2017 CLC | June 16th and 17th
Marriott Crabtree Valley | Raleigh, NC
Tickets on Sale Now!
Tickets Now AvailablePAST SPEAKERS
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Ann McElhinney
Ann McElhinney is a journalist, and film producer and director.
Her most recent success is a massive crowdfuding campaign for a movie about Kermit Gosnell. The
crowdfunding for the Gosnell movie was the most successful Indiegogo campaign ever. Over 26,500
people funded the film contributing $2.25m in 45 days. The campaign smashed a number of
crowdfunding records.
Gosnell is a ripped from the headlines story about a respected doctor who ran a medical clinic in
an impoverished Philadelphia neighborhood. But behind the doors of his clinic the smiling,
avuncular Kermit Gosnell was also America’s most prolific serial killer.
The project has attracted an enormous amount of media coverage on television, radio and with
hundreds of articles written about the film and the historic crowdfunding.
McElhinney is the director and producer of FrackNation – A Journalist’s Search for the Fracking
Truth, a documentary on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and the natural gas boom in the US and
abroad.FrackNation premiered January 22, 2013 on Mark Cuban’s AXS TV and was later picked up for
distribution by Magnolia Pictures. The New York Times called the film “meticulously researched…
provocative.” Variety said it was a “briskly paced…mischievous pic.”FrackNation bypassed traditional funding methods and instead turned to Kickstarter, a
crowd-funding website. In 60 days, 3,305 backers donated $212,265 to tell the truth about fracking.
It was one of the most successful campaigns in Kickstarter history.
In 2009, she produced and directed Not Evil Just Wrong, a film which examines the devastating
consequences of global warming hysteria.Previously, McElhinney produced and directed Mine Your Own Business – the first documentary that
asks difficult questions of the environmental movement. Canada’s The National Post said “Mine Your
Own Business is devastating because it combats prejudices and fantasies with pictures that refute
thousands of weasel words.”McElhinney has also made documentaries for the BBC, CBC (Canada) and RTE (Ireland). The Search for
Tristan’s Mum concerned the case of Tristan Dowse, a baby who was adopted by
an Irish man and his wife in Indonesia. Two years later, when the adoptive mother became
pregnant, they abandoned Tristan in an Indonesian orphanage.The case outraged Ireland and McElhinney tracked down Tristan’s natural mother and, going
undercover, infiltrated the baby-selling ring. Tristan is now living with his natural mother in
Indonesia and the baby sellers are serving lengthy jail sentences.The Irish government initiated a high court protection order to protect Tristan’s interests and
when delivering his judgment, Justice John McMenamin said McElhinney deserved the “highest of
praise” for her investigative journalism.McElhinney was featured in and was the Associate Producer of the highly controversial documentary
Return to Sender (2005) for CBC.McElhinney has also written for or is a regular contributor to an array of international media
organizations including CNN, FOX News, ABC (US), BBC, CBC (Canada), ABC (Australia), RTE (Ireland),
The Sunday Times and The Irish Times. She is a regular on a number of US talk radio shows including
The Hugh Hewitt Show, The Dennis Miller Show and The Dennis Prager Show.McElhinney has worked as a journalist and filmmaker in the US, Canada, Romania, Bulgaria, Chile,
Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Ghana and Uganda.She is an entertaining and sought-after public speaker and has most recently spoken at conferences
in Dallas (TX), Houston (TX), New York City (NY), Bonita Springs (FL), San Diego (CA), Chapel Hill
(NC), Bakersfield (CA), Santa Fe (NM), Little Rock (AR), Santa Barbara (CA), Mayetta (KS), Billings
(MO), Pittsburgh (PA) and many more.
McElhinney produces and directs with her husband Phelim McAleer.FILMOGRAPHY:
Gosnell (in development) Producer
FrackNation (2013) Director & Producer
Not Evil Just Wrong (2009) Director & Producer
Mine Your own Business (2006) Director & Producer
The Search for Tristan’s Mum (RTE, 2005) On Screen Journalist
Return to Sender (CBC, 2005) Associate Producer
Romanian Twins (BBC, 2004) Assistant Producer -
Dan Forest
In 2012, in his first run for elected office at any level, Dan Forest became only the second Republican since 1897 to be elected Lieutenant Governor in the state of North Carolina.
