2006 Summer Institute
Faculty
The summer institute���s faculty is composed of leading scholars from American University and distinguished elections experts from institutions in Washington, D.C., and abroad. Robert A. Pastor and Daniel Calingaert of American University���s Center for Democracy and Election Management (CDEM) direct the institute.
Robert A. Pastor
Dr. Robert A. Pastor is Vice President of International Affairs and Director of the Center for Democracy and Election Management at American University. He has combined a career of scholarship, teaching, and public policy in government and in non-governmental organizations. He was National Security Advisor for Latin America (1977-81) and has been a consultant to the Departments of State and Defense. Before coming to American University, Dr. Pastor was Goodrich C. White Professor of Political Science at Emory University, and from 1985-98, he was a Fellow and Founding Director of the Carter Center���s Latin American and Caribbean Program and the Democracy and China Election Projects. At the Carter Center, he founded and served as the Executive Secretary of the Council of Freely-Elected Heads of Government, a group of 32 leaders of the Americas, chaired by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. This Council mediated elections in more than thirty countries around the world. Dr. Pastor served as Senior Advisor to the Carter-Ford National Commission on Federal Election Reform in 2001 and, in 2005, as Executive Director of the Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University and is the author or editor of 15 books.
Summer Institute List of Speakers
Dr. Louis Massicotte is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Montreal. He has written extensively on electoral systems, including Establishing the Rules of the Game: Election Laws in Democracies (with Andre Blais and Antoine Yoshinaka) and numerous book chapters and articles on the subject. He is currently researching electoral legislation across 46 democracies. Dr. Massicotte has served as a consultant to the Canadian Department of Justice, the Minister in charge of the reform of democratic institutions, and the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. He has observed elections and contributed to democratic development projects in 13 countries. He received his Ph.D. from Carleton University
Mr. Eric Bjornlund is co-founder and President of Democracy International. From 1989 to 2000, he worked for the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in various senior positions in Washington and overseas. From 2000 to 2001, Mr. Bjornlund was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In 2004, he served as Field Office Director for The Carter Center in Indonesia, where he directed a comprehensive international election monitoring program. He has testified on many occasions before Congress and the United Nations and has spoken at conferences and universities throughout the world.
Dr. Charles T. Call is Assistant Professor in the School of International Service at American University. His publications include peer-reviewed articles in Comparative Politics, Journal of Latin American Studies, and Global Governance. He works on post-conflict peacebuilding, democratization, human rights and policing and justice reform. He has conducted field research in all of Central America, Colombia, Haiti, Afghanistan, West Africa, Bosnia, Kosovo and South Africa. He spent most of 2004 at the UN Department of Political Affairs as their peacebuilding consultant, and before that was Assistant Professor for Research at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies. He has worked as a consultant for Human Rights Watch, the European Commission, USAID, UNDP, and the US Department of Justice. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University.
Mr. Jeffrey Carlson is Senior Program Specialist at IFES, where he develops and implements international democracy and governance programs throughout the world. He currently manages IFES’ Program on Political Finance and Public Ethics. Recently, Carlson has been involved in developing IFES’ Money and Politics program and content, including onsite initiatives in Brazil, Cameroon, Georgia, Lithuania, Nigeria, and Paraguay as well as political finance assessments in Kosovo, Lebanon, and Nicaragua. He also is involved in the design and development of the Training in Detection and Enforcement program, IFES’ political finance in post-conflict societies project, and the update of the Administration and Cost of Elections project. Carlson has more than a decade of international development experience, including experience managing IFES’ Tashkent office.
Mr. Scott Carpenter has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Near East Affairs at the U.S. Department of State since 2004 and is responsible for overseeing the Middle East Partnership Initiative. Prior to joining the bureau, Carpenter served as Director of the Governance Group for the Coalition Provisional Authority. From May 2003 to July 2004, he served as a key advisor to the Administrator facilitating the formation of the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), the formation of the first post-Saddam cabinet, the drafting and signing of the Transitional Administrative Law and the establishment of Iraq’s first fully sovereign government. Prior to deploying to Iraq, Mr. Carpenter served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Before joining the State Department, Mr. Carpenter worked with the International Republican Institute, the International Trade Agency, and on Capitol Hill.
