Scott Brown (politician)

This article is about the American politician. For the English soccer player, see Scott P. Brown (English footballer). For others with a similar name, see Scott Brown.

Scott P. Brown
Member of the Massachusetts Senate from the Norfolk, Bristol & Middlesex district
Incumbent
Assumed office March 2004
Preceded by	Cheryl Jacques
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 9th Norfolk district
In office 1998–2004
Preceded by	Jo Ann Sprague
Succeeded by	Richard J. Ross
Personal details
Born	(1959-09-12) September 12, 1959 Wakefield, Massachusetts
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Gail Huff
Children	Arianna Brown Ayla Brown
Residence	Wrentham, Massachusetts
Alma mater	Tufts University Boston College Law School
Occupation	Politician, lawyer
Website	www.ScottBrown.com

Scott Philip Brown (b. September 12, 1959) is a Republican Massachusetts State Senator representing the Norfolk, Bristol & Middlesex District since 2004. He is the Republican candidate to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the death of Ted Kennedy in the upcoming 2010 U.S. Senate special election. While initially trailing Martha Coakley (the current Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts) in polling by large numbers, the Republican closed the gap in January 2010, running even or slightly ahead of Coakley in recent polling.

Brown is a graduate of Wakefield High School (1977), Tufts University (1981), and Boston College Law School (1985). He is a practicing attorney specializing in family law.

Early life and non-political career

Brown grew up in Wakefield. His father, C. Bruce Brown, served as a city councilor in Newburyport. Brown later said that he used to hold political signs for his father from an early age. His parents divorced when he was about a year old. Both his father and his biological mother, Judith A. Brown, later remarried others. Brown grew up living with various relatives such as his grandparents and his aunt. His mother received welfare benefits.

Brown later said about his childhood, "I was a jerk. I had some issues... There was some violence in there where I would be sticking up for my mom and sisters". Brown was arrested at the age of twelve for shoplifting records in Salem, and Salem District Court Judge Samuel Zoll ordered him to submit a 1,500-word essay as punishment. Brown also later said that, as a father, he wanted "to do everything that my parents did wrong right."

He joined the Army National Guard when he was nineteen. He has said that he had felt impressed by the rescue efforts of Guard members during the blizzard of 1978. He has worked with the Guard for about thirty years in several capacities, eventually rising to the level of Lieutenant Colonel. He currently serves as Army Guard’s head defense lawyer in the New England states. He also assists the Judge Advocate General’s Corps out of Milford.

Brown has been deployed to Kazakhstan and Paraguay. He has said, "I go where they order me to go... I’m just proud to serve and be part of the team." He wishes to stay in the Guard in the future, but he will be unable to do so given the service's mandatory age retirement rules at age fifty. He has expressed disappointment at this rule, remarking that "I’m probably one of the most qualified soldiers in the entire Massachusetts". Brown received the Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service in homeland security shorty after the 9/11 attacks.

Political career

Scott Brown began his political career in 1992, when he was elected to be an assessor in Wrentham, Massachusetts. In 1995, he was elected to the Wrentham Board of Selectmen, and was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives for the 9th Norfolk District in 1998.

After incumbent Democrat Cheryl Jacques resigned, Brown was elected to the Massachusetts Senate in a special election on March 2, 2004 in a close race against Angus McQuilken, a top Jacques aide. Brown was re-elected as Senator on November 2, 2004, and again on November 7, 2006 without opposition. He also won re-election in November 2008, defeating Democratic candidate Sara Orozco by a 59 - 41 percent margin.

Brown serves on the Consumer Protection & Professional Licensure; Education; Higher Education; Election Laws; Public Safety & Homeland Security; Veterans & Federal Affairs Committees. He is also a member of the Charles River Caucus and Co-Chair of the Metco Caucus. He also serves on the Governor's Advisory Council on Veteran's Services and the Hidden Wounds of War Commission.

In February 2007, Brown was invited to speak at King Philip Regional High School in Wrentham, Massachusetts, as part of a debate on gay marriage. During the presentation, Brown defended himself against several attacks by King Philip students, who had launched a Facebook group against him and his daughter Ayla. During his appearance, Brown directly quoted several of the vulgar statements made against his family, and announced the names of King Philip students who had written the statements.

