2022 KEYNOTE SPEAKER
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: FRANK DONATELLI
BIO: Frank was born on July 4, 1949, in Pennsylvania to Herman and Philomena Donatelli (Paladino). He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and American University Law School, Donatelli served in various positions in the Reagan administration including Assistant to the President for Political and Intergovernmental Affairs and Deputy Assistant to the President for Public Liaison. He worked on White House Chief of Staff James Baker's team that negotiated the 1984 presidential debates and served as a Regional Political Director for Ronald Reagan. He was also active in the presidential campaigns of George H. W. Bush in 1988 and 1992 and was a senior advisor to Bob Dole during the 1996 presidential election.
Frank has more than 30 years of experience in public policy advocacy and boasts substantial expertise in the legislative process. He has represented a wide variety of companies in such diverse areas as energy, taxes and trade, telecommunication, and Homeland Security and has provided strategic advice and policy guidance to many large companies and trade associations.
He has also represented US victims of international terrorism and helped to enact legislation that resulted in compensation for the families of those killed in the Marine Barracks bombing in Lebanon in 1983 and families of U.S. victims killed in the destruction of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998. Funds were obtained from countries, including Iran—and intermediaries that facilitated these terrorist actions—not from U.S. taxpayers.
In 1992, Donatelli served as chairman of the Christopher Columbus Quincentennial Commission which celebrated the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the New World. He is Senior Advisor to McGuireWoods Consulting. He has served as secretary and treasurer of the board of the Young America's Foundation, and chairman of the Reagan Ranch Board of Governors and was selected by John McCain to serve as the deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee under Mike Duncan during the 2008 presidential election. Afterwards, in March 2009, he was chosen to become chairman of GOPAC, succeeding Michael Steele who became chairman of the RNC.
DATE: Saturday, September 17, 2022
TIME: 12:30 pm
SUBJECT: “Remembering President Reagan's Speech on the
200th Anniversary of the Constitution”
LOCATION: Town Park • Grand Lake, CO 80447
2022 SPEAKERS
SPEAKER: Professor Alan Kahan
BIO: Alan S. Kahan is the 2021-22 visiting scholar at the University of Colorado Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization in Boulder, Colorado.
Kahan received his PhD in History from The University of Chicago in 1987, and is currently Professor of British Civilization at the Université de Paris-Saclay. He has been living in France since 2007. Previously he taught at Florida International University in Miami. Professor Kahan is the author of Aristocratic Liberalism: The Social and Political Thought of Jacob Burckhardt, John Stuart Mill and Alexis de Tocqueville (Oxford, 1992); Liberalism in Nineteenth-Century Europe: the Political Culture of Limited Suffrage (Palgrave, 2003); Alexis de Tocqueville (Bloomsbury, 2010); Mind vs. Money: The War Between Intellectuals and Capitalism (Transaction, 2010, Routledge 2017); and Tocqueville, Democracy, and Religion (Oxford, 2015). He is currently working on “Liberalism – An Incomplete History," which will be published by Princeton University Press.
DATE: Monday, September 12, 2022
TIME: 11:00 am
SUBJECT: “Alexis de Tocqueville and the
American Judiciary”
LOCATION: Grand Lake Center - 301 Marine Dr.
SPEAKER: Professor Rob Natelson
BIO: Robert G. Natelson, a Senior Fellow in Constitutional Jurisprudence at the Independence Institute who is a retired professor of Constitutional Law at University of Montana Law School and the author of many books including The Original Constitution • What it Actually Said and Meant.
DATE: Monday, September 12, 2022
TIME: 6:00 pm
SUBJECT: “Presidential Elections and How State Legislatures Can Address Corruption”
LOCATION: Grand Lake Center - 301 Marine Dr.
SPEAKER Livestream: Professor Akhil Reed Amar
BIO: Akhil Reed Amar is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, where he teaches constitutional law in both Yale College and Yale Law School. After graduating from Yale College, summa cum laude, in 1980 and from Yale Law School in 1984, and clerking for Judge (later Justice) Stephen Breyer, Amar joined the Yale faculty in 1985 at the age of 26. He is Yale’s only currently active professor to have won the University’s unofficial triple crown — the Sterling Chair for scholarship, the DeVane Medal for teaching, and the Lamar Award for alumni service.
