Waters named interim president of Bowling Green-based Bluegrass Institute
JIM WATERS
STAFF REPORT
Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012, 1:30 a.m. — The Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions board of directors announced Wednesday that Jim Waters, vice-president of communications, has been appointed the organization’s interim president.
“The board unanimously concurs with me that Jim will carry out his responsibilities with the same passion and commitment to individual liberty, limited government and free markets that personify his past work and the institute’s mission,” said Kathy Gornik, chairman of the institute’s board. “His nearly nine years in a communications role with the institute has more than adequately prepared him for assuming this level of responsibility.”
Along with his weekly Bluegrass Beacon columns, published every Thursday on www.NelsonCountyGazette.com, which deal with Kentucky public policy issues from a free-market perspective in newspapers across the commonwealth, Waters is a frequent guest on television and radio programs across the state, including a monthly stint as guest host on 1320 WBRT’s “Brooks & Company” program.
His articles have appeared in national publications, including the Wall Street Journal, and he has appeared on CNN.
“Jim has a very well-known and highly respected presence within the state of Kentucky and it is a natural decision for him to assume the presidency at this time,” Gornik said. “He will continue writing his column and representing the institute with media appearances across the commonwealth.”
Waters has helped lead successful efforts to bring greater transparency to state government and reform to Kentucky’s underperforming education system. An ardent defender of parental school choice and private-property rights, he is known for his strong support for public charter schools and his opposition to a statewide, government-imposed smoking ban.
During the current legislative session, Waters has helped lead a coalition of liberty minded organizations, law-enforcement personnel and elected officials in the fight against a big-government plan to require thousands of law-abiding Kentuckians to obtain a prescription in order to purchase products containing pseudoephedrine, including Sudafed.
“Our legislative leadership in Frankfort must fulfill their constitutional responsibilities and protect our liberties instead of continually seeking ways to chip away at them,” Waters said. “Our founders believed that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. The Bluegrass Institute is willing to pay that price, and we seek all liberty-loving Kentuckians to join us in our mission of advancing freedom, defending liberty and building a more prosperous commonwealth.”
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