Mr. Doug Chapin is Director of Electionline.org and an attorney with an extensive background in election issues, including service as Democratic Elections Counsel to the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Rules and Administration. He holds a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center as well as a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Ms. Margaret Coker has served as Middle East Correspondent for Cox Newspapers since 2003. She joined the Cox Washington Bureau in 2000 as Moscow correspondent. She had been acting Moscow bureau chief for Business Week. Prior to that, she worked in Moscow for The Moscow Times and CBS Marketwatch. Her reporting background also includes time with UPI and CBS Marketwatch in Washington covering Capitol Hill, the Federal Reserve and various government agencies. Before that, she reported for the Associated Press from Central Asia.
Mrs. Robin Downs Colbert is former Elections Administrator for the Prince George’s County Board of Elections in Maryland. She joined the State Board of Elections through a high school work-study program in 1979. In 1998 she became Deputy Elections Administrator for the second most populous jurisdiction in the State of Maryland, Prince George’s County, where she was ultimately appointed as the Elections Administrator in 2001. In 2003, Mrs. Colbert was the recipient of the Election Center’s Best Practices Award for the white paper she co-authored entitled “A Holistic Approach to Technical Support in the Implementation of New Voting Technology for the 2002 Elections”. During her tenure, the Prince George’s County Board of Elections was the first jurisdiction in Maryland to institute an Adopt-A-Precinct Program, which allows county agencies to adopt and staff a polling place on Election Day, and the first jurisdiction to pilot the electronic poll book which decreased check-in time at polling locations by 20% . Mrs. Colbert served on the 2005 Governor’s Commission on Administration of Elections, the State Help America Vote Act Planning Committee, Election Assistance Commission Project Workgroup on College Pollworker Recruitment, Training, and Retention and numerous other election-related committees.
Hon. Paul S. DeGregorio is Chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). He has served on the EAC since 2003. He previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), a leading institution involved in the promotion of democracy worldwide. He has provided technical assistance in election administration in many countries, including Russia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Ukraine, Romania, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, China, Slovakia, Georgia, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, and Japan. At IFES, Mr. DeGregorio also provided leadership on U.S. election reform initiatives and led a team that supplied technical advice in Florida and Missouri during the November 2002 elections. From 1985 to 1993, Mr. DeGregorio served as Director of Elections for St. Louis County, Missouri’s largest jurisdiction. During his tenure, he instituted major improvements in voter registration, training, accessibility, counting, and management procedures. He was recognized for his efforts in prosecuting voter fraud and drafting legislation to improve the electoral process.
Ms. Karen DeYoung is Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She is on a two-year sabbatical from the Washington Post, where she has worked since 1975. There, she has held a number of leadership positions, including her current position as associate editor. She also has served as assistant managing editor for national news, national editor, London bureau chief, foreign editor, and Latin America bureau chief. She has won a number of awards, including the 2003 Edward Weintal Award for Diplomatic Reporting, Sigma Delta Chi awards for investigative reporting and foreign reporting, and a Pulitzer Prize she shared with several Washington Post colleagues for national coverage of the war on terrorism.
Dr. Georges A. Fauriol is Senior Vice President at the International Republican Institute (IRI) . He has particular responsibilities for strategic planning, program development, and evaluation. Prior to joining IRI in 2001, Fauriol served as director and senior fellow of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where he was the senior scholar specializing in Western Hemisphere issues-the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America, and Canada. He has testified before Senate and House subcommittees eighteen times and is the author or coauthor of several books and more than 50 publications.
Mr. Curtis Gans is Director of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University. He was the co-founder and the director for nearly 30 years of the non-partisan Committee for the Study of the American Electorate. He is an acknowledged expert on voter turnout and participation. On matters of voting, he has become the primary source of information for most newspapers, wire services, news magazines and columnists. His writings have appeared in a number of major publications and he has appeared on various talk shows, including PBS’ NewsHour, Morning Edition, All Things Considered. He has spoken in various capacities on more than 200 college campuses and before political and trade associations. Mr. Gans is a former member of the Democratic National Policy Council and its Foreign Policy Subcommittee. He has served as a consultant to the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, the National Committee for an Effective Congress, and has managed a number of political campaigns.
