republican Convention, the conservative elder personally went to a drugstore and bought little pink heart stickers, bandages and purple nail polish. At home, he made the "Purple Heart Band-Aids" that he later distributed in Madison Square Garden to mock John Kerry's war wounds. From Blackwell's perspective, the Kerry camp's outrage at the gag was a tactical disaster. Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe, Blackwell says, kept the story alive for days by "running around like a chicken with its head cut off."

A stunt is one way to get press -- but a more effective and sustainable method is to start your own publication. The Leadership Institute trains around 250 students yearly in its student publication workshop, and CLP staff assisted in launching 22 campus publications last year alone.

The Rutgers Centurion is a conservative monthly that got off the ground this fall with institute help. Rutgers student James O'Keefe founded the magazine after coming across a conservative publication at Tufts. "I said, why don't we have this?" O'Keefe remembers. He taught himself a page-layout program and got in touch with the Leadership Institute, which dispatched a staffer to take him and his coeditors to dinner at an upscale local brewery. The institute gave O'Keefe books on starting a publication, awarded him a $500 "Balance in Media Grant," and suggested never-fail places on campus to ferret out liberal excess. "They were really excited," O'Keefe recalls.

The Rutgers Centurion has since analyzed faculty campaign contributions that favored John Kerry over George W. Bush 104 times over, and it accused one of Rutgers' most esteemed alumni, African-American author and actor Paul Robeson, of being a Stalinist. The magazine has published poetry about abortion from a fetus's point of view and run allegations of prejudice against Condoleezza Rice, "The Black Woman Liberals Love to Hate."

The Centurion's favorite subject, however, seems to be people who don't like the Centurion. Rutgers student Tabitha Rice earned the February "Liberal of the Month" title for allegedly defacing copies of the Centurion's previous issue, and in the spirit of Valentine's Day, the editors framed an excerpt from their hate mail -- "'F*** [The editors of The Centurion.] F*** Them till they're dead'" -- in a heart-shaped box.

The Centurion's assertion that campus liberals are intolerant lends its vitriolic criticism of leftists the veneer of the free speech movement. CLP coordinator Flynn, the author of "Why the Left Hates America," recalls that during a speech at Berkeley, he encountered "a Nazi-style book burning" of his work and an attempt to rip his microphone cord from the wall. That might not have quite the allure of Mario Savio's rallying a crowd from a squad car's roof during Berkeley's student protests, but it's a start.

CLP publications play a crucial role in publicizing such run-ins. Right-wing watchdog groups like Accuracy in Media have railed against liberal bias in the classroom for years, but as outsiders, they lack both standing and a direct connection to campus life. CLP publications have both, allowing them to monitor bias in every classroom. In December, the editor of the Louisville Patriot, a CLP-organized publication at the University of Louisville, reported that sociology lecturer John McTighe had made a very, very tasteless joke about how religious conservatives who had voted for Bush ought to be shot. With sufficient outrage, the story jumped from the Patriot to the local media and the Internet, resulting in McTighe's suspension and a thoroughly public debate of liberal bias in, of all places, Kentucky.

Sparking such scandals is "absolutely" a part of CLP's plan, Blackwell says. "In the last year or so, not taking into account the flap over Ward Churchill, you have no doubt noticed more news coverage about complacent leftists' abuses on campus," he says. "Academia is the last unbreached citadel of the left, and I believe we are today over the moat."

There's still plenty to do before then. Chris Stio, an institute staffer who directed the Bush-Cheney field operations in northeast Michigan, warns his students not to buy into second-term crowing about America's irrevocable slide into conservatism. "Enough people were yelling and screaming about the president that if they'd actually picked up the phone book and started calling, they might have won," he says. "They went to concerts, they bashed the president, but they didn't work. If enough people had, maybe we'd have a different president. The election was not inevitable. And too many think it was."

Some progressives have come to that conclusion as well. "This was certainly needed 25 years ago," says Peter Murray, of the Center for Progressive Leadership. "Investing beyond any individual election cycle is the way that we're going to develop the progressive movement into a more robust, coordinated, compact force that can win elections." But getting donors to think beyond 2008 is a tough sell. "Our budget this year will be just over a million. We'd love to be bigger than that," he says. "It's really going to be up to the progressive donor community as to whether they're going to look long term and invest in a superstructure. If they do, we can build it relatively quickly."

In the meantime, the Leadership Institute will continue its work. Blackwell has found plenty of humor in his recent vilification as the evil genius that smoothed fake reporter Jeff Gannon's path to White House press briefings. "If they want to believe that there's a vast conspiracy, and they want to waste their time trying to decide who gives all the orders to the conservative movement, well, let 'em spend their time on that," he says, laughing.

The Leadership Institute has better things to do, Blackwell says, than conspire to put a male escort up to lobbing softballs to White House spokesman Scott McClellan. For example, training the next generation of Karl Roves.

"Everyone knows that for certain breeds of dogs it is customary to cut their tails short when they are a few weeks old," begins Blackwell's lecture to us on the importance of releasing negative information on your opponent incrementally. "Every time you clip the puppy's tail it hurts. It hurts. You might traumatize the puppy for life."

"The moral is that if it's your tail that's being clipped, you want it clipped once," concludes Blackwell. "But if you get a chance to clip your opponent's tail, clip that puppy as often as you can."

It may be hardball, but it isn't cheating, and it would be far less effective if it were. "These are powerful techniques," Blackwell tells the class at the end of his marathon lecture. "So I don't want anyone going out of here and acting unethically. It's not necessary."

About the writer

Jeff Horwitz, a former editorial fellow at Salon, writes for the Washington City Paper.