Speaker Biographies
Panelists:
Michael Davidson codirects the Aspen Institute ’s Campaign Finance Reform Project (chaired by former vice president Mondale and former senator Kassebaum). He has served as a counsel to the joint AEI and Brookings Institute Independent Counsel Project (chaired by former senators Bob Dole and George Mitchell), counsel and reporter for the Constitution Project’s Election Reform Initiative (based at Georgetown University), and as a counsel for several congressional investigations. He also took part in representing Senators Robert Byrd, Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Carl Levin in their challenge to the constitutionality of the Line Item Veto Act. Between 1967 and 1973, Mr. Davidson was an assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and from 1974 to 1977 he taught clinical law at the State University of New York at Buffalo. After two years as chief staff counsel for the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., he served between 1979 and 1995 as the first Senate legal counsel, where his responsibilities included representing the Senate in separation-of-powers litigation.
C. Boyden Gray is a partner at the law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering. From 1989 to 1993, he directed the Office of Transition Counsel for the George H. W. Bush transition team and was the White House counsel to President Bush. Mr. Gray originally joined Wilmer, Cutler & Pi ckering in 1969, becomingand became a partner in 1976. In 1981, he left the firm to serve as the legal counsel to Vice President Bush, returning to the firm in 1993. Mr. Gray also served as the counsel to the Presidential Task Force on Regulatory Relief, chaired by Vice President Bush. Currently, Mr. Gray is the chairman of Citizens for a Sound Economy. In addition, he is a member of Harvard University’s Committee on University Development Development, the Board of Trustees of the Washington Scholarship Fund, St. Mark's School, and National Cathedral School. He recently served on the Bush-Cheney transition Department of Justice Advisory Committee. Mr. Gray is the recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal and the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the University of North Carolina Law School.
Lee H. Hamilton became the director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in January 1999. Before that, Mr. Hamilton served for thirty-four years as a U.S. congressman from Indiana. During that time, he became very influential in foreign affairs. He served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, now the Committee on International Relations, for his entire tenure in Congress. Mr. Hamilton served for ten years as the ranking Democrat on the committee, and was the chairman during the 103rd Congress. He has chaired many other committees, including the Joint Economic Committee, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress. Mr. Hamilton’s service in government has been honored throughreceived numerous awards in public service and human rights. These include the Knight Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1999 and the Paul H. Nitze Award for Distinguished Authority on National Security Affairs in 1999.
John Podesta is a visiting professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center. He served as the chief of staff to President Clinton during his second term in office. Mr. Podesta also served in the first Clinton administration as an assistant to the president and staff secretary at the White House. While at the White House, Mr. Podesta served as the principal White House spokesperson on the Whitewater investigation and as the senior policy adviseor to the president on government information, privacy, telecommunications, and regulatory policy. Before joining the Clinton administration, Mr. Podesta was the president and general counsel of Podesta Associates, Inc., a Washington, D.C., government relations and public affairs firm. He has had extensive Capitol Hill experience, serving as the chief counsel for the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and as the chief minority counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittees on Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks; Security and Terrorism; and Regulatory Reform.
Robert Walker is the chairman and chief executive officer of Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates. He served for twenty years as a congressman from Pennsylvania, which included time as the chairman of the House Science Committee, and he wasis considered a long-time member of the House Republican leadership. While serving in Congress, Mr. Walker was recognized as one of the Republicans’ chief strategists, tacticians, and experts on the parliamentary process. He served as the chairman of the Republican leadership, as the chief deputy minority whip, and as a member of Speaker Newt Gingrich’s six-person Advisory Group. Today, Mr. Walker serves on the Board of Trustees of the Aerospace Corporation and on the Board of Directors of DCH Technology, the United Sates Space Foundation, and the Susquehana Center for Public Policy. He is a frequent guest on CNBC’s Hardball, PBS’s The Lehrer Newshour, and other C-SPAN, CNN, FOX, and MSNBC programs.
Moderators:
Thomas Mann is the W. Averell Harriman Senior Fellow in American Governance at the Brookings Institution. He codirects the Transition to Governing Project and is also currently involved with several other projects, including Comparative Perspectives on Money and Politics: Lessons for the U.S. and The Future of Internet Voting. Mr. Mann was the director of governmental studies at Brookings and is the former executive director of the American Political Science Association. His books include Vital Statistics on Congress, 2001–2002, with Norman J. Ornstein and Michael Malbin (2002); The Permanent Campaign and Its Future, with Norman J. Ornstein (2000); and Campaign Finance Reform: A Sourcebook, with Anthony Corrado, Daniel R. Ortiz, Trevor Potter, and Frank J. Sorauf, editors (1997, revised edition forthcoming).
Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at AEI. He also serves as an election analyst for CBS News. Mr. Ornstein writes regularly for USA Today as a member of its Board of Contributors and writes a column called "Congress Inside Out" for Roll Call. He codirects the Transition to Governing Project and also serves on the Council on Foreign Relations Commission on the Future International Financial Architecture. He appears often on television programs such as Nightline, Today, Face the Nation, and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. He writes frequently for the New York Times, Washington Post, and other major newspapers and magazines. His books include Vital Statistics on Congress, 2001–2002, with Thomas Mann and Michael Malbin (2002); The Permanent Campaign and Its Future, with Thomas Mann (2000); and Intensive Care: How Congress Shapes Health Policy, with Thomas Mann (1995).