Dr. Louis W. Goodman has been Professor and Dean of the School of International Service since 1986 and in 1992 served as the President of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs. Prior to assuming this position, he directed the Latin America Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Latin America and Caribbean Program at the Social Science Research Council and served on the faculty of Yale University’s Sociology Department. The author of numerous books and articles, Dr. Goodman’s current research focuses on democracy-building and civilian control of the armed forces in Latin America. His Small Nations, Giant Firms: Capital Allocation Decisions in Transnational Corporations (Holmes and Meier: 1987) discusses the determinants of capital allocation decisions in transnational corporation and the impact of transnational corporations on national development. The Military and Democracy in Latin America (D.C. Heath-Lexington: 1990) and Lessons from the Venezuelan Experience (Johns Hopkins: 1995) are volumes he has co-edited which focus on the role of the military in political and economic development.
Mr. Steven Griner is Senior Specialist at the Organization of American States (OAS). He joined the OAS Unit for the Promotion of Democracy in 1993. As a Senior Specialist at the Unit, Mr. Griner has observed more than 20 elections in Latin America and the Caribbean. From 1990 to 1993, Mr. Griner worked at the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
Dr. Amr Hamzawy is Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is a noted Egyptian political scientist who previously taught at Cairo University and the Free University of Berlin. Hamzawy has a deep knowledge of Middle East politics and specific expertise on European efforts toward political reform in the region. His research interests include the changing dynamics of political participation in the Arab world, including the role of Islamist opposition groups, with special attention both to Egypt and the Gulf countries. Hamzawy's studies at Cairo University focused on political reform and democratization in the Arab world, civil society, Islamism, and the cultural impacts of the globalization processes. He received his Ph.D. from the Free University of Berlin, where he worked at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.
Mr. Keith Henderson is Senior Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Advisor at the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) and Adjunct Professor of Law at American University’s Washington College of Law. At IFES, he is leading a new judicial reform program in China with the Supreme People’s Court, a new regional rule of law and anti-corruption initiative in the Middle East and has undertaken comprehensive assessments, and conceptualized and designed new anti-corruption programs in Afghanistan and Vietnam. Previously, Henderson served as USAID’s Senior Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Policy and Program Advisor, during which time he conceptualized and launched the first rule of law and anti-corruption programs in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Over the years, he has consulted with various international organizations, including the World Bank, UNDP and the IDB, and serves on the Anti-Bribery Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce. Henderson received his doctorate of jurisprudence from the Mississippi College School of Law and his LL.M. in International Law from the Georgetown University Law School.
Ms. Jean R. Jensen has served as Secretary of the Virginia State Board of Elections since 2003. She previously served as Deputy Secretary. She is responsible for all aspects of agency operations. Prior to her appointments, she held administrative and political positions including Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Virginia, President and Executive Director of a national women’s political organization, and Legislative Aide to two members of the General Assembly. Ms. Jensen was chosen as a 1996 Fellow for the Sorensen Institute for Political leadership at the University of Virginia. She frequently lectures on campaign management and fundraising to the Sorensen’s program for first time candidates. The program emphasizes the importance of running more ethical, issue based campaigns.
Dr. Cornelius M. Kerwin is Interim President of American University. He served as Provost for seven years and held the position in an acting capacity for one year. Dr. Kerwin, a professor of public administration in the School of Public Affairs, is a nationally recognized specialist in public policy, with emphasis on the regulatory process. He is actively engaged in teaching and research and teaches courses in administrative process, policy implementation, and American government. He is the author of Rulemaking: How Government Agencies Write Law and Make Policy (3rd ed., 2003, Congressional Quarterly Press) and the coauthor of How Washington Works: The Executives Guide to Government (3rd ed., 1996). Dr. Kerwin’s scholarly articles have appeared in Public Administration Review, Journal of Politics, Policy Studies Review, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Judicature, Justice System Journal, and Harvard Journal on Legislation. He is also the author of numerous monographs, chapters in edited books, anthologies, and articles in professional and popular publications. Dr. Kerwin’s experience in the public sector includes work with the Office of Personnel Management, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Administrative Conference of the United States, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Department of Agriculture, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Public Health Service. In the private sector, he has served as a consultant to IBM Corporation and General Electric.
