R Street welcomes new southern region director
WASHINGTON (Feb. 2, 2015) – The R Street Institute is proud to welcome Cameron Smith as the institute’s southern region director. He will also continue to be a senior fellow with R Street.
In this newly created full-time position, Smith will work with government officials, businesses and key stakeholders across the South to develop and promote market-driven solutions to the region’s unique public policy challenges, He also brings invaluable legislative and policy expertise to R Street’s national projects involving energy, the environment, agriculture and federal regulatory oversight.
“Cameron is one of the leading right-of-center thinkers anywhere on the environment, regulation and a host of other important issues,” said R Street President Eli Lehrer. “He’s a fantastic writer and I’ve admired him for years. I’m enormously pleased that he’s joining R Street in a full-time capacity.”
Smith is a regular columnist for the Alabama Media Group, which operates the Birmingham News, Huntsville Times and the Press-Register in Mobile, Ala. Previously, he was national director of the Liberty Foundation of America and served as vice president and general counsel of the Alabama Policy Institute.
“R Street has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to build broad coalitions, conduct quality research and develop pragmatic solutions to some of our nation’s most pressing challenges,” Smith said. “I am thrilled to join a team that crafts those solutions with constant attention to producing positive change.”
Smith served several years in Washington as counsel in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. In the Senate, he worked for Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., as legislative counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee. In the House, Smith ran the House Intellectual Property Caucus and aided Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla., as counsel.
He later served as counsel to Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Ky., a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. His primary legislative project for Davis was H.R. 10, the REINS Act, introduced in the 112th Congress. That bill was designed to provide significantly more accountability for Congress regarding the impacts of federal regulation.
He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University and the University of Alabama School of Law, and is a member of the Tennessee and Alabama bars.
