WASHINGTON, June 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Ripon Society recently marked 45 years of public policy with a two-day conference featuring policy panels, speeches, and an awards dinner which reunited three of the founding members of the centrist Republican organization.
The two-day event, which was held on June 18th and 19th in the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, featured nine policy panel discussions on issues ranging from health care reform to patent reform to energy security to U.S. policy on taxes and international trade.
The panels included 12 current Members of Congress, five former Members of Congress, five senior officials from the Bush Administration, the European Union Ambassador to the United States and six senior Congressional staff members. In addition to the panels, the Ripon Society policy conference also featured speeches by American Enterprise Institute scholar Jim Glassman and noted political journalist David Broder.
The panel discussions and speeches were capped off by the Ripon Society’s Annual Rough Riders Awards dinner the evening of June 19th. Held in the Library’s Great Hall, the dinner honored Senator Trent Lott (R-MS), Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN), U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), and U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) for their ongoing contributions to Congress and the Nation.
Also recognized at the awards dinner were Senator John Warner (R-VA) and former Congresswoman Nancy Johnson (R-CT), who received Teddy Roosevelt Lifetime Achievement Awards for their distinguished record of public service on behalf of the American people.
To help the Ripon Society mark its 45th year of public policy, the awards dinner also featured a reunion of three individuals who helped found the organization while students at Harvard University in 1962 — Tom Petri, Lee Huebner, and John Price. Petri is currently serving his 15th term as the Congressman representing Wisconsin’s Sixth District. Huebner is the Director of George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs. Price is retired from his job as a Managing Director of Chase Manhattan Bank.
A photograph of Petri, Heubner and Price at the Rough Riders Awards Dinner can be found at http://www.riponsociety.org/. Similarly, a list of speakers and participants in the panel discussions from the Ripon Society’s 2007 Policy Conference can be found at http://www.riponsociety.org/CAB-Conf-0607.htm.
The Ripon Society takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 — Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of the organization is to promote the ideas and principles that have made the GOP — and America — great. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.
For more information on the Ripon Society, please visit the organization’s website at http://www.riponsociety.org/.
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