Walt Brown
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Walter Frederick Brown (born July 28, 1926) was the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party USA in 2004. He was a state Senator in Oregon as a Democrat (1974-1986) and was a Socialist Party candidate for U.S. Congress in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004.
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[edit] Family background
Brown was born in Los Angeles, California, to Walter Andrew Brown (August 11, 1897 - November 10, 1978), an auto mechanic and truck driver (and, later, a lawyer) and his wife Emily Anna Weber (October 30, 1897 - February 25, 1978), an elementary school teacher. Walt has one brother and two sisters.
His mother was born in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, to Frederick W. Weber and his wife Hattie A. Badouxe or Badouse. Frederick was born to Fred Weber and Anna Gunther. Both his parents were born in countries of the German Confederation during the 1830s. Hattie was born to Louis Badoux and his wife Emma P. Cooper.
Louis was born in Switzerland and later immigrated to the United States. He was reportedly a veteran of the American Civil War. By 1883 Louis had been declared an invalid for unknown reasons. He was receiving a pension. His wife Emma was listed as a widow in an 1889 census.
Walter F. Brown married Barbara May Porter Stahmann (September 16, 1922 - January 12, 1999) on August 6, 1953. They had three sons, Jeff, Kendall, and David. After the death of Barbara from the ravages of a brain tumour, Walt Brown eventually remarried Mary Brown on March 29, 2003.
[edit] Military career and education
On June 15, 1944, at the age of seventeen, Walt Brown enlisted for active duty in the U.S. Naval Reserve as a radio technician. After eleven months of technical school, Brown was deployed to the USS Carter Hall, stationed in Shanghai, China. In June 1946, he was discharged and went into the inactive Naval Reserve. In the Naval Reserve, Brown became an Electronic Technician Radar Tuner. At roughly the same time (September 1946 to January 1952), he attended the University of California, earning a B.A. (law) in June of 1949 (cum laude), and a J.D. in 1952.
In the spring of 1952, Brown was called back to military duty to serve in the Korean War, with a commission to Ensign, GSNR duty. He volunteered for active duty.
After fifteen years of commissioned duty, during which time he served as a public defender; a trial prosecutor; an appellate criminal attorney in Washington, D.C.; an instructor at the U.S. School of Naval Justice in Rhode Island; a legal officer for the U.S. Naval Station in the Philippines; and a general court martial judge in San Diego, California, he retired with the rank of Commander from the JAG Corps, US Navy in 1970.
In 1961, he received an MA from Boston University, and an MLS from the University of Oregon School of Librarianship in 1975.
[edit] Attorney career
After his extensive service in military law and courts, Walt Brown was hired as an associate professor at the Northwestern School of Law, Lewis & Clark College, teaching from 1970 to 1980.
From 1979 to 1980, he was the Malheur County Counsel and Deputy District Attorney and was General Counsel of the Oregon Consumer League, 1987-1989, and 1991-1999.
He is currently (as of 2005) the General Counsel for the Socialist Party USA and a volunteer Attorney with the Consumer Justice Alliance (from 2000-present).
[edit] Oregon Senate Campaigns
Walt Brown served three terms in the Oregon State Senate, elected as a Democrat, from 1974 to 1986. Probably his greatest victory in the Senate came in 1975: the world's first ban on ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs); a ban which served as a model for several other governments and which predated the more apocalyptic warnings that later came from scientists.
As proposed, the ban went into effect in 1977 in Oregon, allowing the Oregon Legislative Assembly to make any needed adjustments (such as to allow CFCs to continue to be used in inhalers for people with asthma).
[edit] 1998-2004 congressional campaigns
Walt Brown has run four times against incumbent Earl Blumenauer. Now running as a Socialist against an entrenched and monied Democrat, Brown has at most received around 10,000 votes, about 1/12th of what would be needed to unseat Blumenauer.
Vote totals in Congressional campaigns:
- 1998: 10,199
- 2000: 4,703
- 2002: 6,588
- 2004: 10,678
[edit] 2004 presidential campaign
Walt Brown was elected to be the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party USA (SPUSA). A major rift within SPUSA was created over Brown's position on abortion: the Socialist Party calls for 'access to abortion', while Brown wanted to amend the then-current third-term ban by adding a provision that the ban should have an exemption for women whose lives are at risk if they go to term. Brown did agree to run on the Party's platform, however, and the National Committee of the Socialist Party USA sent a 'directive' to the campaign, ordering no deviation from what the platform says -- creating some odd instances when during debates, he would read from a printout of the Party program rather than state his own opinion.
Walt Brown attempted to gain the nomination of California's Peace and Freedom Party ballot line, he was rebuffed in favor of incarcerated Native American activist Leonard Peltier. He was able to secure the remaining ballot lines of the United States Natural Law Party.
Despite all of the challenges surrounding the campaign, the Brown-Herbert ticket survived a recall effort within the party that would have placed Mary Alice Herbert as the Presidential candidate. He went on to earn more votes than any of the Party's presidential candidates since 1952. The Socialist Party has run candidates for president every election cycle 1900 through 1956, and then again 1976 through 2004.
Though Walt Brown's total of just 10,837 votes was a far cry from Eugene V. Debs' near 6% showing in 1912 (over 900,000 votes), it was still more than double the SPUSA's 5,040 vote presidential average for candidates since 1976, with the previous best being just 6,898 for David McReynolds and Diane Drufenbrock in 1980 (McReynolds ran again for president on the SPUSA ticket in 2000, earning just 5,602 votes, and he also ran as the Green Party's nominee for U.S. Senate in 2004).
[edit] Current activities
Walt Brown serves as the Chair of the Action Committee of the Socialist Party of Oregon, but is a voting member on the Executive Committee of same. He served as the President of the Eastside Democratic Club (not affiliated with the Democratic Party), Counsel for the Socialist Party USA and Oregon Consumer League, a volunteer in the Consumer-Justice Alliance, and a frequent volunteer at the St. Francis Dining Hall in Portland.
[edit] Sources
- Interview with Walter Frederick Brown, January 4, 2005
- Records of the Socialist Party USA
- Records of the Oregon Consumer League
- Ballot Access News
- Genealogical databases
- Oregon Secretary of State web page
[edit] External links
| Preceded by David McReynolds |
Socialist Party Presidential candidate 2004 (lost) |
Succeeded by — |
