Floyd Brown

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Floyd Gregory Brown (born 1961, Bremerton, Washington) is an American author, speaker and media commentator. He is president of Excellentia Inc., a consulting company specializing in non-profit organizational strategy, development and marketing. Brown has also worked as a political consultant and conducted opposition research for political campaigns. Brown is noteworthy for his introduction of the "Willie Horton" television ad during the Bush-Dukakis presidential race, and for introducing "coded" racial media-messaging techniques in latter-20th century American politics.

The son of a Democratic sawmill worker, and the grandson of a member of the Socialist Industrial Workers of the World, Brown grew up in the Pacific Northwest and graduated from Olympia High School in Olympia, Washington, and from the University of Washington. He was appointed to, but did not graduate from, the United States Military Academy at West Point. He is married to Mary Beth Brown, author of Condi: The Life of a Steel Magnolia, and they have 3 children.[1] [2]


Contents

[edit] Political Consulting

Early Influences

Brown credits a meeting with President Ronald Reagan in 1976 for sparking his interest in public service. He served in President Reagan’s campaigns and as a political appointee in the Reagan administration.

Activist organizations

In 1988 Brown co-founded Citizens United along with David Bossie, its current director. Citizens United is the largest conservative citizens’ action organization in America. Several Brown-organized campaigns have been studied for their effectiveness; these include the effort to secure the confirmation of Judge Clarence Thomas, and the independent campaigns against Michael Dukakis and Bill Clinton. The anti Dukakis effort produced the famous “Willie Horton” commercial.[3] Though often labled as racist in press coverage, Brown and Citizens United worked on behalf of the embatteled nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. At the time, Brown articulated the bitterness of mainstream conservatives of Citzens United when told the New York Times, "What people don't understand is how bitter conservatives are about Bork," referring to Robert Bork, a previous conservative judge nominated by Reagan but unconfirmed to the court by Congress.[4] In a 2007 CNN documentary, Broken Government: Campaign Killers journalist Campbell Brown, who is not related to Floyd Brown, interviewed him briefly on the subject of the Willie Horton ad, but not about a racy ad with a toll-free number that listeners could call to hear a recording of Gennifer Flowers, a woman who had been the subject of inquiries into President Bill Clinton. Campbell Brown attributed the Flowers ad to David Bossie rather than Floyd Brown,prompting Citizens United to threaten a lawsuit, and to distinguish between its activities, and those of Floyd Brown, the "true" author of the Flowers ad.[5]

Republican Party

He is active in the Republican Party and was a delegate to both the 2000 and 1996 National conventions. In 1996 he served on the Republican National Convention Platform Committee.[6] He has been an advisor and consultant to the presidential campaigns of George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole and Steve Forbes for President campaigns. He was Midwest Regional Director of the Dole for President campaign in 1988, managing campaigns in Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska .[7]

Federal Election Commission Complaint

In 1992, Brown headed up the Presidential Victory Committee, which backed the candidacy of George H.W. Bush. CBS Evening News reported that Floyd Brown harassed the family of Susan Coleman, a former law student of Bush's opponent Bill Clinton. Coleman had committed suicide, and Brown was attempting to disseminate a rumor that she had had an affair with Clinton. Brown and associate David Bossie reportedly stalked the family of a suicide victim. In April, 1992, 30 news organizations received "an anonymous and untraceable letter" by fax "claiming Clinton had had an affair with a former law student who committed suicide 15 years ago." Floyd Brown attempted to link Clinton to the 1977 suicide of this, "emotionally distraught young woman, seven-months pregnant," Susan Coleman.[8] The Bush-Quayle campaign eventually filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Brown, seeking to distance itself from his tactics.[9] [10]

