Hat tip to Gary Gross, for drawing attention to what otherwise would have been ignored by busy, cogent readers, based on bylining.
Item footer: "Katherine Kersten is a senior fellow at the Center of the American Experiment. The views expressed here are her own. She is at kakersten@gmail.com."
Natural curiosity running its course, Center of the American Experiment has a web presence, with some names not known to me, but besides Kersten, there is: Mitchell B. Pearlstein, Ph.D., [sic], Ronald E. Eibensteiner, Scott M. Honour, King Banaian, Peter Bell (who we may guess did not ghostwrite any of this Kersten screed), Ted Daley and Pete Hegseth, and the Grover Norquist clone and Emmer speech writer, David Strom
Among the organization's pages readers may spot names I did not identify for whose party flag they salute. It looks like a place to park voted-out GOP politicians, former staff, and fellow travelers, each being equipped with a title and paycheck.
Lawyers, and opinion shapers (actual or would-be).
One gets yet more of a flavor of the operation/organization from, e.g:
Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President & General Counsel
Kim Crockett, J.D.
Kim Crockett is Center of American Experiment’s Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President and General Counsel. She is the Executive Director of Minnesota Free Market Institute at Center of the American Experiment. Prior to joining the Minnesota Free Market Institute and the Center, Kim served as corporate counsel to a national bank and had a long legal career in commercial real estate law.
Kim, who is an enthusiastic student of the American Revolution and the written U.S. Constitution, has been a member of the Federalist Society since 1984 when she founded the student chapter at Penn Law in Philadelphia. She is currently Chairman of the Minneapolis Lawyers Chapter. She has a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from Penn Law (1987). Kim also started a small business in 2004 where she serves on the board. Kim is a retired member of the Deephaven City Council and chairman of the five-city Excelsior Fire District. She has served Governor Tim Pawlenty as an appointee to Minnesota Compensation Council and the Minnesota Supreme Court as member of the Committee on Minnesota’s Code of Judicial Conduct.
and -
Bill Glahn served as Gov. Tim Pawlenty's top energy official—for 2½ years until January 2011—as Director of the Minnesota Office of Energy Security and a Deputy Commissioner in the state's Department of Commerce. He has since returned to Piedmont Consulting, the firm he founded in 2006. Prior to founding Piedmont, Mr. Glahn served as Vice President and Controller of the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency—an electric utility serving 11 cities across Minnesota. He holds a B.A. in Economics and an MBA from the University of Virginia.
and-
Kent Kaiser is a full-time member of the faculty in the Department of Communication at Northwestern College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and an adjunct instructor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota. He previously served as communications and voter outreach director at the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State under Mary Kiffmeyer, a Republican, and Mark Ritchie, a Democrat. He has won multiple awards from the Minnesota Association of Government Communicators, and advises a communications honor society at Northwestern. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Carleton College, a master of arts in teaching (history) from Smith College, a master of liberal studies from the University of Minnesota Duluth, and a Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
[links added in updating this post; not in original] and-
Scott M. Honour
Chairman
FirstCNG
Scott M. Honour is chairman of FirstCNG, a comprehensive natural gas vehicle solutions provider. Prior he was [...] an investment banker with a focus on private equity related transactions. From 2001 to 2002, Mr. Honour served as a Managing Director at UBS Warburg, [...] Prior to joining UBS Warburg, Mr. Honour was an investment banker at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette ('DLJ'), [...] Mr. Honour earned a B.S. in Business Administration and a B.A. in Economics, cum laude, from Pepperdine University and an M.B.A. in Finance and Marketing from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Sheila C. Kihne
Business Owner & Author
CoolConservativeGear.com
Sheila C. Kihne is a former corporate sales executive. She volunteers her time in support of conservative candidates for office and served as a Vice Chair in charge of GOTV operations for the 3rd Congressional district Republicans. As an author and entrepreneur, she's been featured on The Today Show, Fox News Channel, and over 50 radio programs across the country. She's a graduate of the University of Minnesota and a Phi Beta Kappa member.
and-
Tom Mason
President
Mason Public Affairs
Tom Mason combines 35 years’ professional experience at the intersection of media, public policy and marketing.
He worked 13 years in and around the United States Senate, beginning as communications director for Senator Rudy Boschwitz, and subsequently serving as chief of staff in the Washington, D.C. offices of Senators Jim Abdnor (R-SD) and Norm Coleman (R-MN). He also worked as director of communications at research at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the political arm of the U.S. Senate GOP leadership.
For five years Tom was president of Gannon McCarthy Mason, a public affairs consulting firm with offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City. He has managed or consulted to 17 statewide political campaigns in 9 states. [...]
Venturing a guess, can you say "Excelsior Pipeline?" Liking it, on Facebook?
Center for the American Experiment does not seem Tea Partyish, nor does it seem Liberty Republicanish; those, apparently, being differing American experiments. CAE rings the bell as less insurgency than counterinsurgency. Our struggle, taking back our thing.
There is mainstream Republican American experimenting, usually accompanied by or accompanying established wealth, Peperdine, Federalist Society, etc., yet there can be other degrees of thought.
We need a score sheet to know who is RINO these days, which ways, who says.
Last, is Mark Larson any kin to Jeff Larson; if any readers know?