Leadership Institute

The Leadership Institute is a socially conservative political training organization run by former Council for National Policy Executive Director Morton Blackwell. Its mission is “to increase the number and effectiveness of conservative public policy leaders,”[1] and places graduates in jobs at right-wing conservative organizations including Concerned Women for America , the Christian Coalition and the National Rifle Association.[2] Since its founding in 1979, it has trained over 40,000 activists.[3]

The Leadership Institute appears to have played a role in the development of right wing Conservative politics in Canada , with the Canadian Alliance hiring a consultant from the Institute, Lou Barnett,[4] in 2002 to help the party heal internal differences wounds following its leadership convention.[5] This encounter or the simple model provided by Blackwell’s Institute may also have provided the inspiration for Preston Manning, former Leader of the Reform Party, to establish the Manning Centre for Democracy, which is currently directing efforts to host a national faith and politics conference for young people this February in Ottawa.[6]

Within the last year, Cliff Fryers, current Director and Chairman of the Manning Centre[7] and the Chair of the Conservative Party’s 2005 policy conference,[8] and other officials from the former Reform Party leader Preston Manning’s advocacy organization have met with the President of the Leadership Institute, Morton Blackwell, a former Special Assistant to President Reagan and “a particularly hard core conservative activist,”[9] specifically for the purpose of setting up a parallel institution in Canada.

Ralph Reed, former Executive Director of the Christian Coalition, is a graduate of the Institute, and was senior advisor to President Bush during the 2004 election campaign. Mr. Reed was the featured speaker at an election training program hosted by the Canada Family Action Coalition on November 29^th, 2005 in Toronto.[10] Mr. Reed, who has previously counselled social conservatives to practice “stealth politics” and “fool voters” by “hid[ing], or disguis[ing], their religious agenda by promoting popular issues such as tax reform,”[11] counselled attendees on strategy for the current election.[12] Conservative candidates in attendance at Mr. Reed’s strategy session included Tim Dobson, Conservative Candidate for Pickering-Scarborough East,[13] John Carmichael, Conservative Candidate, Don Valley West,[14] Michael Mostyn, Conservative Candidate for York Centre,[15] Rondo Thomas and Jim Flaherty.[16] Mr. Reed told the assembled activists and candidates about the philosophical approach that should motivate their activities: “We're not trying to change a church into a political party, and we're not trying to change a political party into a church, but if the people of the church don't get involved, somebody else will.”

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