Amar’s work has won awards from both the American Bar Association and the Federalist Society, and he has been cited by Supreme Court justices across the spectrum in over 45 cases — tops among scholars under age 65. He regularly testifies before Congress at the invitation of both parties; and in surveys of judicial citations and/or scholarly citations, he typically ranks among America’s five most-cited mid-career legal scholars. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has written widely for popular publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and The Atlantic. He was an informal consultant to the popular TV show The West Wing and his scholarship has been showcased on many broadcasts, including The Colbert Report, Tucker Carlson Tonight, Morning Joe, AC360, 11th Hour with Brian Williams, Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream, Fareed Zakaria GPS, Erin Burnett Outfront, and Constitution USA with Peter Sagal.
He is the author of more than a hundred law review articles and several books, most notably The Bill of Rights (1998 — winner of the Yale University Press Governors’ Award), America’s Constitution (2005 — winner of the ABA’s Silver Gavel Award), America’s Unwritten Constitution (2012 — named one of the year’s 100 best nonfiction books by The Washington Post), and The Constitution Today (2016 — named one of the year’s top ten nonfiction books by Time magazine). His latest and most ambitious book, The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840, came out in May 2021.
A FREE AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF PROFESSOR AMAR’S BOOK WILL BE GIVEN TO ALL ATTENDEES OF HIS PRESENTATION. He has recently launched a weekly podcast, Amarica’s Constitution. A wide assortment of his articles and op-eds and video links to many of his public lectures and free online courses may be found at akhilamar.com.
DATE: Tuesday, September 13, 2022
TIME: 11:00 am
SUBJECT: “1787-88 The Year That Changed Everything”
DETAILS: Each attendee will receive a free autographed copy of Professor Amar’s book “The Words That Made Us”
LOCATION: Grand Lake Center - 301 Marine Dr.
SPEAKER: Thomas Krannawitter, Ph.D.
BIO: Dr. Thomas Krannawitter is a Senior Fellow at the Claremont Institute with a Ph.D. and M.A. in political science from the Claremont Graduate University. Dr. Krannawitter is a speaker, teacher, the President at Speakeasy Ideas and author the book Crisis of Our House Divided • A Guide to Talking Politics Without the Noise.
DATE: Tuesday, September 13, 2022
TIME: 6:00 pm
SUBJECT: “The Constitution and the Greatest Anti-Slavery Movement in History”
LOCATION: Grand Lake Center - 301 Marine Dr.
SPEAKER: Kelly D. Johnston
BIO: In 2021, Kelly Johnston returned to his roots in journalism and politics with his blog, Against The Grain, where he does deep dives and provides unique insights on politics, history, and public policy. He’s also one of the top contributors at Ricochet.com, a popular national conservative blog site. His work can be found at kellyjohnston.substack.com and, occasionally, at the North State Journal, a statewide newspaper in North Carolina.
Kelly retired from the Campbell Soup Company in October 2018 after a 16-year career as Vice President for Government Affairs. His work in the food industry spanned 26 years, including his first job in high school behind the counter at a Braum’s Ice Cream Company store in southwest Oklahoma City.
Previously, Kelly spent nearly 25 years in Washington, DC in several leadership positions within the executive and legislative branches of the federal government, politics, and the trade association worlds. He was Executive Vice President for Government Affairs and Communications at the National Food Processors’ Association (NFPA), serving as the organization’s chief government affairs and communications officer for nearly 6 years. He also served as a Deputy Director of Communications for the National Restaurant Association in 1980.
From 1995 to 1997, he was the Secretary of the US Senate, the Senate’s chief legislative, financial and administrative officer. How he came into that job was discussed by Bob Woodward in his best-selling book about the 1996 presidential race, The Choice. Kelly has also served as Staff Director of the Senate Republican Policy Committee; Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs in the US Department of Transportation; and chief of staff or press secretary to three Members of Congress.
During his time on Capitol Hill, Kelly worked on 35 US Senate and House campaigns in 25 states on behalf of the National Republican Congressional Committee (1984-86) and National Republican Senatorial Committee (1989-90). He was once named a “rising star” by the magazine Campaigns and Elections.
Kelly remains active in the non-profit community. He is a founding board member of the Bonnie and Bill Stubblefield Institute for Civil Political Communication at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV. He also currently serves on the board of Business-Industry Political Action Committee (BIPAC), which is dedicated to helping employers educate and mobilize their employees on public policy issues of importance to their jobs. He is a former chairman of the Canadian American Business Council and former co-chair of the Congressional Management Foundation.
