CHICAGO (Aug. 27, 2012) – The Illinois Policy Institute is committed to making Illinois first in economic outlook and job creation, and a free enterprise leader for the rest of the nation. To that end, the Institute is pleased to announce the following additions to its full-time, senior staff. By expanding our legal, policy, legislative and news capacities, the Institute will be better poised to pursue this vision.

Media: For interviews or bookings with the following experts, please contact Diana Rickert 312-607-4977. Diane Cohen, Paul Kersey and Dr. Lawrence McQuillan are based in Chicago. Matt Paprocki will work from both Chicago and Springfield, and Scott Reeder is based in Springfield.


Diane Cohen has been hired as the General Counsel of the Liberty Justice Center, a public interest litigation center started by the Illinois Policy Institute in 2011.  Diane is the lead counsel in Illinois Liberty PAC v. Madigan, a federal lawsuit filed in July 2012, which challenges the constitutionality of Illinois’ campaign finance law. Before joining LJC, Diane served as the Senior Attorney for the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix, Ariz., where she was lead counsel in Coons v. Geithner, the Goldwater Institute’s legal battle against ObamaCare. Diane testified on Capitol Hill on ObamaCare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board, and her work has been featured in National Review Online, the Weekly Standard, George Will's Washington Post column and on FOX News, among other outlets. Previously, Diane spent more than 10 years as a trial attorney for the City of Chicago. Prior to that, she served as deputy legal director for former Illinois Comptroller Loleta Didrickson and as counsel to Senator Charles Grassley on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Diane earned her B.A. and J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis.

Paul Kersey is director of labor policy at the Illinois Policy Institute. He received a degree in economics from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and his Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois. Paul began his public policy work at the National Right to Work Committee as director of state legislation. In that role, he analyzed and responded to labor legislation in all 50 states.  Before joining the Institute, Paul served as Director of Labor Policy at the Mackinac Center in Michigan and completed a fellowship at the Heritage Foundation. His articles have appeared in a wide variety of publications, including the Detroit News, National Review Online and The Wall Street Journal. Paul has commented on a wide range of labor-related topics, including collective bargaining law and practice, labor economics, minimum wage and prevailing wage laws, and urban affairs.

Lawrence J. McQuillan, PhD, is chief economist at the Illinois Policy Institute. From 2001 until 2012, Dr. McQuillan was director of Business and Economic Studies at the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco. From 1998 to 2001, Dr. McQuillan was a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Dr. McQuillan has been published more than 350 times in The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Forbes, USA Today and EncyclopaediaBritannica, among other leading outlets. Dr. McQuillan speaks regularly to media and civic groups. He specializes in Illinois tax policy, budget issues, regulations such as the minimum wage and workers’ compensation, competitiveness, entrepreneurship and lawsuit abuse.

Matt Paprocki is senior director of government affairs, focusing on the legislative process, government relations and legislative outreach. Prior to joining the Illinois Policy Institute, Paprocki served as a Revenue and Tax Advisor for the Illinois House Republican Staff for seven years. Paprocki also served as a Legislative Analyst for the Illinois House Republican’s in the areas of Revenue and Finance, Labor, Pensions, International Trade & Commerce, and Consumer Protection. While working on legislative staff, Paprocki received the Golden Horseshoe Award for Best State Legislative Staffer, as voted on by state legislators, lobbyists and staff counterparts.

Scott Reeder is a veteran statehouse reporter who is now the journalist in residence for the Illinois Policy Institute. Prior to joining the institute, Scott was a national managing editor and an investigative reporter for the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. Before that, he spent more than 20 years working for newspapers in the Midwest, Texas and Nevada. Among the numerous journalism awards he has captured are the Investigative Reporters and Editors Freedom of the Information Award, the Clark Mollenhoff Award for Excellence in Investigative Reporting and the John Aubuchon Freedom of Information Award. He also has captured AP Sweepstakes Awards in both Iowa and Illinois. Scott writes a weekly column that is distributed to newspapers across Illinois. Additionally, he will be writing commentary, news analysis as well as in-depth stories on public policy issues for the Institute. He also continues with the Franklin Center as a contributing editor.

The Illinois Policy Institute is a nonpartisan research and education organization dedicated to making Illinois a beacon for liberty and prosperity for all citizens. As a leading voice for economic liberty and government accountability, the Institute engages policy makers, opinion leaders and citizens on the state and local level by promoting free market principles and liberty-based public policy initiatives for a better Illinois. To learn more about the Institute or review policy briefs, please visit: www.illinoispolicy.org.