Anthony G. Brown

Anthony G. Brown
8th Lt. Governor of Maryland
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 17, 2007
Governor	Martin O'Malley
Preceded by	Michael S. Steele
Born	November 21, 1961 (1961-11-21) (age 47) Huntington, New York
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Patricia Arzuaga (married 1993–2008 separated)[1]
Children	Rebecca and Jonathan[2]
Alma mater	Harvard Law School (J.D.) Harvard University (B.A.)
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Roman Catholic
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1984–1989 (active) 1989–present (reserve)
Rank	Colonel
Unit	Judge Advocate General's Corps
Battles/wars	Iraq War
Awards	Bronze Star Meritorious Service Medal

Anthony G. Brown (born November 21, 1961, in Huntington, New York) is a Democratic Party politician from the State of Maryland.^[3][4] He was elected as Maryland’s Lieutenant Governor in 2006 on a ticket with Governor Martin O’Malley. As of November 2008, Brown is the highest-ranking elected official in the nation to have served a tour of duty in Iraq.^[5]

Brown previously served two terms in the Maryland House of Delegates, representing Prince George's County. A 25-year veteran of the United States Army, he is currently a Colonel in the United States Army Reserve.

Background

Brown was born in 1961 in Huntington, New York to immigrant parents. His father, an Afro-Jamaican immigrant, came to the United States to attend Fordham University and his mother immigrated to New York from Switzerland.^[6] He attended public school on Long Island, graduating from Huntington High School in 1979. After high school, Brown attended Harvard College, where he enrolled in the U.S. Army ROTC program at neighboring MIT.^[3] Brown spent five years on active duty with the U.S. Army before enrolling in Harvard Law School, where he was a year behind Barack Obama.

Brown began his political career in 1998, when he was elected to serve in the Maryland House of Delegates, representing District 25 in Prince George’s County. Brown served two terms in the Maryland House of Delegates and rose to several positions of leadership, including Vice Chair of the Judiciary Committee (2003-2004) and Majority Whip (2004-2007).

In 2006, Brown was elected Lt. Governor on a ticket with Martin O’Malley, the former Mayor of Baltimore.^[7] Brown was the first person ever elected Lt. Governor directly from the Maryland House of Delegates.

Education and legal career

Brown attended Harvard College and majored in Government. While at Harvard, he served on the Student Advisory Committee at the Kennedy School of Government’s Institute of Politics. While at Harvard, Brown enrolled in the U.S. Army ROTC program at MIT (Harvard did not offer ROTC at the time). Brown graduated cum laude in 1984 and was immediately commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

After serving five years on active duty, Brown returned to the United States to attend law school in the fall of 1989. He attended Harvard Law School at the same time as other notable African Americans, including Barack Obama, Artur Davis and actor Hill Harper.

After graduating in 1992, Brown completed a two-year clerkship for then-Chief Judge Eugene Sullivan on the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Services. In 1994, Brown joined the Washington, D.C. office of the international law firm law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering (now WilmerHale). In 1998, Brown joined the Prince George’s County law firm Gibbs & Haller.

Military experience

Brown was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1984, graduating first in his flight class. He served five years of active duty as a helicopter pilot with the 4th Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division in Europe and Panama.

After completing his active duty service, Brown continued his military service as a Judge Advocate General (JAG) in the United States Army Reserve.

Currently, he is a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and commands the 153rd Legal Support Organization based in Pennsylvania.

Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)

In 2004, Brown, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, was deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Brown served in Baghdad, Fallujah, Kirkuk, and Basra with the 353rd Civil Affairs Command as Senior Consultant to the Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration. Brown received the Bronze Star because of his service in Iraq.

Ranks, awards and honors^[3]

• Colonel, U.S. Army Reserve (promoted December 2007)
• Bronze Star
• Meritorious Service Medal
• Army Commendation Medal
• Army Achievement Medal
• Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal
• National Defense Service Medal
• Iraq Campaign Medal
• Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal
• Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal
• Armed Forces Reserve Medal
• Army Service Ribbon
• Overseas Service Ribbon
• Army Reserve Component Overseas Training Ribbon
• Aviator Badge
• Parachutist Badge
• Air Assault Badge

Maryland House of Delegates

In 1998, Anthony Brown was elected the Maryland House of Delegates to represent Prince George’s County's District 25. Brown was appointed Vice Chair of the Judiciary Committee in 2003. In 2004, Speaker of the House Michael E. Busch appointed Brown to the position of Majority Whip, the third-ranking position in the House.

As a member of the House of Delegates, Brown successfully sponsored and passed several veterans-oriented bills, including:

• Legislation creating scholarships for OIF/OEF veterans and dependents;
• Legislation establishing State-operated loan program for veteran-owned and service-disabled businesses;
• Legislation creating the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Veterans Outreach.

Lieutenant Governor of Maryland

On January 17, 2007, Anthony was sworn in as Maryland's 8th lieutenant governor. Brown ran on a ticket with then-Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley. The pair were the only challenging candidates to defeat an incumbent gubernatorial ticket in the 2006 election cycle.^[8]

O’Malley has tasked Brown to lead his efforts on several policy fronts, including Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), higher education, economic development and health care. Shortly after taking office, Brown’s portfolio grew to include veterans issues.

In July 2009, Brown was elected vice-chair (or "chair-elect") of the National Lieutenant Governors Association^[9] at the summer national meeting he hosted in Baltimore.^[10] Brown had previously served as treasurer of the organization.^[11]

BRAC subcabinet

Lt. Governor Brown at BRAC bill signing ceremony, May 2008

To oversee the State’s preparations the estimated 60,000 new jobs and 28,000 new households moving to Maryland because of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), Governor O’Malley announced the creation of the Governor’s Subcabinet on Base Realignment and Closure. O'Malley named Brown chair of the Subcabinet, citing his background in the military.^[12]

The BRAC subcabinet comprises nine Maryland State agencies and is tasked with ensuring the horizontal collaboration between all state agencies and the vertical partnership of local, state and federal governments.