A native of Oklahoma, Kelly earned his B.A. degree in Communications in 1976 from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, where he has been named to the Alumni Hall of Fame. He began his career as a state capitol correspondent for the Donrey Media Group in Oklahoma, and later served as editor of the Henryetta Daily Free-Lance. He attended Georgetown University’s Graduate School of Demography in Washington, D.C. He has guest lectured on politics, government, lobbying and communications at several universities, including Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, George Washington University, Shepherd University, and Burlington County College in New Jersey.
He and his wife, Adrienne, live in Arlington, Virginia. They have two grown sons and a new grandson.
DATE: Wednesday, September 14, 2022
TIME: 11:00 am
SUBJECT: “Understanding Today's US Senate”
LOCATION: Grand Lake Center - 301 Marine Dr.
SPEAKER: Brian Blumenfeld J.D., M.A.
BIO: Brian is a practicing attorney, published author, and a proud long-term resident of Grand Lake. He has served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Wyoming where he has taught law and constitutional government. Brian has published original scholarship on federalism, international law, and marijuana legalization with the University of Virginia's Journal of Social Policy & the Law and with Pepperdine Law Review. He is also, most importantly, the founder and commissioner of the Grand Lake Pond Hockey Classic. Brian holds a J.D. and an M.A. in American Studies from Rutgers University.
DATE: Wednesday, September 14, 2022
TIME: 6:00 pm
SUBJECT: “Political Parties, Primary Elections, and the Constitution: History, Practice, and Reform”
LOCATION: Grand Lake Center - 301 Marine Dr.
SPEAKER: CAPT Charles "CM" Wood USN (Ret) & CAPT L. "Laddie" Coburn USN (Ret)
CM Wood BIO: CM Wood is a second-generation Naval officer, born in Pensacola, Florida, in 1943 while his father, USNA '40, was in flight training. CM graduated from Annapolis in 1965 and served 22 years in nuclear submarines. His career included tours of USS HAMMERHEAD (SSN 663), USS PATRICK HENRY (SSBN 599), USS SKIPJACK (SSN 585), USS SAM RAYBURN (SSBN 635), and USS ARCHERFISH (SSN 678). He was Commanding Officer of USS DANIEL BOONE (SSBN 629) and USS CASIMIR PULASKI (SSBN 633). When he retired in 1987 he had spent a total of 4 1/2 years underwater.
After retiring from the Navy he spent another 20 years in the Radiation Studies Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
L. Laddie Coburn BIO: Laddie Coburn was born in Lansing, Michigan, in 1943 and moved to a small ranch near Tucson, Arizona, with his parents when he was five years old. He went through secondary schools in Marana, Arizona, and graduated from high school in 1961 as valedictorian of his class. He was nominated by Senator Barry Goldwater to attend all military academies upon graduation from high school and was selected to attend the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1965. He was commissioned as a Navy Officer and attended naval aviation flight training in Pensacola, Florida, in 1966.
He was assigned to RA-5C Vigilante flight training in 1966, and after receiving his Wings of Gold as a Naval Flight Officer and Bombardier/Navigator, he served in the U.S. Navy aboard aircraft carriers as a TACAIR Naval Flight Officer from 1967 through 1989, where he specialized in military avionics and electronics, including radar and electronic warfare systems. His military assignments included operational tours flying RA-5C reconnaissance aircraft from the USS SARATOGA (CVA-60) and the USS RANGER (CVA-61) in combat in Vietnam in 1968-1969. For shore duty, he attended the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California from 1969-1972, where he received two Master’s Degrees in engineering (MSAE and MSEE) and a Professional Engineers Degree (AeE) in Aeroelectronics in 1972.
He then returned to operational flying in EA-6B and EKA-3B electronic warfare aircraft aboard three large-deck aircraft carriers, including the USS NIMITZ (CVN-68). After an overseas shore tour with the Office of Naval Research, Branch Office London, he returned to Washington DC, where he served from 1980 to 1989 as an Aeronautical Engineering Duty Officer (AEDO) in the Naval Air Systems Command headquarters and field laboratory scientific and engineering billet assignments. He was promoted to Captain USN in 1986 and assigned as a Program Manager for the Fleet Electronic Warfare Support Group (FEWSG) EC-24/EC-135 RDT&E electronic warfare aircraft operating from naval shore stations world-wide.
After retirement in 1989, Mr. Coburn worked as a defense contractor program manager and senior engineer on a variety of military classified programs, including naval aviation RDT&E aircraft and weapon systems. For ten years he served as company vice president and directed the field office in Lexington Park, Maryland. He specialized as a radar technology analyst and aircraft survivability engineer for tactical jet aircraft programs. Now retired, for leisure activities he enjoys hiking, fishing, boating, and kayaking in the summer and alpine and Nordic skiing in the winter in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
DATE: Thursday, September 15, 2022
TIME: 11:00 am
SUBJECT: “The Constitution and the Warrior”
LOCATION: Grand Lake Center - 301 Marine Dr.
