Blackwell Joins Buckeye Institute as Distinguished Fellow

Via email:

The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions today announced former secretary of state, state treasurer and 2006 Republican gubernatorial nominee Ken Blackwell has joined the organization as a Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow. Blackwell will focus on state issues with national significance such as taxes, energy, education and health care reform. Also, he will lead the institute’s effort to evaluate public policy based on the principles of limited government, economic empowerment and personal responsibility.

“Conservatism was not repudiated in Ohio ’s last election,” Buckeye Institute Chairman Rick Segal said. “Economic stagnation, high taxation, uncontrolled spending and political corruption were the objects of voter scorn. The Buckeye Institute is committed to asserting conservative ideals as loudly and aggressively as ever before, and we now have in Ken Blackwell a new colleague who is inarguably Ohio ’s most eloquent herald of those ideals.”

“I am honored to be affiliated with this community of well regarded academics and scholars united in the sole purpose of making Ohio a better place to live and an easier place to do business,” Blackwell said. “ Ohio will again be the focus of national attention during the 2008 presidential election. The Buckeye Institute’s research and analysis will play an important part in shaping the public policy discussion.”

“Ken Blackwell is a strong advocate for free market enterprise and a respected leader in the conservative movement nationally and statewide,” Buckeye Institute President David Hansen said. “I welcome him as an important member of our team who will provide us with a national presence as we grow and stake our claim as a leading conservative public policy voice.”

Blackwell’s public service includes terms as mayor of Cincinnati , an undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. In 1994, he became the first African-American elected to a statewide executive office in Ohio when he was elected treasurer of state.

An advocate for tax simplification and government reform, Blackwell has testified before Congressional committees on taxation, government operations, election systems, education reform and banking matters. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and a former member of the federal senior executive service. He is a trustee of the Association of the Government Accountants’ Academy of Government Accountability . He was co-chairman of the board of directors of the Campaign Finance Institute in Washington , D.C. and a member of the Harvard Policy Group on Network-Enabled Services and Government. In addition, Blackwell is a former chairman of the U.S. Census Monitoring Board.

A certified government finance manager, Blackwell was a 1999 recipient of the Government Finance Officers Association’s Excellence in Government Award. In 2006, he received the prestigious National Leadership Award from the National Forum for Black Public Administrators. He is on the board of directors of the National Taxpayers Union and the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University .

Blackwell holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Education degrees from Xavier University , where he later served as a vice president and faculty member. He has been a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, Harvard University ’s Institute of Politics , the Aspen Institute, the Salzburg Seminar in Austria and the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University (British-American Project). His continuing education has included executive programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard.

The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions is a nonpartisan research and educational institute devoted to individual liberty, economic freedom, personal responsibility and limited government in Ohio . It assists policymakers, scholars, entrepreneurs, the media and the public by providing objective analysis and sound solutions to state and local policy questions, particularly in the areas of taxation, government spending, regulation and education. The institute neither seeks nor accepts government funding. It enjoys the support of foundations, individuals and businesses sharing a concern for Ohio ’s future.