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“About the Leadership Institute,” Leadership Institute. Archived October 21, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6cR2AENf6

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“About the Leadership Institute,” Leadership Institute. Archived October 21, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6cR2AENf6 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“Leadership Institute-trained freedom fighters gather in Washington, DC,” Leadership Institute, January 22, 2010. Archived October 21, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6cSDK1iSG

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“Morton C. Blackwell,” American Conservative Union. Archived August 16, 2000. ⁵“Leadership Institute,” Right Wing Watch. Archived October 21, 2015.

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“Climategate Scandal Not Over Yet,” Campus Reform, May 27, 2010. Archived October 21, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6cSCCHcam

The Leadership Institute proclaims that it “actively supports the entire conservative movement.”⁷“About the Leadership Institute,” Leadership Institute. Archived October 21, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6cR2AENf6

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“Global Warming Beach Party,” Leadership Institute. Accessed October 20, 2015.

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.”⁹Justin Pulliam. “Hopenhagen Socialism Part 1: ‘Change the System’,” CampusReform.org, December 22, 2009. Archived December 22, 2009.

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“Leadership Institute,” (search string), Conservative Transparency. Data retrieved July 6, 2016.

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

Leadership Institute as Recipient

Leadership Institute as Donor

Koch Funding

The Leadership Institute has received at least $278,958 from Koch-related foundations between 2003 and 2017.¹¹“Koch Industries: Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Machine,” Greenpeace USA. Accessed March 14, 2017. Data on file at DeSmog.

*Note that original tax records prior to 1997 are not available for verification.¹²“Koch Industries: Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Machine,” Greenpeace USA. Accessed March 14, 2017. Data on file at DeSmog.

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 1992.¹³The Foundation Directory, 1995 Edition, P. 1349 (PDF). Archived by Greenpeace.

The LI has in turn funded the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), PR watch reports.¹⁴Lisa Graves. “Right-Wing Operatives Take Up ALEC’s Voter Suppression Agenda,” PR Watch, April 19, 2012. Archived October 21, 2015.

990 Forms

Key People

View key people by year below, or view the attached spreadsheet for a full list of the Leadership Institute’s key People (.xlsx) including sources.

Other People

According to SourceWatch, past students at the LI have included:¹⁵“The Leadership Institute,” SourceWatch. Archived October 21, 2015.

• Mitch McConnell — U.S. Senator from Kentucky.
• Jim Gilmore — former governor of Virginia.
• Karl Rove — Bush 43 political strategist.
• James Guckert — Talon News “reporter.”
• David McIntosh — Congressman from Indiana.
• Mark Souder — Congressman from Indiana.
• JoAnn Davis — Congresswoman from Virginia.
• Joe Wilson — Congressman from South Carolina.
• Grover Norquist — President, Americans for Tax Reform.
• Ralph Reed — former Executive Director Christian Coalition.
• Jason Miller — Young conservative leader.

Actions

February 22–25, 2017

The Leadership Institute was a Supporting Sponsor of the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), among a range of other conservative and pro-industry groups.¹⁶“CPAC 2017 Sponsors,” cpac.conservative.org. Archived March 6, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/SKFRU

July 7–9, 2015

The LI was a Co-Sponsor of the Heartland Institute‘s Tenth International Conference on Climate Change in Washington, DC.¹⁷“Sponsors,” ICCC10. Archived July 15, 2015.

July 7–9, 2014

The Leadership Institute was an official Co-Sponsor of the Heartland Institute’s Ninth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC9).¹⁸“ICCC9 CoSponsors,” International Conferences on Climate Change (The Heartland Institute). Archived July 27, 2015.

May 21–23, 2012

The Leadership Institute was a “Gold Sponsor” (PDF) of the Heartland Institute’s Seventh International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC7).¹⁹“Seventh International Conference on Climate Change: Sponsored by the Heartland Institute” (PDF), the Heartland Institute. Archived August 15, 2015.

May 27, 2010

The Leadership Institute’s Campus Reform project encourages students to “fight back” by setting up groups on their campus to challenge or implicate climate change researchers supposedly involved in “Climategate.”²⁰“Climategate Scandal Not Over Yet,” Campus Reform, May 27, 2010. Archived October 21, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6cSCCHcam

Campus Reform tells students to ask questions like “what professors are researching and what foundations or entities are funding his or her research. Are they implicated in the Climategate scandal? Email the professors and ask their opinions on the situation. Try to see if they are willing to be transparent with their data.” Campus Reform says that their goal is to “help you expose the leftist abuses on your campus”

May 16–18, 2010

The LI was a Co-Sponsor (PDF) of the Heartland Institute’s Fourth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC4).²¹“Co-Sponsors,” The 2010 International Conference on Climate Change, January 16, 2010. Archived January 24, 2010.

December, 2009

The LI’s Campus Reform Project promoted the formation of groups to “highlight the absurdity of climate change claims” with the specific purpose of getting media attention and starting a movement on campus to “share information about Climategate and climate change with other students.”²²“Can’t Go to Copenhagen? You Can Still Party for a Good Cause,” Campusreform, December 8, 2009. (*Page no longer available on live web, or on web archive).