Mr. Jeffrey Krilla joined the U.S. Department of State in January 2006 as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. He previously served as Regional Director for Africa for the International Republican Institute (IRI), where he oversaw and coordinated programs and election observations in numerous African countries. In 2002, Krilla coordinated IRI’s conference in Burkina Faso of Liberian opposition parties, civil society, news media and representatives of rebel factions to discuss Liberia’s democratic future. Prior to joining IRI, Krilla served as a senior aide and attorney in the U.S. Congress for eight years. He was majority counsel for U.S. House of Representatives Commerce Committee and Chief of Staff for Congressman Mike Pappas (NJ). He also served as Legislative Assistant to Congressman Bill Thomas (CA). From 1991 to 1993, Krilla taught and assisted in the administration of a rural high school in the Lebowa region of South Africa. He holds a juris doctorate from the Georgetown University Law Center.
Ms. Stina Larserud is Assistant Program Officer for Electoral Processes at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) in Stockholm. Having studied in Sweden and in Australia, Ms Larserud holds a Master’s degree in political science from the University of Uppsala, Sweden in comparative politics and institutional design. Before joining International IDEA, Ms Larserud acted as a member of a polling station commission at elections and referendums in Sweden.
Dr. William M. LeoGrande is Dean of the School of Public Affairs at American University. A specialist in Latin American politics and U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America, Professor LeoGrande has been a frequent adviser to government and private sector agencies. He has written five books, the latest of which is Our Own Backyard: The United States in Central America, 1977 - 1992. Previously, he served on the staffs of the Democratic Policy Committee of the United States Senate, and the Democratic Caucus Task Force on Central America of the United States House of Representatives. Professor LeoGrande has been a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow, and a Pew Faculty Fellow in International Affairs. His articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, American Political Science Review, Latin American Research Review, The New Republic, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald, and other journals and newspapers.
Dr. Peter Lewis is Associate Professor at the School of International Service at American University. He teaches in the Division of Comparative and Regional Studies and serves as Director of the Council for African Studies. His forthcoming book, Growing Apart: Politics and Economic Change in Indonesia and Nigeria ( University of Michigan Press) is concerned with the institutional basis of economic development, drawing upon a comparative study of Indonesia and Nigeria. Dr. Lewis has also published four coauthored or edited books, in addition to articles in World Politics, World Development, the Journal of Democracy, the Journal of Modern African Studies, African Affairs and others, and numerous book chapters. Dr. Lewis has been a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and Fulbright Fellow in Nigeria. He has received grants from the National Science Foundation, USAID, Princeton University's Center for International Studies, and Senate Research Awards at American University. He is a member of the Research Council of the International Forum for Democratic Studies and a Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He has consulted for the Ford Foundation, the Carter Center, the Council on Foreign Relations, Freedom House, USAID, and the World Bank
Dr. Herbert Lin is Senior Scientist for the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board at the National Academy of Sciences, where he has been study director of major projects on public policy and information technology. These studies include a 1996 study on national cryptography policy (Cryptography’s Role in Securing the Information Society); a 1991 study on the future of computer science (Computing the Future); a 1999 study of Defense Department systems for command, control, communications, computing, and intelligence (Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges), and a 2000 study on workforce issues in high-technology (Building a Workforce for the Information Economy). Prior to his National Academy service, Dr. Lin was a professional staff member and staff scientist for the House Armed Services Committee (1986-1990), where his portfolio included defense policy and arms control issues. He also has significant expertise in math and science education. He received his Ph.D. in physics from MIT in 1979.