Whitewater Controversy and Clinton Impeachment

Brown figured prominently in two ways in the Whitewater controversy of the Clinton presidential administration. Brown was employed to "dig up dirt" on Clinton once the decision had been made to launch the "Arkansas Project" to "go after" him. [11] As a paid researcher, Brown was contacted by David Hale, a municipal judge facing indictment for fraud, then functioning as a paid informant for the FBI.[12] Under the auspices of Citizens United, Brown issued letters to what he claims were 100,000 donors to Citizens United, asking for money and saying that he had proof that President Bill Clinton had engaged "in a massive cover-up and conspiracy to obstruct justice" in the investigations surrounding the Whitewater controversy, including the Arkansas Project effort to frame the death of Vince Foster as a contract murder orchestrated by the Clintons rather than a suicide. At the same time that Brown was being paid to "investigate" the Clintons, he was using the tax-exempt status of Citizens United to acquire funds, urging his donors to fill out an "emergency impeachment" survey, utilized a push-poll technique. Brown's fundraising literature said, "Our top investigator, David Bossie, is ont he inside diredting the probe as Special Assistant to U.S. Senator Lauch Faircloth on the U.S. Senate Whitewater Committee." [13] Brown also worked with Rev. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson to disseminate the Citizens United message.[14][15]

Obama attacks

In the spring of 2008, as a paid consultant for Citizens for A Safe and Prosperous America, Floyd Brown launched what he called "the most internet-intensive effort for an ad debut ever" to disseminate via what he claimed was three to five million emails to conservatives to imply that Barack Obama had been "soft" on crime as a state senator in Illinois before his presidential candidacy. The initiative was funded by a political action committee calling itself the "National Campaign Fund," which had $14,027 in the bank at the end of March. Other Brown-established groups to raise funds in this effort include The Legacy Committee, and a 527 group calling itself Citizens for a Safe and Prosperous America. Brown also uses a 501(c)4 non-profit to raise funds for his racially charged crusades, the Policy Issues Institute.[16] Brown made appearances to promote his ad and his company on a news network, Fox News, managed by his previous associate on the Willie Horton ad, Roger Ailes.[17] In response to the attack ad, Newsweek published a report on the ad, saying it was the attempt of "a conservative ad man striving to regain his Willie Horton notoriety: and directed readers to factcheck.org to get information on Obama's voting record. The report includes a swipe at MSNBC's Chris Matthews for airing the ad continuously, pointing to Brown's strategy of getting "free" air time for ads by making them controversial.[18]

Brown also is responsible for a website, exposeobama.com, that serves as an outlet for RNC opposition research against Barack Obama.[19]

[edit] Reagan's Ranch

From 2001 until 2006 he served as the executive director of the West Coast office of Young America’s Foundation.[20] YAF is the largest right-wing campus organization in the U.S. It operates the Reagan Ranch, also known as Rancho del Cielo, and conducts conferences, seminars, internships and disseminates educational materials nationwide. [21]As executive director Brown oversaw the preservation of the historic Reagan Ranch and the building of the 20 million dollar Reagan Ranch Center in downtown Santa Barbara, California.[22]

[edit] Author and Political Commentator

Brown is the author of Slick Willie: Why America Cannot Trust Bill Clintonpublished in 1992. Brown often claims publicly that the book reached "best-selling" status and sold 200,000 copies, but the New York Times determined that the sales figures were only 50,000.[23] Brown co-authored Prince Albert: The Life and Lies of Al Gore, a book about Al Gore's environmental work, with David Bossie. Brown also authored Say the Right Thing, a collection of conservative sayings.[24]

Brown has written extensively for many publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Washington Times, National Review, and Human Events. As a commentator he has appeared on numerous network and cable TV shows including: CNN’s Crossfire, the CBS Evening News, ABC’s Primetime, NBC’s Today Show, FOX News, MSNBC and more. From 1995 until 2000 he hosted his own talk radio show on Seattle’s KVI 570 AM.[25]


[edit] Real Estate Investor

On April 1, 2008, Brown appeared on Fox News's Neil Cavuto business program, described only as "real estate investor," in a segment titled "New Foreclosure Bailout: Do Homeowners Really Need it?" at which time he issued the statement "We agree in the fact that the government made this mess. They clearly, ah, helped foster it. I think Alan Greenspan kept, ah, rates too low after the 2001 recession and ah, and that caused way too much liquidity to flow into the markets..."[26]


[edit] Quotes By Floyd Brown

  • "When we're through, people are going to think that Willie Horton is Michael Dukakis's nephew." [27]
  • "What people don't understand is how bitter conservatives are about Bork." [28]
  • "If people killed themselves over an editorial, this town would be a ghost town." [29]
  • "President Reagan understood the American people and would never have asked them to join an unending war with no clear objectives and end point." [30]
  • "It is absolutely critical that Obama's negatives go up with Republicans." [31]

