Lewis Brooks Patterson (born January 4, 1939) is serving his fifth term as County Executive of Oakland County, Michigan. Patterson has been a major figure in Michigan politics for more than three decades, noted for his populist conservatism.
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Patterson attended the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and received a Bachelor's degree from the University of Detroit, and his Juris Doctor in 1967 from its law school. He was admitted to the bar as an attorney in 1967. In December 2006, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Kettering University in Flint, Michigan.
In 1968 he was hired by the Oakland County Prosecuting Attorney's office as an assistant prosecutor. He left that office in 1971 and shortly thereafter ran for his former boss's position as Oakland County Prosecuting Attorney. He won the 1972 election and served as Prosecuting Attorney until 1988, when he left to practice law in the private sector.
In the 1970s, he was a leader in the fight against court-ordered cross-district school busing for racial integration. He argued the Milliken v. Bradley case before the United States Supreme court in 1973 which was decided in early 1974. In 1978, he was a candidate in the Republican primary for U.S. Senator from Michigan.
On August 6, 2004 Patterson sparked a controversy when Oakland County Press reported that he had been refusing to lower flags to half-staff after the deaths of Michigan soldiers killed in the line of duty despite an executive order issued December 11, 2003 by Governor Jennifer Granholm. His spokesman Robert Dustman stated, "His feeling is that lowering the flags to half-staff really politicizes the war and promotes opposition to the war when we should be building support for the troops who are fighting the war." He added that "His focus is supporting the troops, and he feels it's the best way to do that by not lowering the flags to half-staff," Dustman said.[1] Patterson later reneged under pressure from local veterans groups and enforced the executive order.[2]
In 2006, Patterson promoted a petition drive for a ballot proposal to abolish the state's single business tax, and won his point when the legislature voted to do so.[3]
In recent years, Patterson has attracted attention for his defense of urban sprawl as positive economic development. On his official web site, he writes: "I love sprawl. I need it. I promote it. Oakland County can't get enough of it." [4]
Under Patterson's leadership, Oakland County became the first county in the nation to budget on a three-year rolling cycle. While other governments are facing budget crises, the county's ability to look years ahead at projected revenue changes has allowed Oakland County to address problems years in advance. As a result, Oakland County has positive equity that surpasses what is recommended by the Government Finance Officers Association. Because of its fiscal prudence, Wall Street reaffirms Oakland County's AAA bond rating status, the highest credit score government can achieve.
Patterson has created innovation job attraction and retention strategies. In 2004, he directed his economic development staff to identify the 10 fastest growing economic sectors. Out of that grew Patterson's Emerging Sectors initiatives which focuses on areas that require advanced degrees, but produce high-paying jobs that will remain in the area for decades to come. Such fields include life sciences, IT, alternative energy, and advanced manufacturing, among others. To date, Emerging Sectors has accounted for $1.6 billion in investments resulting in the creation of tens of thousands of jobs.
In 2009, Anderson Economic Group in Lansing, Michigan conducted a survey of the life sciences in Oakland County. It determined there are 93,000 people within the county working in the life sciences and that 45,000 additional people would join the life science rolls in the following six years. Patterson directed his Economic Development and Community Affairs Department to create Medical Main Street to brand Oakland County as a center for the life sciences. In the meantime, Oakland University has partnered with Beaumont Hospitals to open Michigan's first medical school in four decades in Oakland County. The Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine will begin instructing its first class of medical students in August 2011. The medical school is expected to have a $3 billion economic impact on the region.
Another job creation and retention strategy created by Patterson is Automation Alley, a consortium of high tech companies that has grown from only Oakland County to include 1,000 high tech companies across eight counties and the City of Detroit. Automation Alley is aiding companies on trade missions to win international contracts; helping foreign companies have a soft landing in Oakland County; and assisting local companies acquire military contracts. It competes with California's Silicon Valley, Boston's Route 128, and North Carolina's Research Triangle.
As part of the effort to foster growth in international business, Patterson's leadership has fostered improvements at Oakland County International Airport (OCIA) in Waterford, Michigan's second busiest airport. In 2011, Michigan's first "green" airport terminal will open at OCIA with features such as solar power, wind turbine energy, and geothermal heating. Other improvements at the airport include theworld's first aesthetically designed ground run-up enclosure; a fuel-water separation system to avoid fuel seepage into local ground water; and a runway extension that now allows flights to reach the west coast, Mexico, Europe and Asia directly without refueling. All of this was funded by airport user fees and federal grants. No local tax dollars were used.
In 2009, Oakland County was recognized as the most digitally-advanced county in the country for its innovative use of internet and computer technology to improve efficiency in government. One such program allows health sanitarians to submit inspection reports about restaurants, septic fields or wells from the field in real time, allowing inspectors to complete more inspections during the course of a workday. Oakland County's eHealth portal is serving as a national model for its ability to allow the Health Division, hospitals, schools, and physicians to communicate in real time issues about communicable disease. In 2009, it played a vital role in limiting the spread of the H1N1 virus, allowing most Oakland County schools to remain open during the course of the pandemic.
L. Brooks Patterson also is known for his innovative quality of life programs. His Count Your Steps program encourages school-age children to get up off the couch and get outdoors in order to fight childhood obesity. For one month, schools throughout Oakland County compete against one another to see which school's students can walk the most steps. Every year, the students record millions of steps taken during the Count Your Steps month.
On February 11, 2007, L. Brooks Patterson's son, Brooks Stuart Patterson, age 28 and father of three, was killed in a snowmobiling accident in Genesee County, Michigan. Shortly after, Patterson's staff named his annual half-marathon and 5k "The Brooksie Way," in honor of his deceased son. It quickly has become one of the most popular running events in Michigan, drawing well over 4,000 people in 2010. Out of the proceeds, Patterson created The Brooksie Way Minigrants, awarded to organizations that support healthy lifestyles in Oakland County.
Patterson's other quality of life initiatives include Arts, Beat & Eats, a family-friendly festival held on Labor Day weekend in Pontiac to raise money for multiple charities; The Rainbow Connection, a Rochester Hills-based organization that grants wishes to seriously ill children; The Oakland Edge Hockey Tournament, held annually at Onyx Ice Arena in Rochester; and the Fire & Ice Festival in Rochester.
In May 2010, Patterson issued the OakGreen Challenge, which encourages Oakland County residents, businesses, and governments to reduce their energy consumption by 10%. Taking the lead, Oakland County started toward that goal in 2005, reducing its utility bills by more than $4 million through 2010. The county has set itself a new goal of raching a 15% reduction in energy use by 2015. Oakland County's Executive Office Building received a Department of Energy Energy Star rating in 2010. OCIA's new airport terminal is expected to receive a Silver LEED certification. Meanwhile, Oakland County will make additional energy-saving improvements on its government buildings through a federal grant to retrofit the buildings with energy-saving methods and devices. Oakland County's Green Team, under Patterson's leadership, received a National Association of Counties award for its efforts to identify needs and improve energy efficiency.
