WPRI Commentators

Charlie Sykes host a daily show on 620 WTMJ radio. The author of five books, including A Nation of Victims and Dumbing Down Our Kids, Charlie has worked as a newspaper reporter, a magazine editor and has written for publications such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Charlie also discusses the news on his weekly television show (Today's TMJ4 Sundays 10 am) writes a weekly column for CNI Newspapers and writes a blog (Sykes Writes) about contemporary news issues.

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George Lightbourn served as Secretary of Administration under two Wisconsin governors.  Since joining the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute in 2002, he has authored several research papers and numerous public policy essays.  Much of his writing concentrates on Wisconsin State government and the Wisconsin economy.  (E-mail George)

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Christian Schneider is a senior fellow at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. Schneider spent eight years working for the Wisconsin State Legislature. He holds a Master's degree from Marquette University and a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Utah, both in political science. Schneider was the recipient of the 2005 Wisopinion.com "Blog of the Year" award and is a frequent contributor the the Isthmus newspaper and to the "Sunday Insight with Charlie Sykes" television program. His columns have been featured in the New York Times and on the National Review Online. (E-mail Christian)

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Deborah Hawley Jordahl is a conservative strategist and consultant who has directed numerous state and local campaigns for a variety of political, non-profit and corporate organizations. In 1995 she was appointed to lead the Division of Administrative Services at the Wisconsin Department of Commerce, an Executive position directing policy, budget, payroll, personnel, purchasing and information technology.  Jordahl frequently appears as a guest panelist on WTMJ’s Sunday Insight with Charlie Sykes.

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Michael Ford is the Research Director at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI).  Prior to joining WPRI, Ford worked for six years with schools, legislators and other stakeholders on Milwaukee education issues.  He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Marquette University, a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee (UWM), and is working towards a Ph.D. in Urban Studies from UWM.  He also works as an Associate Lecturer in Urban Studies at UWM. 

David Dodenhoff received his undergraduate degree in international relations from Stanford University in 1988, and his doctorate in political science from the University of Michigan in 1996. He spent two years as a full-time fellow with the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute between 1996 and 1998, and then left for a position in the office of Arizona Governor Jane Dee Hull. Today he makes his home in Austin, Texas and serves as an editor, writer, and consultant for clients in Arizona and Wisconsin.

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Mike Nichols is a senior fellow at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. A graduate of Boston College and the University of Chicago, he spent 20 years as a newspaper reporter and columnist and still writes a weekly column that runs in over a dozen Wisconsin papers. He is also the author of “The Waking,” a mystery published by HarperCollins, and is a regular panelist on “Sunday Insight with Charlie Sykes.”

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