Telephone Town Hall – January 18, 2018

Patrick Tuohey is a senior fellow at the Show-Me Institute and co-founder and policy director of the Better Cities Project. Both organizations aim to deliver the best in public policy research from around the country to local leaders, communities and voters. He works to foster understanding of the consequences — often unintended — of policies regarding economic development, taxation, education, policing, and transportation. In 2021, Patrick served as a fellow of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. He is currently a visiting fellow at the Yorktown Foundation for Public Policy in Virginia and also a regular opinion columnist for The Kansas City Star. Previously, Patrick served as the director of municipal policy at the Show-Me Institute. Patrick’s essays have been published widely in print and online including in newspapers around the country, The Hill, and Reason Magazine. His essays on economic development, education, and policing have been published in the three most recent editions of the Greater Kansas City Urban League’s “State of Black Kansas City.” Patrick’s work on the intersection of those topics spurred parents and activists to oppose economic development incentive projects where they are not needed and was a contributing factor in the KCPT documentary, “Our Divided City” about crime, urban blight, and public policy in Kansas City. Patrick received a bachelor’s degree from Boston College in 1993.

Patrick Ishmael is the director of government accountability at the Show-Me Institute. He is a native of Kansas City and graduate of Saint Louis University, where he earned honors degrees in finance and political science and a law degree with a business concentration. His writing has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Weekly Standard, and dozens of publications across the state and country. Ishmael is a regular contributor to Forbes and HotAir.com. His policy work predominantly focuses on tax, health care, and constitutional law issues. He is a member of the Missouri Bar.

Mike Ferguson brings twenty years of communications experience to Show-Me Opportunity.He has been a radio talk show host in both Kansas City and Columbia and was also a news anchor for the Zimmer Radio Group in mid-Missouri and for several Cumulus stations in Kansas City.Mike has covered local education and municipal government for the Jackson County Advocate, was a political columnist for the Kansas City Metro Voice, and was the news director for Missouri News Horizon, a statewide news service.From 2005 to 2010, he held several local offices in Grandview, Missouri, including on the citys Planning & Zoning Commission, the Transportation Committee, and the Board of Aldermen.In 2002 Mike was appointed to the Missouri State Plan Committee, which made recommendations to then-Secretary of State Matt Blunt on ways to implement the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002. In 2008, Mike was the national field director for former Congressman Bob Barrs presidential campaign.Mike has a Bachelors degree in Communications from Charter Oak State College. He lives in Richmond Heights.

Before joining the Show-Me Institute, Susan Pendergrass was Vice President of Research and Evaluation for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, where she oversaw data collection and analysis and carried out a rigorous research program. Susan earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business, with a concentration in Finance, at the University of Colorado in 1983. She earned her Masters in Business Administration at George Washington University, with a concentration in Finance (1992) and a doctorate in public policy from George Mason University, with a concentration in social policy (2002). Susan began researching charter schools with her dissertation on the competitive effects of Massachusetts charter schools. Since then, she has conducted numerous studies on the fiscal impact of school choice legislation. Susan has also taught quantitative methods courses at the Paul H. Nitze School for Advanced International Studies, at Johns Hopkins University, and at the School of Public Policy at George Mason University. Prior to coming to the National Alliance, Susan was a senior policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Education during the Bush administration and a senior research scientist at the National Center for Education Statistics during the Obama administration.