Racheter, Donald P. 1947-

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Racheter, Donald P. 1947-

PERSONAL:

Surname is pronounced "Rock-ter"; born April 1, 1947, in Pigeon, MI; son of Paul A. (a postmaster) and Aleatha R. (a postal clerk) Racheter; married Martha G. Most (a proofreader), August 1, 1970 (marriage ended); married Ellen Nolte (a minister), December 13, 2002; children: (first marriage) Annalese, Alena, Donald Paul Byron. Ethnicity: "Swiss-German." Education: University of Michigan, B.A. (with honors), 1969; University of Iowa, M.A., 1972, Ph.D., 1978. Politics: Republican. Religion: Protestant. Hobbies and other interests: Travel, reading.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Iowa City, IA. Office—Public Interest Institute, 600 N. Jackson, Mount Pleasant, IA 52641. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Central College, Pella, IA, instructor, 1976-79, assistant professor, 1979-86, associate professor, 1986-93, professor of political science, 1993-2005. Iowa Conference of Political Scientists, member, 1977-2003, executive secretary, 1996-2001; Public Interest Institute, executive director, 1991-92, 1995-98, vice president, 1992-95, president, 1999—; Iowa Research Council, member of Study Development Committee on Public Finance, 1996-2000. Iowa Wesleyan College, visiting professor, 1991-92. Military service: U.S. Army, administrative officer, 1973-75; became first lieutenant. U.S. Army Reserve, 1975-96; became lieutenant colonel; received Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal with oak leaf cluster, Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal with oak leaf cluster, Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, and National Defense Service Medal with bronze campaign star.

MEMBER:

American Political Science Association, American Mock Trial Association (past president, 2004-06).

AWARDS, HONORS:

American Mock Trial Association, Chief Justice W.W. Reynoldson Award, 1985, Congressman Neal Smith Award, 1991; Professor Vernon Van Dyke Award, Iowa Conference of Political Scientists, 1998.

WRITINGS:

(Author of instructor's manual) American Democracy in Transition, West Publishing (St. Paul, MN), 1991.

(Editor, with Richard E. Wagner; and contributor) Limiting Leviathan, Edward Elgar (Northampton, MA), 1999.

(Editor, with Richard E. Wagner; and contributor) Federalist Government in Principle and Practice, Kluwer Academic Publishers (Boston, MA), 2000.

(Editor, with Richard E. Wagner; and contributor) Politics, Taxation, and the Rule of Law, Kluwer Academic Publishers (Boston, MA), 2002.

Iowa Government and Politics, Octagon Press (Muscatine, IA), 2004, revised edition, 2007.

Contributor to books, including The Christian Right in American Politics: Marching Toward the Millennium, edited by John Green, Mark Rozell, and Clyde Wilcox, Georgetown University Press (Washington, DC), 2003; and The Values Campaign? The Christian Right in the 2004 Elections, Georgetown University Press (Washing- ton, DC), 2006. Contributor of articles and reviews to periodicals, including Drake Law Review and American Political Science Review.

SIDELIGHTS:

Donald P. Racheter told CA: "My primary motivation for writing is to help spread the idea of responsible citizens living peaceful and productive lives in a state limited to the maximum extent by constitutional restrictions. I have had the privilege since 1991 to lead a free-market ‘think tank’ that seeks ways to limit state power and protect the liberties of the citizenry, which has caused my output to increase with age, rather than to experience the more usual decrease."