Americans for Prosperity President Praises LI at monthly Wednesday Wake-Up Club Breakfast

January 19, 2011, Arlington, VA—Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, spoke January 5 at the Leadership Institute’s monthly Wednesday Wakeup Club Breakfast. Read on for Mr. Phillips’ personal comments on the Leadership Institute and to watch the video.

To view the full breakfast video on January 5, please go here.

At the breakfast Mr. Phillips said, “There are many reasons that I’m thankful to Morton Blackwell and the Leadership Institute.   Some of them are personal.  Twenty-six years ago I was a 19-year-old young man with not much to offer frankly, except maybe a good work ethic that my parents instilled in me.  

Morton trained me through LI Youth Leadership Program.

He pulled me aside late on a Sunday night, it must have been about midnight.

We ate a couple of Oreo cookies about midnight, and he said, “Young man, you need to go on a campaign somewhere,” as I’m sure many of you and thousands of other Americans have heard over the last 30 years.

So, two weeks later I was in the coal fields of southwest Virginia, and I found my life’s calling.
But, he did more than that.  He had a young lady working for him.

She may have been the 5th or 6th employee, Morton, it was way back in 1984.

And she was really pretty, I mean, beautiful, smart, just like all of your folks are.

I married her about 7 months later.

The bad news was I took her away from LI.  We moved down to work on the next campaign, that also Morton helped me work with.
So on a personal level there is a lot to be thankful for.

But, the other thing I’m thankful for is Leadership Institute.  I see the growth; I see the dynamic programs and the difference they’re making; Morton and all the LI staff…

I meet your graduates all over the country, whether it’s at one of the hot air events that Abigail talked about where we’re fighting cap and trade or whether it’s the hands off our health care bus tour and ad effort we ran, which by the way, Rachel Maddow called “the bloody red hand”  because we had this big red hand print on the side of the bus (that’s actually pretty good I thought).

We meet your graduates everywhere.

They are the grassroots activists of America.  They are the people who are organizing locally. They are the people who are helping us beat the left right now.  

Make no mistake.  The battle in DC is not decided.  But out in the rest of the country, we’re beating them right now.  I can tell you that with confidence having been in all 50 states in the last year, except Hawaii.  Morton, I cannot get the AFP Hawaii chapter up and running.  My board won’t let me; it’s very frustrating for me.  We’re going to do one day, maybe. 

I can tell you we’re winning everywhere with the American people, and that’s something LI is a crucial role in.  I meet your graduates everywhere,” said Mr. Phillips.

The next LI Wednesday Wakeup Club Breakfast is scheduled for Wednesday, February 2 featuring guest speaker Todd Herman. To register, click here to pay online or call Joanne Bogan at 703-247-2000.
 
The Leadership Institute is an educational foundation whose mission is to increase the number and effectiveness of conservative activists and leaders in the public policy process. To accomplish this, LI identifies, recruits, trains, and places conservatives in government, politics, and the media.  Since the Institute’s 1979 founding, more than 91,500 people have been trained (with half of those being in the last six years) in one or more of the 40 current programs offered in all 50 states and across the globe. For more information, please visit: http://www.leadershipinstitute.org

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