IOP Fellows Boast Varied Career Backgrounds

Many of the new fall 1999 Institute of Politics (IOP) Fellows decorated their office walls with photos of themselves meeting heads of state.

Not Dan Lungren. He brought his radio-studio-in-a-box.

This fall, he intends to split his time between the IOP and a radio show he hosts on the Catholic Family Network. For three hours each weekday, from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m., Lungren hunkers down over a microphone setup in his second-floor office to take calls from across the country on politics, culture and family values.

Describing himself as "a conservative coming to the bastion of liberalism," he said his semester at Harvard is "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Lungren joins five other fellows at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) who will lead seven-week-long study group sessions on issues ranging from ethnic conflict in Ireland to editorial writing.

"We're very excited about the real diversity and differing political experiences these Fellows have to offer," said Jennifer Phillips, fellows coordinator.

A member of the Kennedy family will join the Kennedy School as a special fellow this fall.

Jean Kennedy Smith, former ambassador to Ireland, will serve as the Heffernan Visiting Fellow and will lead weekly study groups on the peace process in Ireland. But as a Heffernan fellow, Smith, who also sits on the Board of Trustees for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, will not be in residence at the KSG for the entire semester.

Other IOP fellows include:

* Jim Edgar, who served an eight-year tenure as governor of Illinois before leaving office in January. After his term, Edgar was appointed a distinguished fellow at the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs, a position he'll return to after his semester at the IOP.

"There at least I was a distinguished fellow," he joked. "Here I'm just a fellow."

Together with his wife, Edgar is auditing a Harvard course on the English Revolution.

"It's nice to be able to just listen to the lectures without having to worry about tests or papers," he said.

* Raymond Strother, president of Strother/Duffy/Strother, a Democratic consulting firm. He claims "we have never lost a race for an incumbent Senator or Congressman."

He also serves as president of the American Association of Political Consultants. His study group, entitled "True Confessions of a Political Consultant," will focus on the role that hired consultants play in modern-day politics.

* Former chief White House speechwriter Michael Waldman, who sees his fellowship as a unique opportunity.

"It gives me a chance to see my children," said Waldman, whose three children were all born while he worked in the White House.

He said the IOP fellowship will also provide him an opportunity to do things that proved impossible in his previous career.

This week, Waldman had an op-ed published in The Boston Globe--as he says, "my first byline in seven years."

He says he sees his time at Harvard as a way to unwind from the pressures of speechwriting and reflect on his work with President Clinton.

* Katie Whelan, who recently resigned as executive director of the Democratic Governors' Association, where she worked from 1993-1999. She has served on a number of presidential campaigns and plans to offer a study group that draws on both sets of experience.

"From the State House to the White House: Issues for the Year 2000 and Beyond" will focus on the many open races around the country next year.

* Claudia Winkler, who has served as managing editor of The Weekly Standard since its inception in 1995. She is hosting a study group on "The Controversy Industry: Real Life in Opinion Journalism."

Winkler, a graduate of Tufts University, has been involved in opinion journalism for over a decade, first as the chief editorial writer for the Scripps Howards news service.

On Sept. 29, the fellows are hosting a study group open house followed by a pizza dinner.

While all the fllows said they plan to get out and explore the surrounding areas over the coming semester, Edgar seemed to speak for most when he said: "You can spend all the time right here in Cambridge and never once be bored."