Lawson for Congress

"It is time for us to engage as Americans and citizens of North Carolina's 4th Congressional District on the critical issues facing our nation. Politics by division only empowers the corporate and special interests who run Washington. Only an honest conversation across party lines can encourage accountable government, and a government that follows its own rules. Please join us for this historic transpartisan event as we discuss the critical topics of peace, prosperity, and liberty."

- William (B.J.) Lawson, Candidate for Congress, North Carolina's 4th District

Click here for more details about how you can attend a special event for sponsors.

Chapel Hill resident Jim Neal has been an active member of the Democratic Party at the local and national levels as well as a successful investment banker and financial advisor. He founded and currently serves as head of The Agema Group, a financial advisory firm, and was recently a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate. For the past two decades, Neal has focused his career on information technology and healthcare companies, including serving as chief executive officer of RxMarketplace.com, a start-up firm that helped pharmacists offer patients prescription drugs at more affordable prices. He spent the earlier part of his career as a senior investment banker with E.F Hutton, Bear Stearns and Salomon Brothers. In the political arena, Neal served as a national finance committee member for Wes Clark for President and the Kerry-Edwards campaigns, as well as acting as a national fundraiser for U.S. Senate candidate Erskine Bowles in 2004. He has served his community as an overnight volunteer at a homeless shelter, a lay minister to the mentally ill, and a sponsor with the International Rescue Committee. Neal received his undergraduate degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and an MBA at the University of Chicago.

Mr. Neal will moderate an open discussion with the audience and the panel below, focusing on the topics of Peace, Prosperity and Liberty.

Adam Kokesh is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War and currently serves as a board member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (www.IVAW.org). As part of IVAW, Kokesh has been an extremely vocal critic of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, having testified before Congress and spoken at other public forums including the Revolution March in Washington, D.C. and the Rally for the Republic in Minneapolis. Kokesh joined the Marine Corps Reserves in 1999 because he wanted to serve his country. Having opposed the invasion of Iraq, he volunteered to transfer to a civil affairs unit in order to deploy as part of the rebuilding effort. As a result, he served in the Fallujah area in 2004 and received the Combat Action Ribbon and Navy Commendation medal as a sergeant. After being honorably discharged in November 2006, Kokesh moved to Washington, D.C. to earn a master of arts in political management at George Washington University. He also holds a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from Claremont McKenna College. Kokesh keeps a personal blog at www.kokesh.blogspot.com.

B.J. is a physician by training, and left neurosurgical residency in 2001 to start a hospital software company. His experience in business and entrepreneurship focused his interest on finance, economics, and the history of our monetary and banking system -- and his studies of these areas led him to the growing concern that our nation is on an unsustainable path. After selling his software company in 2006, B.J. remained active in the local entrepreneurial community as a consultant and angel investor. He put his entrepreneurial interests on hold in the fall of 2007 to focus on running for Congress, as it became clear the our current financial crisis demanded a swift and decisive change from politics as usual and crony corporatism in Washington. His focus on good government that follows the rules and empowers local communities anchors a message of hope and optimism -- we can take back our country by first taking back our local communities, and pursuing sustainable, locally-driven economic growth.

Bruce Fein is a world-renowned expert in the area of Constitutional law and civil liberties and currently serves as a principal at Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm The Lichfield Group. He also writes regular columns for a number of leading newspapers and professional publications and appears on broadcast media and in front of Congress as an expert on topics such as foreign affairs, international and constitutional law, telecommunications, and terrorism. After graduating from Harvard Law School with honors in 1972, Fein held a federal judicial clerkship and then joined the U.S. Department of Justice where he served as assistant director of the Office of Legal Policy, legal adviser to the assistant attorney general for antitrust, and the associate deputy attorney general. Fein was later appointed general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission, followed by an appointment as research director for the Joint Congressional Committee on Covert Arms Sales to Iran. In addition to his federally-appointed positions, Fein has served as an adjunct scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, a resident scholar at the Heritage Foundation, a lecturer at the Brookings Institute, and an adjunct professor at George Washington University. He has also been executive editor of World Intelligence Review, a periodical devoted to national security and intelligence issues. Furthermore, Fein has assisted three dozen countries in constitutional revision and consulted foreign nations on matters ranging from telecommunications to human rights. He's also authored the book Constitutional Peril. You can find more about him at his website: The Lichfield Group

Writing and performing one's own music for 15 years isn't such a feat -- unless you are 21 years old -- and such is the chronicle of Marc Scibilia from Buffalo, NY. After releasing 3 CDs of original music by age 19 (one produced and two live), Marc's brand new ten-track album, "Fixity", was two years in the making and recorded in Nashville, TN. With lyric and vocal styles like Bob Dylan and the piano sensibilities of Billy Joel, "Fixity" has an overall finish of progressive piano rock and houses an impressive gamut of musical and lyrical depth, as seen in the polarities between "Lift Up Your Eyes", bestirringly performed in Hebrew, and "Pretty Good Guy", best performed in a pub. With the cameo collaboration of Michael Tait from the Platinum selling Grammy winning rock band, DC Talk, Marc Scibilia offers self and soul to "Fixity", and its diversity and relevant ranges will quickly help it live down its title's definition of "being fixed in one place." Featured Tracks: Sky is Painted; Terrified; Fixity. You can access more of his work at his website: www.marcscibilia.com

Jon Batson is a prize winning author and songwriter listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World. He authored written five stage musicals and music for Murder She Wrote, The Tonight Show, and Midnight Special. He currently makes his home in Raleigh.