Last May, the chairman of the Heritage Foundation’s board of trustees asked for and received the resignation of former Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., as the organization’s president. Little more than a year to that date, Thomas A. Saunders III announced he will relinquish his position as chairman.
Unlike the DeMint leadership change, the personnel shuffle was accompanied with little drama. Saunders will be succeeded by current vice chairman, Barb Van-Andel Gaby, later this year and then maintain a regular seat on the board. Saunders even received an award on the day of his announced resignation.
“We are so excited to present the Clare Boothe Luce Award to Tom. It is a recognition of his tremendous leadership and commitment to the conservative movement,” Heritage President Kay Coles James said in a statement. “Tom has skillfully led our Board of Trustees as chairman for nearly 10 years. We are grateful for his service and the vision he’s brought to Heritage.”
As Heritage was quick to note, past recipients of that prestigious award include President Ronald Reagan, Lady Margaret Thatcher, and National Review editor William F. Buckley Jr.
DeMint loyalists will remember Saunders as the author of the statement announcing the senator’s resignation and citing “significant and worsening management issues.” He personally approved of the decision, writing at the time that “as Chairman of the Board, I wholeheartedly endorse this change. It will make Heritage stronger in the short term and the long run.”
DeMint later responded characterizing the Saunders statement as “puzzling.”
It was a particularly brutal and public episode punctuated by talk of “assassinations,” “bloodlettings,” and “coups.” Now and then, Heritage bristles at reports of intrigue inside the walls of its Capitol Hill campus. But the conservative goliath is a legitimate source of interest. At the moment, Heritage is arguably the biggest intellectual force on the Right.
The White House has recruited their staffers to key administration positions, copied-and-pasted their policy papers, and elevated the Heritage to coveted first-among-think-tanks status. They were the biggest immediate winners of the Trump presidency, as I wrote shortly after the election. And Trump has subsequently put more of their agenda into law than Reagan, as they like to point out.
The change comes as Heritage continues to physically expand. They just cut the ribbon on a luxurious $15-million intern housing project just blocks from the U.S. Capitol. The change also comes as the old guard, those staffers most recognizable inside the Beltway, continues to retract.
Most recently, Mike Needham left his post as CEO of Heritage Action in April to join the offices of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as chief of staff. His lieutenant, Dan Ziegler, left in March to become director of the congressional Republican Study Committee.
Sudden changes at a multimillion dollar organization, particularly a foundation that has served as the bedrock of the conservative movement for the better half of a century, create speculation.
“It seems like Heritage is rudderless right now,” a senior conservative strategist tells me. “Now the chairman of the board steps down? Anyone with friends over there hears about the worry and concern. It’s sad.”
If there was any drama behind closed doors, Saunders didn’t let any of it show Tuesday.
“I take this step with great confidence knowing that we will have a stellar leadership team in place at Heritage with Barb as chairman, Kay Coles James as president, and Kim Holmes as the executive vice president,” Saunders said in a statement. “With these proven conservative leaders and experts at the helm, The Heritage Foundation will be in good hands.”
