Republican Gov. Scott Walker. - PHOTO: Provided
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, R, is slated to join Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and others scheduled to speak at a meeting of a national conservative lobbying group in March.
Walker is just one of several prominent speakers scheduled to appear at the Conservative Political Action Conference – CPAC – organized by the American Conservative Union March 14-16.
Also scheduled to speak are Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.
The American Conservative Union says the three-day meeting will include speeches, policy discussions and networking opportunities focused on “smaller government, a strong national defense and traditional American values.”
The group was founded in 1964 by William F. Buckley.
The most prominent sponsors in recent years include the NRA, Human Events and the Young Americans’ Foundation.
Past speakers included Mitt Romney, Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.
In 2012, the ACU board voted not to invite a gay Republican group, GOProud, to the conference. That year, Romney won a presidential straw poll, although there were news reports that the campaign bused students to the conference from the East Coast and also bought registrations.
People For The American Way's Right Wing Watch describes the ACU as "one of the nation's oldest lobbying groups on the right. It is best known for its annual ratings of Congress and its sponsorship of the annual Conservative Political Action Convention, a gathering of Washington insiders, right-wing pundits and grassroots activists from across the country."
The ACU says its strongest efforts have been "fighting to keep OSHA off the backs of small businesses; opposing the Panama Canal giveaway; challenging the SALT treaties; supporting aid to freedom fighters in communist countries; promoting the confirmation of conservative justices to the Supreme Court; advocating near-term deployment of strategic defenses; and battling against higher taxes and wasteful government spending."