Dan’s victory to the State’s second highest office came after he personally travelled nearly 300,000 miles to all 100 counties.
This same work ethic was demonstrated in Dan’s previous career. A registered architect, Dan rose from office intern (while in college) to Office President and Senior Partner of the North Carolina’s largest architectural firm over his 22 year career.
As Lieutenant Governor, Dan serves as President of the North Carolina Senate, serves on the State Board of Economic Development, is a member of the NC Military Affairs Commission and is Chairman of the Energy Policy Council.
Dan’s passion and priority in the Lt. Governor’s Office is Innovation Through Education.
By nature of being Lieutenant Governor, Dan serves as a voting member of the State Board of Education and on the NC Community College Board.
In these roles, Dan is tireless in spreading his vision for North Carolina education to move away from the status quo and towards customized curriculum for each and every child, using technology as the tool.
Dan is a supporter of Mastery Based Learning and as Chairman of the Governor’s eLearning Commission and member of the State Board of Education’s Special Committee on Digital Learning, he is helping lead the way towards North Carolina being the first state in the nation to have every classroom connected through high-speed wireless Internet. Dan is also working diligently so that every child, regardless of socio-economic position in life, may have a school-issued one-to-one device, so that the world of learning is literally in the palm of their hands.
Dan is married to his wife of 22 years, Alice. Dan and Alice are the parents of four children ages 9 to 21 and reside in Raleigh.
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Pat McCrory
Bio Coming Soon
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Heidi Cruz
Heidi Cruz is an American investment manager at Goldman Sachs. She is the spouse of Republican Texas senator and 2016 U.S. presidential candidate Ted Cruz.
In 2003, she worked for the Bush administration on economic policy, eventually becoming the director for the Western Hemisphere on the National Security Council under National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice in 2003.
In 2005, she joined Goldman Sachs, serving as a private wealth manager and is currently the Region
Head for the Southwest Region in the Investment Management Division of Goldman Sachs in Houston.
She has taken a temporary leave from that position to campaign with her husband, U.S. presidential
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David Limbaugh
David Limbaugh, brother of radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, is an expert in law and politics who writes engaging columns from a fresh, conservative point of view. He is the author of the New York Times best-selling book: “Jesus on Trial: A Lawyer Affirms the Truth of the Gospel.”
He is also the author of books such as “The Emmaus Code: Finding Jesus in the Old Testament”; “The Great Destroyer: Barack Obama’s War on the Republic”; and “Bankrupt: The Intellectual and Moral Bankruptcy of Today’s Democratic Party.”
Since late 1998, David Limbaugh has been writing a twice-weekly column for www.worldnetdaily.com, a political opinion website that receives over a million hits a day. David Limbaugh’s writings also regularly appear in the Washington Times.
Limbaugh was born in Cape Girardeau, Mo., on Dec. 11, 1952. David Limbaugh attended Southeast Missouri State University from 1971 to 1972 and the University of Missouri for the next three years, where he graduated cum laude with a political science degree. David Limbaugh received his law degree from the University of Missouri Law School in 1978 and was on the Missouri Law Review. David Limbaugh also served in the National Guard from 1972 to 1978.
After finishing school, David Limbaugh taught business law at Southeast Missouri State from 1977 to 1978. David Limbaugh was admitted to the bar in 1978 and has practiced law for 20 years. David Limbaugh is presently a partner in the firm of Limbaugh, Russell, Payne and Howard.
David Limbaugh served as a member of the Cape Girardeau City Council for eight years, including six as mayor pro-tem. David Limbaugh also was a member of numerous other city boards and committees, including the local Chamber of Commerce, the Public Facilities Authority and the Southeast Missouri Arts Council.
Since 1993, David Limbaugh has been on the board of trustees of the Southeast Missouri Hospital and is currently on its executive committee. David Limbaugh also has served as a member of the Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects at Southeast Missouri State University.
