B. T. Collins

Brien Thomas "B. T." Collins (October 17, 1940 – March 19, 1993) was an American politician from California and a member of the Republican party.

Early years Born in New York City, During his California Conservation Corps service, Collins gained notoriety for drinking a beaker of malathion to demonstrate his belief that it was safe.

Although a Democrat, Brown nevertheless appointed the conservative Republican Collins to replace Gray Davis as his chief of staff, a position Collins held from 1981 until Brown left office in 1983.

Collins served as chief deputy to Republican California State Treasurer Tom Hayes from 1989 until 1991, when Hayes left office and Republican Governor Pete Wilson appointed Collins as director of the California Youth Authority.

State Assembly After Sacramento-area Republican Tim Leslie won a 1991 special election to the California State Senate to replace John Doolittle, who had been elected to Congress, Wilson encouraged Collins to run for Leslie's vacant seat in the State Assembly.

Death Collins died of a sudden heart attack March 19, 1993 in Sacramento When the Sacramento Army Depot was redesignated as an Army Reserve Center in the mid-1990s, it was renamed the B.T. Collins Army Reserve Center.

There is also a park in the City of Folsom named the B.T. Collins City Park located at 828 Willow Creek Drive, Folsom, California. The men's restroom in the Santa Clara University School of Law library was named the "B.T. Collins Memorial Latrine" in his honor; it features a plaque over the urinal with a quote from Collins: "If it ain't in Gilbert's, it ain't the Law."

Electoral history