U.S. Senate campaign

Main article: United States Senate special election in Massachusetts, 2010

On September 12, 2009, Brown announced his intention to run for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the death of Ted Kennedy, saying the state "needs an independent thinker". Brown has been described as a moderate New England Republican with socially moderate and fiscally conservative views. On December 8, 2009, Brown won the GOP Primary for the open U.S. Senate seat, positioning him against the Democratic nominee, Attorney General Martha Coakley. A week before the general election, Brown raised $1.3 million from over 16,000 donors in a 24-hour money bomb.

Political positions

Brown has positioned himself as a Republican conservative counterweight to Massachusetts' current all-Democratic, 12-member Congressional delegation. Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne has called Brown "an insurgent who was somewhat disconnected from the national Republican Party". Brown has said, "I’m going to be the only person down there who is going to be the independent voter and thinker" and "I’ve always been the underdog in one shape or form". Brown's opinions on the issues are a mixture of liberal and conservative ideas, which he has called "fiscally conservative and socially conscious."

In the special election campaign in 2010, controversy erupted over an amendment Brown had sponsored in 2005, which, according to The Boston Globe, "would have allowed a doctor, nurse or hospital to deny rape victims an emergency contraceptive if it 'conflicts with a sincerely held religious belief.'" Although Brown's proposed amendment would leave the decision solely in the hands of the patient, Coakley ran a misleading television advertisement charging, "Brown even favors letting hospitals deny emergency contraception to rape victims." Brown's daughter Ayla called the Coakley advertisement "completely inaccurate and misleading", and Brown criticized Coakley for running what he described as "attack ads".

Brown supports President Barack Obama's decision to send more troops to fight in Afghanistan. He has said, "[t]he mission is not over". He has also cited Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's recommendations as a reason for his support. After Martha M. Coakley stated in their campaign debate that she opposes sending more troops because terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda "are gone" from the country, Brown attacked her statement along with a group of veterans.

Brown supported the 2006 landmark health care reform in Massachusetts, which requires all residents to purchase health insurance. He opposes the bills approved in late 2009 by the Democratic-lead House and Senate as fiscally unsound. He has remarked, "Our taxes are going to go up dramatically... It’s not good for Massachusetts individuals and businesses." In an interview with Neil Cavuto of Fox News, Brown argued that the two reforms are very different since the Massachusetts program is a "free market enterprise" designed to help individuals purchase their own health insurance plans. In an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News, Brown stated that the Congressional reforms would "cut half a trillion for Medicare and then cut tri-care for military people and then have higher taxation about $1 trillion plus".

Brown has stated that he personally believes that marriage is between a man and a woman. However, he has also referred to the currently legalized same-sex marriage in Massachusetts as a settled issue, which he does not wish to change. Earlier in his career, he favored a amendment to the state constitution barring same-sex marriage but allowing the provision for civil unions. Brown referred to a lesbian Democratic opponent's decision to have children as "not normal", but he quickly apologized for the statement and commented that his view is the same as President Obama, both anti-gay-marriage and pro-civil-unions. He opposes ending the Defense of Marriage Act, and generally favors leaving the issue to the states to decide.

Brown supports Roe v. Wade, calling it "the law of the land", and the right to legalized abortion. He endorses restricting or banning intact dilation and extraction, known by its opponents as partial-birth abortion, and creating parental consent laws for minors who seek an abortion. He opposes the idea of a litmus test on abortion-related issues in Supreme Court confirmations. He also opposes federal funding for abortions. The Boston Globe has described his positions on abortion as "nuanced".

Brown voted against an increase in the state's sales tax from 5% to 6.25%, and he supports repealing that increase. He supports lower taxes as a means of economic stimulus. He also opposes cap and trade legislation. Brown supports a balanced budget and spending cuts to reduce the burgeoning national deficit as well. Brown has voted for a regional cap-and-trade system, and he later commented that he regretted the vote. He opposes putting up a wind farm on Nantucket Sound, remarking that "[i]t's like putting turbines on Boston Common". He supports expanding solar power, wind power, nuclear power, and offshore drilling exploration as a means to reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil.

