The Robert B. Carleson Eagle Fund was established in memory of a lifelong public servant, a close advisor to Ronald Reagan both as Governor and as President, and the father of modern welfare reform.
Bob Carleson was an Eagle Scout who lived his life according to the principles of the Boy Scout Oath and Law, and who defended the Constitutional right of the Boy Scouts of America to maintain its membership standards without government coercion or forfeiture of corporate and public partnerships.
Believing that the twenty-first century requires the leadership of Boy Scouts, The Robert B. Carleson Eagle Fund will sponsor Boy Scouts of limited financial means to attend camp, and will assist Boy Scout units that have been adversely affected by politically-motivated government or philanthropic decisions.
All proceeds of the Eagle Fund will be designated for the support of the Boy Scouts.
Susan A. Carleson, Chairman, CEO and Treasurer of the American Civil Rights Union, began her career in public policy in 1981 as an advisor on health care financing policy during the Reagan transition and then as a senior advisor to the Greenspan Commission on Social Security Reform. She joined the staff of the House Republican Conference in 1982 and later served as Legislative Director for Jack Kemp. During the second Reagan presidential term she was a Special Assistant to the Deputy Undersecretary of Education and Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General for Justice Programs. From 2002 until 2006 she served as Special Assistant to the Deputy Commissioner for Policy at the Social Security Administration. She assumed the ACRU’s CEO position in 2006, following the passing of her husband Bob, the ACRU’s founder. Mrs. Carleson guides the direction and day-to-day operations of the ACRU.
Hon. Edwin Meese, III, served as the seventy-fifth Attorney General of the United States from February 1985 to August 1988. Before serving as Attorney General, he was counselor to President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1985. In this capacity he functioned as the president’s chief policy adviser and had management responsibility for the administration of the cabinet, policy development, and planning and evaluation. During the time he held both these positions, Meese was a member of the president’s cabinet and the National Security Council.
Mr. Meese served as Governor Reagan’s executive assistant and chief of staff in California from 1969 through 1974 and as legal affairs secretary from 1967 through 1968. Before joining Governor Reagan’s staff in 1967, he served as deputy district attorney of Alameda County California.
Mr. Meese is a distinguished fellow and holder of the Ronald Reagan Chair in Public Policy at the Heritage Foundation; a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University; a member of the Board of Regents of the National College of District Attorney; and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Institute of United States Studies, University of London. He has authored many scholarly books on American government, most recently The Heritage Guide to the Constitution. Mr. Meese earned his B.A. from Yale University and his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1943, Mr. Abell was reared in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He received both his undergraduate and law degrees at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. In 1967 he volunteered for the Peace Corps serving in Colombia, South America for two years, where he met his wife, Lucía. Subsequently he volunteered for the military, serving with the famed 7th Cavalry of the 1st Air Cavalry Division. He is a decorated Viet-Nam veteran retired for wounds received in combat; he was awarded the Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal for Heroism, Air Medal, and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. He has taught law, served as both a deputy sheriff and as an assistant district attorney, and served on the U.S. Senate staff.
Mr. Abell was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to several governmental positions, boards and commissions, and ultimately appointed by President Reagan and approved by Senate confirmation as an Assistant Attorney General of the United States. Currently he is a member of the federal judiciary. He is listed in Who's Who in America and in Who's Who in American Law. For the past three decades, Mr. Abell has lived in Fairfax County, Virginia, from whence came many of his progenitors, with his wife . He has three children, is Anglican Catholic in faith, and a member of numerous veterans associations and lineage societies. Mr. Abell has authored two books on history and genealogy and numerous articles on law and history.
Mr. Akin is a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he earned a B.S. in Management Engineering. After graduation, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army with the Army Combat Engineers at Fort Belvoir in Alexandria, Virginia.
An avid student of the U.S. Constitution, Mr. Akin was appointed by Governor Ashcroft to the Bicentennial Commission of the U.S. Constitution in 1987. In 1988, the people of the 86th district elected Mr. Akin to represent them in the Missouri General Assembly. He served twelve years as a State Representative and the ranking Republican on the powerful Ways and Means Committee. While serving in the Missouri House, Mr. Akin drafted legislation on Roth IRAs and a tax limitation amendment currently in the Missouri Constitution.
