Conservative Leadership Conference

The 2008 Conservative Leadership Conference (CLC) announced today the topic subjects and names of the instuctors who will be conducting the Leadership Institute’s “Grassroots Training Seminar” at the conference to be held in Las Vegas next month.

Since 1979, LI’s unique seminars and workshops have enrolled more than 66,000 students and taught them how to win. Each year hundreds of LI graduates obtain positions of influence in public policy because of their Leadership Institute training. The eight workshops to be conducted at CLC ’08 will be: Earned Media and Public Relations, Fundraising Events, Grassroots Lobbying, Handling Negative Information, Opposition Research, Petition Drives, Public Speaking and Recruiting Candidates. The workshop insturctors will be:

Barry M. Aarons is the owner of The Aarons Company, a public policy consulting firm with a diverse portfolio of functions and clients for whom he lobbies and provides other public policy services before the Arizona State Legislature and U.S. Congress. His resume includes 20 years as the Director of Government Relations and Public Policy for US West Communications. During that time he took a four-year leave of absence to serve as Special Assistant and Legislative Director for former Arizona Governor Fife Symington. Aarons serves as Senior Research Fellow for the Institute for Policy Innovation and Senior Fellow for Americans for Tax Reform.

Joel Mowbray, a syndicated columnist, is best-known for his exposés of the State Department which led to the end of Visa Express in Saudi Arabia and the firing of the Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, Mary Ryan. A graduate of the University of Illinois and Georgetown Law School, Joel worked on Capitol Hill for former Rep. Mark Sanford (R-SC), where he established his reputation as a leading advocate for Social Security privatization. Joel writes a twice-weekly nationally-syndicated column that is distributed by Knight-Ridder Tribune.

Patricia Simpson is a Grassroots Coordinator at the Leadership Institute. She is responsible for identifying, recruiting, and training conservative leaders and activists around the country. Previously, Patricia was the Purchasing and Travel Control Manager for the Mitt Romney Presidential Campaign. She also coordinated grassroots ground operations during the Iowa Straw Poll, the Iowa Caucus, and the New Hampshire Primary. Since 2004, Patricia has recruited and managed conservative student groups in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina as a field representative for the Leadership Institute.