Bob Brown

Bob Brown (born December 11, 1947) is an American politician who was the Secretary of State for Montana and the Republican nominee for Governor of Montana in 2004.

As a young man, Brown was elected to Montana Legislature. Brown spent four years in the State House (1970–1974) and 23 in the Senate (1975–1997), serving as president from 1995-96. His political mentors include Jean Turnage, who spent 20 years in the Senate and subsequently 15 as chief justice of the Supreme Court before retiring in 1991.

Brown became Senate education chairman in 1977 and served in that capacity through 1983. He served as chairman of the taxation committee in 1987. He became chairman of the committee on committees, one of the most innocuously named but powerful Senate committees, in 1989. He sat on the judicial committee from 1975 to 1993.

In 2000, Brown ran for secretary of state and won by a 7 percent margin. He appointed Jason Thielman, whom he had taught at Whitefish High School, as his chief deputy secretary of state, a post Thielman held for three years. In 2004, Brown entered the 2004 Montana gubernatorial election against Democrat Brian Schweitzer, with Thielman as his campaign manager.