David Limbaugh has been married to Lisa Limbaugh since 1986 and has two daughters, Christen and Courtney.
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Allen B. West
The National Center for Policy Analysis welcomed Allen West as its new President and CEO effective January 2. West took the post because he believes it will be policy, not politics that secures a sound economic future for Americans – with growth, opportunity and returning the promise of the American dream for this generation and those to come.
National Center for Policy Analysis CEO Allen West was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia in the same neighborhood where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once preached. He is the third of four generations of military servicemen in his family.
West was commissioned through ROTC at the University of Tennessee as a Second Lieutenant (2LT) on July 31, 1982. He entered active duty service in the U.S. Army on November 1, 1983 at Fort Sill to attend the Field Artillery Officer Basic Course. He later attended airborne training at Fort Benning. West’s first assignment was as an airborne infantry company fire support team leader and battalion training officer in the 325th Airborne Battalion Combat Team. In 1987, he was promoted to Captain and attended the Field Artillery Officer Advanced Course.
He was then assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, where he commanded Bravo Battery, 6th Field Artillery Regiment and was a Battalion Task Force fire support officer for 2d Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment. While with the 1st Infantry Division, he participated in Operations Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.
After redeployment from Kuwait, West served as an ROTC instructor at Kansas State University from 1991 to 1994. In January 1995, he was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division Support Command as the Assistant Operations/Combat Plans Officer. During that time, West was promoted to Major and selected for attendance to the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and graduated in 1997. Afterward, he became the Operations Officer of the 18th Field Artillery Brigade, followed by assignment as the Executive Officer of the 1st Battalion, 377th Field Artillery Regiment. Upon completion of these positions, West was assigned to the II Marine Expeditionary Force in Camp Lejeune, and selected to serve as an Army exchange officer to this headquarters from 1999 to 2002. West’s culminating assignment to his career was as Battalion Commander of the 2d Battalion 20th Field Artillery, 4th Infantry Division. He assumed command of this unit on June 6, 2002. He deployed with his unit during the Iraq War in 2003 and continued to command his battalion until his retirement from the Army in 2004 after 22 years of honorable service in defense of the Republic.
West’s awards and decorations include the Bronze Star; Meritorious Service Medal (two Oak Leaf Clusters); Army Commendation Medal (three Oak Leaf Clusters, one Valor Device); Army Achievement Medal (one Oak Leaf Cluster); Valorous Unit Award; Air Assault Badge; and the Master Parachutist Badge. Lt Col West proudly wears the Army Master Parachutist Badge, the Air Assault Badge, the Navy/Marine Corps Parachutist Insignia, the Italian Parachutist Wings, and the German Proficiency Badge, bronze award.
After his retirement from the Army in 2004, Allen taught high school for a year before volunteering and deploying to Afghanistan as a civilian military adviser to the Afghan army, an assignment he finished in November 2007.
In November of 2010, Allen was honored to continue his oath of service to his country when he was elected to the United States Congress, representing Florida’s 22nd District. As a member of the 112th Congress, West introduced seven major pieces of legislation, and was the original sponsor of H. R. 1246 which reduces costs at the Department of Defense, was passed unanimously (393-0), and signed into law by President Obama as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. Congressman West voted for the Balanced Budget Amendment, and voted for over 30 different bills designed to empower small businesses, reduce government barriers to job creation, boost American competitiveness, encourage entrepreneurship and growth, and maximize American energy production.
West holds a Bachelors degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and two Masters, one from Kansas State University and another from the US Army Command and General Staff Officers College.
He is a Senior Fellow at the London Center for Policy Research, a Fox News Contributor, the author of Guardian of the Republic: An American Ronin’s Journey to Family, Faith and Freedom. West is an avid distance runner, a Master SCUBA diver, and a motorcyclist, and in his spare time he enjoys cheering his beloved Tennessee Volunteers.