June 7, 2002

LI President Morton Blackwell was a signatory to a letter to President Bush urging him to withdraw the Climate Action Report 2002 and to “direct that it be re-written on the basis of sound science and without relying on discredited products of the previous administration.”

Signatories also urged Bush “to dismiss or re-assign all administration employees who are not pursuing your agenda, just as you have done in several similar instances.”²³“Joint Letter To President Bush On The EPA’s Climate Action Report,” Competitive Enterprise Institute, June 7, 2002. Archived October 21, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6cSBlfiq8

Leadership Institute Contact & Location

As of June 2016, the Leadership Institute listed the following contact information on its website:²⁴“Contact the Leadership Institute,” Leadership Institute. Archived June 29, 2016. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6icOHwVn9

Leadership Institute
Steven P.J. Wood Building, 1101 N Highland St, 
Arlington, VA, 22201

Phone: (703) 247-2000
Fax: (703) 247-2001
 

Related Organizations

• LI Studios
• CampusReform.org
• Cornell Review — “affiliated with Campus Reform through the Leadership Institute’s Campus Leadership Program”²⁵Casey Breznick. “Cornell professor says hiring Republicans would decrease faculty quality,“ The Cornell Review, October 15, 2015. Republished by Campus Reform. Archived October 21, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6cSChy61Z

Social Media

• @LeadershipInst on Twitter.
• “Leadership Institute” on Facebook.
• “The Leadership Institute” on LinkedIn.

Other Resources

• “Leadership Institute,” Wikipedia.

Resources

• 1
  “About the Leadership Institute,” Leadership Institute. Archived October 21, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6cR2AENf6
• 2
  “About the Leadership Institute,” Leadership Institute. Archived October 21, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6cR2AENf6
• 3
  “Leadership Institute-trained freedom fighters gather in Washington, DC,” Leadership Institute, January 22, 2010. Archived October 21, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6cSDK1iSG
• 4
  “Morton C. Blackwell,” American Conservative Union. Archived August 16, 2000.
• 5
  “Leadership Institute,” Right Wing Watch. Archived October 21, 2015.
• 6
  “Climategate Scandal Not Over Yet,” Campus Reform, May 27, 2010. Archived October 21, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6cSCCHcam
• 7
  “About the Leadership Institute,” Leadership Institute. Archived October 21, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6cR2AENf6
• 8
  “Global Warming Beach Party,” Leadership Institute. Accessed October 20, 2015.
• 9
  Justin Pulliam. “Hopenhagen Socialism Part 1: ‘Change the System’,” CampusReform.org, December 22, 2009. Archived December 22, 2009.
• 10
  “Leadership Institute,” (search string), Conservative Transparency. Data retrieved July 6, 2016.
• 11
  “Koch Industries: Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Machine,” Greenpeace USA. Accessed March 14, 2017. Data on file at DeSmog.
• 12
  “Koch Industries: Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Machine,” Greenpeace USA. Accessed March 14, 2017. Data on file at DeSmog.
• 13
  The Foundation Directory, 1995 Edition, P. 1349 (PDF). Archived by Greenpeace.
• 14
  Lisa Graves. “Right-Wing Operatives Take Up ALEC’s Voter Suppression Agenda,” PR Watch, April 19, 2012. Archived October 21, 2015.
• 15
  “The Leadership Institute,” SourceWatch. Archived October 21, 2015.
• 16
  “CPAC 2017 Sponsors,” cpac.conservative.org. Archived March 6, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/SKFRU
• 17
  “Sponsors,” ICCC10. Archived July 15, 2015.
• 18
  “ICCC9 CoSponsors,” International Conferences on Climate Change (The Heartland Institute). Archived July 27, 2015.
• 19
  “Seventh International Conference on Climate Change: Sponsored by the Heartland Institute” (PDF), the Heartland Institute. Archived August 15, 2015.
• 20
  “Climategate Scandal Not Over Yet,” Campus Reform, May 27, 2010. Archived October 21, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6cSCCHcam
• 21
  “Co-Sponsors,” The 2010 International Conference on Climate Change, January 16, 2010. Archived January 24, 2010.
• 22
  “Can’t Go to Copenhagen? You Can Still Party for a Good Cause,” Campusreform, December 8, 2009. (*Page no longer available on live web, or on web archive).
• 23
  “Joint Letter To President Bush On The EPA’s Climate Action Report,” Competitive Enterprise Institute, June 7, 2002. Archived October 21, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6cSBlfiq8
• 24
  “Contact the Leadership Institute,” Leadership Institute. Archived June 29, 2016. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6icOHwVn9
• 25
  Casey Breznick. “Cornell professor says hiring Republicans would decrease faculty quality,“ The Cornell Review, October 15, 2015. Republished by Campus Reform. Archived October 21, 2015. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6cSChy61Z