SPEAKER: Ambassador Richard H. Jones
BIO: During a 32-year Foreign Service career, Dick Jones served in such foreign countries as France, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Iraq, Israel and Washington, DC. After his retirement from the Foreign Service in 2008, Jones joined the International Energy Agency, an independent international organization, as its Deputy Executive Director. The IEA is charged with furthering the energy security of its 29 member countries, including the United States. In addition to his managerial and policy duties there, Jones conducted outreach on energy issues to member states and important non member countries, including China, Russia, India, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico. Since returning to the US in 2013, Jones and his wife Joan have divided their time between homes in Florida and Colorado and visiting grandchildren in California and Japan.
DATE: Thursday, September 15, 2022
TIME: 6:00 pm
SUBJECT: “What the Constitution Means to a Member of the Deep State”
LOCATION: Grand Lake Center - 301 Marine Dr.
SPEAKER: Jay Bowen, Past State Commander, The American Legion
BIO: Jay joined the US Army in July 1971, leaving his home in Memphis, TN immediately after graduating High School. His service included three overseas tours in the Federal Republic of Germany and a temporary highly classified assignment to Saudi Arabia during Desert Shield. He rose through the enlisted ranks to Staff Sergeant (E-6) and was appointed by the Secretary of the Army as a Chief Warrant Officer, spending his entire military career supporting current and emerging Air Defense Missile systems.
Immediately following the first Gulf War and after 20 years of distinguished service, Jay culminated his US Army career when he retired as a Chief Warrant Officer, CWO-3.
Jay has never stopped serving. After moving to Colorado Springs from Memphis in 2005, he immediately continued his active involvement in The American Legion, and serving our Colorado Springs community and Veterans through organizations such as The Colorado Veterans Resource Coalition (a.k.a. The Crawford House on which he served as President and currently serving as Vice President on the Board of Directors), a safe haven for homeless Veterans.
In 2019, Jay was given the privilege to serve as National Chairman of Membership and Post Activities (M&PA), a position on which he continues to serve. Jay served as The American Legion, Department of Colorado State Commander during the 2016/2017 term and is an active member of the Neal Thomas Jr.-Centennial Post 209 in Colorado Springs, the largest Post in Colorado. He is also currently serving as Vice President on the Board of Directors for Colorado American Legion Boys State.
Jay received his Bachelors of Science degree as Summa Cum Laude from Southern Arkansas University with an emphasis in Industrial Technology and his Masters of Arts degree from Webster University with an emphasis in Procurement and Acquisition Management.
DATE: Friday, September 16, 2022
TIME: 11:00 am
SUBJECT: “What Makes Our Constitutional Republic Unique in History"
LOCATION: Grand Lake Center - 301 Marine Dr.
SPEAKER: Helen Raleigh, CFA
BIO: Helen Raleigh, CFA, CDI.D, is a recognized American entrepreneur, writer, and speaker. She is a senior contributor to The Federalist. Her writings also appeared in various national media, including The Wall Street Journal, National Review, and Newsweek. In addition, she is the author of several books, including the award-winning autobiography Confucius Never Said and
her new book on foreign policy, Backlash: How Communist China's aggression has backfired.
Helen is a highly sought-after public speaker and political commentator. Her media appearances include Fox News, Newsmax, One America News Network, C-Span, PBS, and numerous radio talk shows and podcasts.
Helen is a community leader. She served as a board member of the Colorado Municipal Bond Supervision Advisory Board and a board member of the Colorado State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. In 2019, Helen became a certified corporate board candidate.
Helen earned her master’s degree in business economics from the State University of New York, College of Oneonta, and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Wyoming. She graduated from the Leadership Program of the Rockies in 2013 and won the
"Defender of Capitalism" award. In 2021, LPR honored Helen with the "Leader in Action" award.
Her website is helenraleighspeaks.com. You can subscribe to her newsletter at helenraleigh.substack.com, and follow her on Twitter: @HRaleighspeaks.
DATE: Friday, September 16, 2022
TIME: 6:00 pm
SUBJECT: “How to Protect Our Republic from Becoming a Marxist Tyranny Like China"
LOCATION: Grand Lake Center - 301 Marine Dr.