[edit] Quotes About Floyd Brown

  • Time (magazine): “Brown has stature among devoted conservatives that almost matches his physical heft (6 ft. 6 in. and 240 lbs.)”[32]
  • Salon.com magazine: "He has given conservatism a rank smell for two decades --and if there is a racist odor to the coming general election campaign, it is likely to emanante from his vicinity." (April 25, 2008)
  • Mary Matalin: "I'm not a big fan of Floyd Brown...He gave us the Willie Horton ads that the Republican Party has had to eat for two election cycles now."[33]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Sean Cockerham, McClatchy Newspapers, July 12, 2007.
  2. ^ Catherine Manegold, "A Clinton Nemesis Revels in the Role," New York Times, April 24, 1994.
  3. ^ /Dennis W. Johnson, No Place for Amateurs, New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis, 2007, p. 83-84.
  4. ^ New York Times, Sept. 6, 1991.
  5. ^ citation needed
  6. ^ Robin Toner, "Political Debriefing," New York Times, July 21, 1996.
  7. ^ New York Times, Feb. 23, 1988.
  8. ^ CBS Evening News, 7/13/92
  9. ^ Thomas Ferraro, "Bush Files FEC Complaint Against 'Willie Horton' Creator," United Press International,July 15, 1992.
  10. ^ Dennis W. Johnson, No Place for Amateurs, New York: Routlege,Taylor & Francis, 2007,p. 83-84.
  11. ^ David Brock, Blinded By the Right, Three Rivers Press,p. 228.
  12. ^ Thomas G. Watts, "Witness Denies Fabricating Clinton Story," Dallas Morning News, April 6, 1996.
  13. ^ David Jackson, "1.36 Million Owed in Whitewater Legal Fees," Dallas Morning News, February 23, 1996
  14. ^ Erik Eckholm, "From Right, A Rain of Anti-Clinton Salvos," New York Times, June 26, 1994.
  15. ^ Martin Walker, "Clinton Scandals, Inc.," Atlantic Monthly October 1996.
  16. ^ Michael Scherer, "A Willie Horton Hit on Obama?" Time, April 22, 2008.
  17. ^ Joe Conason, "Will McCain denounce Floyd Brown?" Salon.com, April, 25, 2008.
  18. ^ Brooks Jackson and Emi Kolawole, "Reprehensible Misrepresentation," Newsweek, April 24, 2008.
  19. ^ Richard B. Schmitt, "Producer of Infamous Willie Horton Ad Now Targeting Obama," Los Angeles Times, June 8, 2008.
  20. ^ Jason De Parle, "Passing Down the Legacy of Conservatism," New York Times, July 31, 2006.
  21. ^ Bryan G. Pfeifer, "Ernesto Che Guevara is the Real Revolutionary,"IndyMedia Milwaukee, Februrary, 2, 2007.
  22. ^ Floyd G. Brown, "At Home on the Reagan Ranch," National Review Online, June 7, 2004.
  23. ^ Catherine Mangold, "A Clinton Nemesis Revels in the Role," New York Times, April 24, 1994.
  24. ^ "Lincoln Day Dinner Speaker," Hot Flash: Capital City Republican Women newsletter, January 2005, p. 3.
  25. ^ citation needed
  26. ^ "Your World With Neil Cavuto" , Fox News, April 1, 2008.
  27. ^ quoted in Anthony Lewis, "Abroad at Home; Willie Horton Redux, New York Times, Feb. 26, 2000.
  28. ^ New York Times, Sept. 6, 1991.
  29. ^ Thomas G. Watts,"Foster Case Looms Over Hearings - Some Allege Cover-up in Clinton Aide's Suicide, The Dallas Morning News - July 28, 1994.
  30. ^ Floyd Brown, "Why Has the Anti-War Movement Embraced Reagan?" Townhall.com, January 9, 2007.
  31. ^ quoted by Michail Scherer, "A Willie Horton Hit on Obama?" Time, April 22, 2008.
  32. ^ citation needed
  33. ^ Manegold, New York Times, April 24, 1994.

[edit] See also