Mr. Mark McDonald is Senior Director of Programming at WAMU, American University Radio. He worked on the BBC’s TV and radio programs, and produced and reported TV and radio coverage from Washington, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Poland, Russia, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Haiti, and many other places. He was later posted to New York as News Producer, where he launched and anchored USA-Direct, a daily TV news program about America for BBC World. In 1995, Mr. McDonald joined WNYC, the premier public radio station there, as Managing Editor for News. He joined WAMU in 2001. He is also the Broadcast Journalist in Residence at AU’s School of Communication, where he teaches reporting.
Mr. Patrick Merloe is a Senior Associate and directs electoral programs at the National Democratic Institute (NDI). He has observed election processes in more than 25 countries and led or participated in over 130 NDI delegations and assistance teams to more than 50 countries around the world. Mr. Merloe’s program focus is largely on promoting democratic reform and political development in semi-authoritarian countries and conflict-sensitive states. He has produced numerous publications and is a frequent speaker on democracy promotion, elections, human rights and international law. He is frequently invited by the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and other organizations to advise on electoral matters. Prior to joining NDI in 1993, Mr. Merloe was an attorney with Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe in San Francisco and has served as pro bono and special counsel to a number of international human rights organizations. He has taught courses at University of Pennsylvania Law School, the University of San Francisco School of Law and at Temple University. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Ms. Alice P. Miller has served as Executive Director of the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics since 1996. In this capacity, she directs the election programs and services in the District of Columbia. She is responsible for the management and administration of all of the agency operations pertaining to voter registration, ballot access for candidates and measures, fiscal considerations and the overall conduct of elections. She exercises broad oversights and independent authority to administer and enforce the election law of the District of Columbia. She implemented, for the first time ever, a major comparison of the local voter roll with contiguous jurisdictions. She also instituted procedures for making referrals of obvious violators to the Office of the United States Attorney for further investigation. She oversees poll worker recruitment, training and deployment for 2,500 election-day workers.
Dr. Toby Moore is Project Manager for the Commission on Federal Election Reform at the Center for Democracy and Election Management at American University. He works to advance the recommendations of the commission chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker. Dr. Moore came to the commission from the voting section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he supported enforcement of federal voting laws for more than five years as the section’s political geographer and redistricting expert. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa.
Dr. Candice J. Nelson is Chair of the Department of Government in the School of Public Affairs at American University. She is also an associate professor of government and academic director of the Campaign Management Institute. Prior to coming to American University, she was a visiting fellow at The Brookings Institution. She also served as a Special Assistant to former Senate Majority Whip Alan Cranston and as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow. She is the co-author of The Money Chase: Congressional Campaign Finance Reform and The Myth of the Independent Voter, and co-editor of Campaigns and Elections American Style, Campaign Warriors: Political Consultants in Elections, and Crowded Airwaves: Campaign Advertising in Elections, as well as numerous other articles and books.
Dr. Donald F. Norris is Director of the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research and Professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He is a specialist in public management, urban affairs, and the application, management and impacts of information technology in public organizations. Dr. Norris has authored two books, Microcomputers and Local Government, 3d ed. (1989) and Police Community Relations: A Program That Failed (1973), edited United States Energy Reality (1978), and co-edited The Politics of Welfare Reform (1994). He has contributed chapters to 17 other books and published 23 articles on a variety of topics in scholarly journals. He has authored or co-authored more than 90 research reports, monographs, scholarly papers and book reviews and has produced and directed two films on the adoption of advanced technology. Dr. Norris has also consulted with local governments and state agencies for more than 25 years on a wide range of topics, but especially in the area of information technology and management. He holds a Ph.D. in government from the University of Virginia.
Dr. Pippa Norris is Director of the Democratic Governance Group at the United Nations Development Program. She has taken two years leave from the Kennedy School at Harvard University, where she was Paul. F. McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics. She is a political scientist who focuses on public opinion and elections, political communications, and gender politics. A prolific author and international public speaker, she has published many journal articles and almost three dozen books (many in translation), including Radical Right: Voters and Parties in the Electoral Marketplace, Sacred and Secular (winner of the 2005 Virginia Hodgkinson Research Prize awarded by the Independent Sector) , Electoral Engineering, Rising Tide, Democratic Phoenix, Digital Divide and A Virtuous Circle. Others include Comparing Democracies 2; Britain Votes 2001; Critical Citizens; On Message; Critical Elections; The Politics of News; Elections and Voting Behaviour; Britain Votes 1997; Electoral Change Since 1945; Women, Media and Politics; Comparing Democracies; and Women in Politics. She holds a doctoral degree in politics from the London School of Economics.
