Leadership Institute

From dKosopedia

The Leadership Institute is a Conservative (ie: Republican) organization based in Arlington, Virgina. It was founded by GOP insider Morton Blackwell. Blackwell is the extremist who passed out purple heart bandages during the 04 presidential race.

According to the group's website, the Leadership Institute is "the premier training ground for tomorrow's conservative leaders." Since its founding in 1979, it has trained more than 55,000 conservatives [1] including people like Karl Rove.

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Their Campus Leadership Program sends field representatives around the country to start conservative groups on college campuses. In the fall of 2006, it was reported that they had around 60 field representatives. However, there are claims that they now have less than 10. The organization also claims to have more than 1,000 student organizations currently operating on college campuses.

Morton Blackwell, the groups president, helped pioneer the College Republican National Committee's first youth voter turnout. Today, he still continues to involve himself in CRNC politics. In the last election for national chairman, Blackwell was known to have called people and told them to vote for Paul Gourley. Recently, Morton Blackwell endorsed Jason Weingartner in his bid for national chairman of the Young Republican National Federation.

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.

Leadership Institute

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