Former congressman and cabinet member Jack Kemp (1935-2009) served as Distinguished Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute from 1999 to 2002. His work, including a syndicated newspaper column, promoted rational, free-market environmental and economic policies. During that time, he spoke out against the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and other international efforts to curb economic growth, and championed free and open trade as the key to prosperity in both the developing and industrialized worlds.
Mr. Kemp was also a co-director of Empower America, a public policy and advocacy organization he co-founded in 1993 with William Bennett, Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, Vin Weber, and Founding Chairman Ted Forstmann. Prior to 1993, he served for four years as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the George H.W. Bush administration. First elected in 1971, Kemp also represented upstate New York in the U.S. House of Representatives for eighteen years after a successful career as an NFL quarterback, playing for the Steelers, Chargers, and, most famously, the Buffalo Bills.