Dr. Karen O’Connor is Director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University. She has written, co-authored, or edited several books, including American Government: Continuity and Change, 8th ed. (2004), and Women, Politics and American Society, 4th ed. (2004), Women in Congress: Running, Winning and Ruling (2002), and No Neutral Ground: Abortion Politics in an Age of Absolutes (1996). She has published numerous monographs, book chapters, and articles in the leading social science and political science journals and law reviews. She is also an active member of the American Political Science Association, the past chair of the Law and Courts section of the APSA, the past president of the Women's Caucus for Political Science, Southern Political Science Association and the National Capital Area Political Science Association. She is also a member of various editorial boards, including Law & Policy. Professor O'Connor is also the past editor of Women and Politics.
Dr. Jamin Raskin is Professor of Law and Director of the Law and Government Program at American University’s Washington College of Law. He teaches constitutional law, First Amendment law, the Constitution and public education, and international economic law. His book Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court versus the American People (2003), which examines patterns of conservative judicial activism and interference with democratic politics, was a Washington Post bestseller. An active constitutional lawyer, Raskin has represented clients as diverse as Ross Perot, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and former Montgomery County, Maryland, police chief Charles Moose. Raskin is currently chair of the Maryland State Higher Education Labor Relations Board. He has also served as a member of the Clinton-Gore transition team, general counsel to the National Rainbow Coalition, and assistant attorney general for Massachusetts.
Dr. Hector E. Schamis is Assistant Professor at the School of International Service at American University. He researches and teaches on political economy and democratization in Latin America and post-socialist countries. Professor Schamis received his PhD from Columbia University. His articles have appeared in journals such as Comparative Politics, World Politics, and the Journal of Democracy, and his recent book is entitled Re-Forming the State: The Politics of Privatization in Latin America and Europe ( University of Michigan Press, 2002).
Mr. Mark Seibel is Managing Editor/International for Knight Ridder, overseeing all international and national security coverage. He joined the bureau from The Miami Herald, where over 19 years he was managing editor/news, assistant managing editor for metro, assistant managing editor for Page 1, director of international operations and foreign editor. He also has been a reporter or editor for the Los Angeles Times, the San Jose Mercury, the Dallas Times Herald and the Dallas Morning News. He directed two Pulitzer Prize winning reporting efforts while in Miami -- the Iran-contra affair in 1987, which won the Pulitzer for national reporting, and the Elian Gonzalez immigration saga in 2000, which won the Pulitzer for breaking news reporting. He was a Nieman Foundation fellow at Harvard University during the 1991-92 academic year.
Mr. Howard Sholl is the Deputy Administrative Director for the Department of Elections for New Castle County, Delaware. He has served as an administrator for the Department of Elections since 1993. Mr. Sholl was involved in Delaware’s successful procurement and deployment of the Danaher Controls Electronic 1242 Direct Recording Electronic Voting System in 1996. He has also drafted numerous pieces of election legislation that were enacted in Delaware including those that implemented the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act. Mr. Sholl is a member of the Election Center and served on the Election Center’s National Task Force on Election Reform following the 2000 and 2004 General Elections.