Lt. Col. West is a legacy life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, life member of the Association of the United States Army, life member of the National Rifle Association. He is married to Dr. Angela Graham-West and they have two daughters, Aubrey a graduate student pursuing her Masters degree and Austen, a college freshman.
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Jimmy Kemp
James Kemp is President of the Jack Kemp Foundation. He created the Foundation and its programs which are based on the American Idea, which is that the condition of your birth doesn’t determine the outcome of your Mr. Kemp also co-founded and is the Managing Partner of Kemp Partners, a strategic consulting firm based in Washington DC. Mr. Kemp has assisted Fortune 500 companies as well as burgeoning firms before Congress, the White House and several federal agencies. He has been representing clients providing government relations and corporate affairs services since 2002.
Mr. Kemp is also an Executive Vice President at Group 47, a digital data storage company which is bringing to market an archival, media called DOTS (Digital Optical Technology System). Prior to Kemp Partners, Mr. Kemp spent eight seasons as a quarterback in the Canadian Football League, finishing his career in 2001 with the Toronto Argonauts.
Mr. Kemp also serves as Chairman of the Board for the Hope Community Charter School located in NE Washington DC. The school serves 735 pre-k through grade 8 students and has been operating since September 2005. Mr. Kemp is a graduate of Wake Forest University. He and his wife, Susan, have four boys and reside in NW Washington DC.
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Dinesh D'Souza
Born in Mumbai, India, Dinesh D’Souza came to the U.S. as an exchange student and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College in 1983.
Since then, D’Souza has had a prominent career as a writer, scholar, and public intellectual and has also become a renowned filmmaker with his top-grossing documentaries 2016: Obama’s America and America.
A former policy analyst in the Reagan White House, D’Souza also served as John M. Olin Fellow at the American Enterprise Instituteand the Robert and Karen Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He served as the president of The King’s College in New York City from 2010 to 2012.
Called one of the “top young public-policy makers in the country” byInvestor’s Business Daily, D’Souza quickly became known as a major influencer on public policy through his writings. His first book,Illiberal Education (1991), publicized the phenomenon of political correctness in America’s colleges and universities and became aNew York Times bestseller for 15 weeks. It has been listed as one of the most influential books of the 1990s.
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Bob Woodson
Robert L. Woodson, Sr. is Founder and President of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise. Often referred to as the “godfather” of the movement to empower neighborhood-based organizations, Bob Woodson’s social activism dates back to the 1960s, when as a young civil rights activist, he developed and coordinated national and local community development programs. During the 1970’s he directed the National Urban League’s Administration of Justice division. Later he served as a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. For more than four decades, he has promoted the principles of self-help and neighborhood empowerment and the importance of the institutions of civil society.
Dedicating his life to helping low-income people address the problems of their communities, in 1981 Woodson founded the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise (known then as the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise) for the purpose of strengthening and advocating for those neighborhood-based organizations struggling to serve their communities. The Center has provided training and capacity-building technical assistance to more than 2,600 leaders of community-based groups in 39 states. He was instrumental in paving the way for resident management and ownership of public housing, and brought together task forces of grassroots groups to advise the 104th Congress on welfare reform. The youth violence reduction program he created, called the Violence-Free Zone, is effectively reducing violence in many of the nation’s most troubled schools.
He has profoundly influenced the way people think about the strengths of low-income people. But more than just philosophy, he has promoted measurable results and living examples that provide proof of his principles in reclaimed lives and restored communities.
Woodson is the only person ever to have received both the liberal and conservative world’s most prestigious awards – the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Prize, as well as the Presidential Citizens Medal. Among numerous other awards, Woodson also holds an honorary doctorate from Colorado Christian University and the University of Cincinnati.
He is the author of Youth Crime and Urban Policy, A View From the Inner City (1981), On the Road to Economic Freedom: An Agenda for Black Progress (1987), A Summons to Life, Mediating Structures and the Prevention of Youth Crime (1988), and The Triumphs of Joseph: How Today’s Community Healers are Reviving Our Streets and Neighborhoods (1998, reissued in paperback in 2008). He has also appeared on major network television talk shows including: Meet the Press, Nightline, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.