Of course, I do not speak for Sutherland Institute, but my 14 years there give me some authority with which to respond to ABU. Rather than chastise Sutherland, ABU should follow its example. After all, ABU is neither an effective public policy group nor public relations machine. It could learn a thing or two from a successful organization.
Like ABU, Sutherland started small and was experiencing trouble finding its influence in Utah. We did a few things to change all of that in my first three years. First, we became more relevant and less ideological. Second, we fired the entire staff and turned over the Board of Trustees. Third, by January of 2004, we reinvented ourselves. And, fourth, we fearlessly engaged every issue with honesty and transparency (there is nothing to fear when you are right). Sutherland went from nothing to a respected and highly influential organization.
