Matt Brown (politician)

Matt Brown is the former Secretary of State of Rhode Island, and a Democrat. Brown announced that he would be a candidate for the United States Senate in 2006, challenging Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee, but dropped out on April 26, 2006. His achievements in office included the development of the first, statewide Central Voter Registration System, the first online Lobbyist Registration system, requiring online posting of all meetings notices and agendas of state and local government bodies and an encyclopedic online listing of all state and local government agencies in RI.

Brown received a bachelor's degree in English from Columbia University in 1993 and earned a law degree from Yale University in 2001.

Despite NARAL Pro-Choice America's endorsement of Sen. Chafee, who voted against filibustering the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the United States Supreme Court, NARAL's President Emeritus and founder, Kate Michelman, was a strong Brown supporter. Michelman hosted Brown fundraisers in New York and Washington and was the leader of Women for Matt Brown. She noted, "Matt is the only candidate who has been a strong and vocal advocate of equal justice for women and consistently stood up for a woman’s right to choose." [http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Campaign/013106_state.html]

Brown's campaign became embroiled in a fundraising controversy in March 2006 after "The Hill" revealed that the Maine, Massachusetts, and Hawaii Democratic parties had donated $25,000 to Brown's campaign and received $30,000 in donations days later from contributors who had already given Brown the legal limit. Brown said he asked his supporters to give money to the three state parties, but that it was "all completely legal." Shortly after the controversy began, Hawaii's Republican Party announced its intention to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission. [http://www.turnto10.com/politics/8185620/detail.html]

After pressure began to mount for him to drop out of the race in late April, Brown initially vowed he would stay in the race until the end. [http://www.turnto10.com/news/8854600/detail.html] However, he dropped out less than a week later and endorsed former primary opponent Sheldon Whitehouse. [http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20060427_brown27.f684064.html]

("See: Rhode Island United States Senate election, 2006.")

External links and references

* [http://www.mattbrown.org Matt Brown for U.S. Senate]
* [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-brown/ Matt Brown at Huffington Post]
*"Brown announces bid for Chafee's Senate seat," Providence Journal (February 4, 2005).