As a Member of Congress, he is committed to promoting the principles of our Founders, the free enterprise system and the traditional values of the American family. Mr. Akin has also taken a leading role in issues related to national security and international affairs.
Today, Mr. Akin continues to write and lecture on the principles of America's Founding and Heritage. He is active in the Boy Scouts of America, a leader in his local church, a former board member of Missouri Right to Life, and sits on the board of the Mission Gate Prison Ministry.
Mr. Blackwell is an ACRU Senior Fellow. He is a contributing editor for the conservative news and opinion site Townhall.com and his columns frequently appear in The Washingon Times, New York Post and National Review Online. Mr. Blackwell’s public service includes terms as Mayor of Cincinnati, Undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. In 1994, he became the first African-American to hold statewide office in Ohio when he was elected Treasurer of State. He subsequently was elected to two terms as Secretary of State. In 2006, he was nominee for Governor of Ohio. He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Education degrees from Xavier University in Ohio.
Timothy J. Morgan is a distinguished attorney and Scouting leader from Santa Cruz, California. He served as Treasurer of the Republican National Committee from 2005 to 2009, and from 1996 to 2008 he served as Republican National Committeeman for California. His Scouting positions have included Scoutmaster of Troop 604 in Scotts Valley, California and Chairman of the Monterrey Bay Area Council. In 2009, he was elected an Executive Board member of the Boy Scouts of America Western Area Region and Vice President of the Western Region Area 3, which includes Northern California and parts of Nevada.
Ms. Parker is the founder and president of CURE, the Coalition on Urban Renewal & Education, a 501c3 non-profit organization that provides national dialogue on issues of race and poverty in the media, inner city neighborhoods, and public policy.
Prior to her involvement in social activism, Ms. Parker was a single welfare mother in Los Angeles, California. After receiving Christ, Ms. Parker returned to college, received a BS degree in marketing and launched an urban Christian magazine.
The 1992 Los Angeles riots destroyed her business, yet served as a springboard for her focus on faith-based and free market alternatives to empower the lives of the poor. As a social policy consultant, Ms. Parker gives regular testimony before the US Congress, and is a national expert on major television and radio shows across the country.
Currently, Ms. Parker is a regular commentator on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News. She debated Jesse Jackson on BET; fought for school choice on Larry King Live; and defended welfare reform on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Nationwide, Ms. Parker shares her story and policy suggestions through college and church lectures, community outreaches, and empowerment conferences for inner city pastors. She has hosted radio talk shows in Christian and secular markets, and currently is a regular guest editorialist for USA Today. Major accomplishments include speaking at the 1996 Republican National Convention and co-producing a documentary on welfare reform with the BBC in London. Ms. Parker's personal transformation from welfare fraud to conservative crusader has been chronicled by ABC's 20/20; Rush Limbaugh; Readers Digest; Dr. James Dobson; The 700 Club; Dr. George Grant; The Washington Times; Christianity Today; Charisma, and World Magazine.
Articles and quotes by Ms. Parker have appeared in major publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. Her autobiography Pimps, Whores & Welfare Brats was released in 1997 by Pocket Books and her new book, Uncle Sam's Plantation was released by Thomas Nelson in the fall of 2003.
Co-chairman of William E. Simon & Sons LLC, an investment firm, which he founded in 1988 with his father and brother. After graduating from Boston College Law School in 1982, Mr. Simon served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, under then U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani. He began his career on Wall Street as a foreign exchange trader and manager in the municipal bond department at Morgan Guaranty Trust Company after graduating from Williams College in 1973. He serves on the board of trustees at Williams College, chairman emeritus of Covenant House of California, and co-chairman of both the William E. Simon Foundation and the Cynthia L. and William E. Simon, Jr. Foundation.
Mr. Simon is also a member of the Board of Overseers of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, former Vice-Chairman of Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, and Chairman Emeritus of Covenant House California. Mr. Simon serves on the Board of Trustees for St. John's Health Center Foundation in Los Angeles. In addition, he is also a member on the Board of Directors for Oaks Christian School, and serves as Chairman of the Board for the National Urban Squash and Education Association. Additionally, Mr. Simon is a Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, one of the oldest religious orders of the Catholic Church. Mr. Simon was the 2002 Republican Gubernatorial nominee in California.
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