Le Templar

Le Templar is the Senior Foundation Relations Manager for the Goldwater Institute, where he manages grant writing and foundation support for the independent government watchdog.

Le has more than 25 years of experience in writing about government and public policy, editing, and storytelling. From 1992 until late 2005, he worked as a reporter and editor for daily newspapers in western Nebraska, northern Texas, and the East Valley suburbs of the Phoenix metro area. He covered stories about every level of government from city councils to presidential elections. He has interviewed farmers driving tractors in sugar beet fields, professional football players practicing under the Texas sun, police officers working the midnight shift, and at least one governor aboard a military aircraft.

While covering the Arizona State Capitol in 2004, Le investigated the state agency that regulates nursing home administrators. He uncovered massive budget problems, dysfunctional management, and huge delays in investigations that left vulnerable adults at risk. Le’s reporting prompted the state senator who had sponsored legislation to continue the state agency for another 10 years to request, and receive, the governor’s veto so the Legislature could adopt a different law with better oversight.

In 2006, he was promoted to the six-person editorial board of the East Valley Tribune in Mesa, Arizona. In that position, he wrote daily about policy debates and reforming government to better protect liberty and economic freedom. He also served as the newspaper’s opinion page editor for a year before joining the Goldwater Institute in early 2010.

Le has received writing and reporting awards from the Nebraska Press Club, the Nebraska pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Oklahoma Associated Press Managing Editors association, the Arizona Press Club and Arizona APME. A graduate of the University of Wyoming, he earned bachelor’s degrees with honors in political science and journalism.