Public image

In his current Senate race, Brown positions himself as an everyman, saying "I live in Wrentham, I drive a truck. And, yes, it has 200,000 miles on it now." Based on his financial disclosure form submitted to the Massachusetts State Ethics Committee in 2009, he and his wife own five pieces of real estate, including a 3,000-square-foot home in Wrentham, Massachusetts, three condos in Boston, a Rye, New Hampshire home, and a timeshare on the Caribbean island of Aruba.

Organizational associations and honors

He is a 30-year member of the Massachusetts National Guard, where he currently holds the rank of Lt. Colonel in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. Brown was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service in homeland security following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. LTC Brown has also completed Airborne school and been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.

A member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, Brown is also involved in the Wrentham Lions Club, United Chamber of Commerce, North Attleboro/Plainville Chamber of Commerce, Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce, and USA Triathlon Federation. He serves as a Board Member of the 495/MetroWest Corridor Partnership Inc., and serves on the Hockamock YMCA Board of Incorporators.

Brown has received the "Public Servant of the Year" Award from the United Chamber of Commerce for his leadership in reforming the state’s sex offender laws and protecting the rights of victims. Additionally, Brown and his family have helped raise funds for such organizations as The Horace Mann Educational Associates, Wrentham Developmental Center, Charles River Arc, and the Arc of Northern Bristol County, all for the care and support of those with developmental disabilities.

He has also been recognized by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) for his work in creating an environment that encourages job growth and expansion in Massachusetts.

For the 2010 Senate race, Brown is supported by the Greater Boston Tea Party group, which organized a January 2010 fundraising breakfast for him in Boston, which he attended. Eleven days later, the Boston Globe reported that Brown claimed that he was unfamiliar with the “Tea Party movement,” when asked by a reporter. The Tea Party Express has endorsed Brown and run TV ads supporting him,

Personal life

In June 1982, Brown, then a 22-year-old law student at Boston College, posed for a nude centerfold pictorial in Cosmopolitan, with his hand covering his genitals. He won the magazine's "America’s Sexiest Man" contest. When it interviewed him, he referred to himself as "a patriot" and stated that he had political ambitions. Brown has also worked as an actor in his early career, appearing in a variety of television commercials.

Brown is married to WCVB-TV reporter Gail Huff. They have two daughters, Ayla Brown, who is an American Idol semi-finalist and star basketball player at Boston College, and Arianna Brown, who is a pre-medical student at Syracuse University. They live in Wrentham, Massachusetts. They drive a GMC Canyon, which has over 200,000 miles on it.

Brown is a champion long-distance runner, bicyclist, and swimmer. He has won several awards and trophies from competing in triathlons and duathlons. He cut back from frequent exercising during his Senate campaign. He has also played basketball since a young age. He went on to become senior co-captain at Wakefield High School, earning the title of Middlesex League MVP, and then at Tufts University as well. He acquired his sports-nickname of 'Downtown Scotty Brown' at Tufts. He is a fan of the hard rock bands Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Grand Funk Railroad.

Brown and his family are Protestant Christians. They worship at New England Chapel in Franklin, which is a member of the Christian Reformed Church of America. However, they also have a very close relationship with an order of Cistercian Catholic nuns at Mt. St. Mary’s Abbey in Wrentham. The Brown family has raised over five million dollars for them, leading to the construction of solar panels, a wind turbine, and a candy manufacturing plant operated by the order. Sister Katie McNamara has said, "[w]e pray for them every day".

External links

• Senator Scott P. Brown Massachusetts Senate website
• Senator Scott P. Brown U.S. Senate campaign website

• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Profile at Vote Smart
• 2010 US Senate campaign contributions from OpenSecrets.org
• Follow the Money - Scott P. Brown
  • 2008 2006 2004 MA state senate campaign contributions
  • 2002 2000 1998 MA state house campaign contributions