Mr. Frank Smyth became Washington Representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists in 2000. He is a freelance journalist who writes mainly about foreign affairs. His first story, " Duarte's Secret Friends", broke Secret U.S. State Department cables revealing that the Reagan administration was, in its own words, trying "one by one" to "destroy" the opposition labor movement in El Salvador. Smyth was based in San Salvador from 1988 through 1990, reporting for CBS News Radio, The Economist and others. In 1991 Smyth covered the Gulf War from Amman Jordan. After the ground war ended, he crossed into northern Iraq, reporting for CBS News, The Economist and The Village Voice. The Voice nominated him for a Pulitzer Prize for meritorious public service for his coverage of the post-Gulf War Kurdish uprising. Smyth was based in Guatemala through 1992, reporting for The Christian Science Monitor and others. In the mid-1990s Smyth worked on Colombia. In 1998, after the East Africa U.S. embassy bombings, he teamed up with Peter Bergen in The New Republic. Based on separate reporting in Sudan and Afghanistan, their story was among the first to suggest that the wealthy Saudi, Osama bin Laden, was behind the twin bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. In November 2002, he wrote a piece in Newsday which debunked the notion that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Ladin were ever allies, as bin Laden has long derided Hussein as a false Muslim.
Mr. Richard W. Soudriette has served as President and CEO of the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) since 1988. Under his leadership, IFES has become one of the premier organizations offering technical assistance in the areas of elections, civil society, rule of law and governance. Soudriette has played a key role in creating networks of election officials in Latin America, Central/Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, and has overseen the tremendous growth of IFES, which in the course of little over a decade has worked toward democratic change in more than 120 countries worldwide. Prior to joining IFES, Soudriette served as Chief of Staff for U.S. Congressman James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), Director of the U.S. Peace Corps in Paraguay and the Dominican Republic, and Chief of Staff for the Mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Soudriette currently is a member of the American Political Science Association, the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Association of Clerks, Recorders, Treasurers and Election Officials (IACREOT).
Ms. Elizabeth Spehar has served as Director of the Department for the Promotion of Democracy at the Organization of American States since 1995. In this capacity, she has spoken extensively on OAS and democracy issues as well as written on these themes for a variety of publications. Among other duties, she has been involved in organizing a number of the Organization’s largest electoral observation missions and has also been strongly involved in the development of expertise and activities in the emerging field of conflict resolution. Ms. Sphehar’s previous professional experience includes work as a development consultant for agencies such as the International Development and Research Centre (IDRC) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), particularly in the areas of Latin American regional organizations, human rights and women and development; United Nations Development Programme (Programme Officer); Match International, an NGO dedicated to women in development (Project Officer - Latin America).
Ms. Sara Staino is a Consultant for the Electoral Processes Programme at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) in Stockholm. In this capacity, she has performed several functions, mainly related to the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network and the IDEA Electoral Management Project. Ms. Staino is a member of the Project Management Team of the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network, tasked mainly with the conceptualisation, piloting and development of the two dynamic networking components of the new ACE site, namely "Electoral Advice" and "Regions & Countries". She is a Lead Writer for the “Electoral Management” topic area of the ACE Encyclopaedia; IDEA Project Manager for the ACE Course Correction process and Co-Authors and editorial anchor of the “Electoral Management Design” Handbook. In parallel to her commitments with IDEA, Ms. Staino works as a University Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Örebro, Sweden. She has also participated as an Election Observer in missions for the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and OSCE/ODIHR, and regularly acts as a Deputy Chairman of a polling station commission for elections in Sweden.
Dr. James A. Thurber is Distinguished Professor and Director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University. He is the principal investigator of a six year grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts to the Campaign Management Institute to study campaign conduct. Dr. Thurber has been on the faculty at American University since 1974 and was honored as the University Scholar/Teacher of the Year in 1996. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He is author and co-author of numerous books and more than seventy-five articles and chapters on Congress, congressional-presidential relations, congressional budgeting, congressional reform, interest groups and lobbying, and campaigns and elections. He is author or editor of Congress and the Internet (2002) with Colton Campbell, Rivals for Power: Presidential-Congressional Relations, Second Edition (2002), The Battle for Congress: Consultants, Candidates, and Voters (2001), Political Advertising in Election Campaigns (1999), The Role of Political Consultants in Elections (1999), Remaking Congress: The Politics of Congressional Stability and Change (with Roger Davidson, 1995), Campaigns and Elections, American Style (with Candice Nelson, 1995); and Divided Democracy: Cooperation and Conflict Between Presidents and Congress (1991). He earned his Ph.D. from Indiana University.