Bolton to Headline UN Event in Twin Cities

Washington, D.C., Oct. 6, 2010—John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will speak about the effectiveness of the world body Wednesday, Oct. 13, at a dinner event at the Hyatt Minneapolis held by regional supporters of The Heritage Foundation.

Before the speech, three Heritage analysts who closely follow the U.N. will share their perspectives in a panel discussion.

Bolton, now a senior fellow in national security policy at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, served first as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security and then as ambassador to the United Nations in the administration of President George W. Bush.

“Our contribution becomes like an entitlement,” Bolton said of mandatory U.S. funding of the U.N. in a recent interview. “There’s no incentive for effective performance, or responsiveness or transparency. … So much of what happens in the U.N. happens in a bubble that doesn’t really reflect much of the outside world’s reality.”

The event host is the Minneapolis/St. Paul Committee for Heritage, a group of regional business and civic leaders who support the think tank’s conservative public policy research. Approximately 8,200 of Heritage’s more than 696,000 members live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

Robert J. Ulrich, honorary chairman of the committee, is the former CEO and chairman of the board of Target Corp.

Bolton’s speech will be preceded at 4:30 p.m. by a panel discussion entitled “ConUNdrum: The Limits of the United Nations and the Search for Alternatives” and featuring three Heritage policy experts:

• Steve Groves, research fellow and leader of the Freedom Project at Heritage’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom.
• Terry Miller, director of Heritage’s Center for International Trade and Economics and former ambassador to the U.N. Economic and Social Council.
• Brett Schaefer, research fellow in international regulatory affairs at the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom and editor of a book with the same title as the discussion topic.

The Minneapolis/St. Paul Committee for Heritage is one of 13 Heritage-affiliated groups in metropolitan regions across the nation, including Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco and Naples, Fla.

Tickets are $30 for Heritage members, $60 for non-members and $20 for students. Online registration is at http://www.myheritage.org/committees/minneapolis/.

The Heritage Foundation is the nation’s most broadly supported public policy research institute, with more than 696,000 individual, foundation and corporate donors. Founded in 1973, it works to develop effective policy solutions based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values and a strong national defense.