GOP Power Brokers Bringing Heritage Foundation's Jim DeMint to West Des Moines

Top Iowa Republican activists are bringing Heritage Foundation president and former South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint to to Iowa on Monday, Sept. 30.

DeMint will appear at a dinner at Glen Oaks Country Club hosted by Gary Kirke, Bruce Rastetter and Cam Sutton, the Des Moines Register reports. Previously, the three hosted an October 2011 Heritage Foundation event featuring Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker that drew hundreds of labor protesters to the West Des Moines hotel where he spoke. Walker had just signed a measure greatly curtailing union bargaining rights for most public employees and requiring them to contribute more to their health insurance.

DeMint, who had strong tea party backing in the Senate before retiring to run the Heritage Foundation, has reportedly ruled out his own candidacy for president, instead traveling around the country on the speaker’s circuit. He advocates, among other policies, cutting funding for the federal Affordable Care Act, even if it means shutting down the federal government, the newspaper said.

The Heritage Foundation is an influential and well-known conservative think tank with strong financial backing from some of the country’s wealthiest donors and corporations. It is one of the country’s largest public policy research organizations.