In 2007, Governor O’Malley recommended Brown to serve as Co-Chair of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices Mission Growth Working Group. The Working Group is a multi-state commission tasked to study best practices employed by states experience job and population growth due to BRAC and other military relocations.

In October 2008, Brown presided over the first meeting of BRACSTAT, a measurement and analytical tool based on the highly-regarded CitiStat and StateStat models installed by Martin O’Malley, respectively, in Baltimore City government and Maryland State government.

Higher education

Brown, a former Chair of the Prince George’s Community College Board of Trustees, is the administration’s most vocal advocate for community colleges and has visited nearly every community college in the state since taking office. In 2008, the O’Malley-Brown administration invested $81 million in capital projects at community colleges, including $30 million for the construction of the Rockville Science Center at Montgomery College.

Brown is a member of the Commission to Develop Maryland Model for Funding Higher Education, a task force of policy makers and education experts that provides guidance to the State on methods that will improve quality, accessibility and cost of post secondary education in Maryland.

Brown, while serving in the House of Delegates, introduced and passed legislation creating a State scholarship fund for veterans and dependents of veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. During the 2008 session of the Maryland General Assembly, Brown led the O’Malley-Brown administration’s efforts to successfully double that scholarship fund.

Because of his advocacy for higher education, Brown has been invited to speak at numerous Maryland colleges and universities. In May 2007, Brown gave the commencement address at the University of Maryland, College Park graduation ceremonies for the Department of Government & Politics and the Department of Communications.

Health care

Brown chairs the Maryland Health Quality and Cost Council which was created by executive order in December 2007. The Council is specifically charged with creating a state plan to combat chronic disease and health disparities.

In 2007, the O’Malley-Brown administration passed a health care reform bill that will expand coverage to 100,000 uninsured Marylanders.

In October 2008, Brown partnered with Baltimore Ravens rookie safety Haruki Nakamura to launch the Maryland Winning with Asthma Coach’s Clipboard Program to educate youth sports coaches about chronic asthma.

Veterans affairs

Lt. Governor Brown announcing the launch of 'Maryland's Commitment to Veterans' tour, September 2008.

Brown is the nation’s highest-ranking elected official to have served in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom.^[5] Before Martin O’Malley officially announced his candidacy for governor, Anthony Brown’s name was hotly circulated as a running mate in large part due to his military service in Iraq.

During the 2008 session of the Maryland General Assembly, Brown led the administration’s successful efforts to pass a sweeping veterans package, including passage of the Veterans Behavioral Health Act of 2008. The legislation sets aside $2.3 million for the expansion of direct services to OIF/OEF veterans living with behavioral and mental health problem. The legislation also named Brown chair of the Maryland Veterans Behavioral Health Advisory Board.^[13][14]

Other legislation passed as part of the ‘Maryland’s Commitment to Veterans’ package includes:

• Expansion of state scholarship fund for OIF/OEF veterans and their dependants;
• Protection of State-funded business loan program for veterans and service-disable veterans;
• Creation of reintegration program for members of the Maryland National Guard returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan; and
• Expansion of State veteran service centers in rural communities.

2008 election and Obama transition

Brown was a ‘Party Leader/Elected Official’ (PLEO) delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. Brown had been an early endorser of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. He served as the National Co-Chair of Veterans for Hillary and was one of her most prominent surrogates on veterans issues.^[15] In June 2008 Brown endorsed Obama.

In July 2008, Brown was appointed to the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee and served on the Platform Drafting Committee. Brown led the efforts to strengthen the Democratic Party’s commitment to veterans and ensuring that the Chesapeake Bay be named as a “national treasure.”^[16] At the 2008 Democratic National Convention, in late August 2008, Brown cast his vote for Senator Barack Obama, along with 98 members of the Maryland delegation.^[17]

Brown was named Co-Chair of the Obama/Biden Presidential Transition Agency Review Team for the Department of Veterans Affairs on November 14, 2008.^[18]

Brown was mentioned by local media as a potential candidate for Secretary of Veterans Affairs in the Obama administration before Gen. Eric Shinseki was nominated on December 7, 2008.^[19]

See also

United States Army portal

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anthony Brown

• Official website of the Lt. Governor of Maryland

v • d • e Lieutenant Governors of Maryland Cox • (not existent 1868–1971) • Lee • Bogley • Curran • Steinberg • Kennedy Townsend • Steele • Brown

v • d • e Current statewide political officials of the State of Maryland in the United States U.S. Senators Barbara Mikulski · Ben Cardin State government Martin O'Malley, Governor · Anthony G. Brown, Lieutenant Governor · Doug Gansler, Attorney General · John P. McDonough, Secretary of State · Peter Franchot, Comptroller · Nancy K. Kopp, Treasurer · Thomas Perez, Labor, Licensing, and Regulation · John Porcari, Transportation State Senate Thomas V. Miller, Jr., President · Edward J. Kasemeyer, Majority Leader · Allan H. Kittleman, Minority Leader House of Delegates Michael E. Busch, Speaker · Kumar P. Barve, Majority Leader · Anthony J. O'Donnell, Minority Leader Court of Appeals Robert M. Bell, Chief Judge · Glenn T. Harrell, Jr. · Lynne A. Battaglia · Clayton Greene, Jr. · Joseph F. Murphy, Jr. · Sally D. Adkins · Mary Ellen Barbera