Senator Carper Joins DLC Leadership Team as Chair for Best Practices

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) announced today that Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) will join the DLC leadership team as Chair for Best Practices. Sen. Carper will lead the DLC’s efforts to identify and draw attention to New Democrat policy ideas being put into practice nationwide at the state and local level. “Senator Carper brings to the DLC a strong record of New Democrat leadership both as two-term governor of his state, and as a rising star in the U.S. Senate,” DLC founder and CEO Al From said. “He is the perfect leader to highlight and harness the power of New Democrat ideas working to improve state and local governing across the country.” In this new role, Sen. Carper will travel the country to meet with elected officials, leading New Democrat thinkers from the academic and policy world, business and civic leaders, and members of the media. He is currently scheduled to travel next month to both New York City to highlight the issue of financial literacy and to Orange County, California with From to address the Democratic Foundation of Orange County about the future of the Democratic Party. “When flexibility, opportunity, and accountability combine, the results can be limitless,” Sen. Carper said. “Highlighting what works at the state and local level will help us enact good ideas at every level of government. There are bold new initiatives in place throughout the country that will change the way we solve problems. There are new leaders and new solutions whose focus is getting results instead of scoring political points. Our goal is to find them and, when possible, replicate their success. While running for the Senate, I promised to make Delaware’s local successes models for the nation. I am so grateful to the DLC and its Chairman Evan Bayh for the chance to expand that effort nationwide.” DLC Chairman Sen. Bayh said: “Tom Carper has a strong record as a leader of the New Democrat movement. This new position gives him an opportunity to make even greater contributions by seeking out innovative ideas and incorporating them into the DLC’s national efforts. Tom and I both served as Governors and have worked together on numerous efforts in the Senate. I look forward to working with him in this new capacity.” Sen. Carper brings to the DLC the knowledge and experience to effectively highlight innovative New Democrat policy solutions to problems facing elected officials at all levels of government. He served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, and three consecutive terms as Delaware State Treasurer. As a former two-term governor in Delaware, Sen. Carper’s New Democrat approaches to governing resulted in real education reform, eight balanced budgets, meaningful welfare reform based on the New Democrat principle of work-first, and responsible income tax cuts in seven of eight years. In 1998 he was named Chairman of the National Governors’ Association (NGA), and later directed the NGA’s “Center for Best Practices” to develop and implement innovative solutions to policy challenges facing Governors.