Lisa Brown

Lisa Brown

Template:OtherUses Template:TOCnestleft Lisa Brown is a State Representative who has represented the 38th District of Michigan since 2009.

State Representative Lisa Brown is serving her second term representing the 39th District, which includes Commerce Township, West Bloomfield and Wolverine Lake.

Background

Brown was born and raised in Oakland County and lives in West Bloomfield with her three sons. She graduated from Andover High School, and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and a degree from the Detroit College of Law. Brown is a member of the State Bar of Michigan.

She is a member of Adat Shalom and has done extensive volunteer work in the community.

Sought DSA endorsement

The Agenda for July 8, 2006 Greater Detroit Democratic Socialists of America meeting at the Royal Oak Senior/Community Center, 3500 Marais Avenue, included item (8) Presentation of candidates seeking DSA endorsement: Lisa Brown (running for state representative in West Bloomfield/Commerce Township) and Daymon Dorkins (running for Oakland County Commission).

DSA fundraiser

Under the heading "Fundraiser for Lisa Brown a success" a Greater Detroit Democratic Socialists of America 2006 newsletter report on a Detroit DSA meeting Nov. 4 2006 stated;

Lisa Brown is a progressive Democrat running for the state representative seat in West Bloomfield/Commerce Township. She received Detroit DSA’s endorsement at our July general membership meeting.

As part of our endorsement, our members voted to hold a fundraising reception for Lisa.

That reception took place on Friday, October 13 at the home of David Green and Teena Green in Farmington Hills. We collected $2070 from twenty-six individual donors (with more checks reportedly in the mail). Folksinger Julie Beutel provided entertainment.

State Senator Gilda Jacobs was the guest of honor. State Representative Aldo Vagnozzi (D—Farmington/Farmington Hills) also attended and contributed to Lisa’s campaign.

It was a fun, and successful fundraiser.

2006 DSA support

Under the heading "DSAers work for Andy Levin, Lisa Brown" a Greater Detroit Democratic Socialists of America 2006 newsletter report on a Detroit DSA meeting Nov. 4 2006 stated;

DSA’s goal this election cycle is to help the Democrats take control of both the state house and state senate. We do this work, not because we are sycophants of the Democratic Party, but because only in the context of a Democratic majority do we have the political space necessary to pursue our agenda (.e.g., fixing the flawed minimum wage legislation, pursuing universal health care).

Our strategy is to choose races in which the focused efforts of a small, but determined, group such as ours can play a decisive role in electing a progressive candidate.

We have endorsed two candidates in this election cycle: Andy Levin who is running for the state senate seat in District 13 (Royal Oak/Troy/Birmingham/Clawson/Bloomfield Hills) and Lisa Brown who is running for the state house seat in District 39 (West Bloomfield/Commerce Township).

DSA members Adam Sokol, Catherine Hoffman, Brandon Moss, Lon Herman, Earl Mandel, Helen Samberg, Bob Frumkin, David Green, Frank Goeddeke, David Ivers, Gary Benjamin, Al Benchich, Eric Ebel, David Elsila, Bill Helwig, Paul and Garie Bass, Selma Goode, and Mo Geary have come out for several campaign dates in September and October. Our volunteers canvass door-to-door, make phone calls, and stuff envelopes with campaign literature for our endorsed candidates.

Our last campaign date is on Saturday, November 4 (immediately following our general membership meeting) when we will be canvassing and phone banking for Andy Levin.

We will meet at his campaign headquarters (located at25 W. Fourteen Mile Rd.—near the intersection of Fourteen Mile andMain Street inClawson) at12:45 p.m. and will work from1-3 p.m. To volunteer for this activity, call David Green...

We are also looking for volunteers to work on getting out the vote in Lisa Brown’s district on election day (Tuesday, November 7). Volunteers will be collecting names of voters as they register at the polling places, matching them against a list of Lisa Brown supporters, and calling those supporters who have not yet voted to urge them to do so.

Socialists lament loss

Detroit DSA was disappointed when both Lisa Brown and Andy Levin lost their races;

Detroit DSA focused its resources on two legislative races: Lisa Brown’s race for the state house seat in District 39 (West Bloomfield/Commerce Township) and Andy Levin’s race for the state senate seat in District 13 (Royal Oak/Troy/Birmingham/Bloomfield Hills).

DSA volunteers canvassed door-to-door, stuffed envelopes, made phone calls, and mailed friend-to-friend postcards. We also organized a fundraising house party for Lisa Brown which raised over $2300. Despite our best efforts, Lisa lost by 188 votes. We can take consolation in the fact that DSA was one of the main sources of organizational support for Lisa.

We proved that this district can be “flipped” from the Republican column. It would behoove our friends in the Democratic Party hierarchy to pay attention to this district in terms of candidate recruitment and early infusion of resources when planning electoral strategy for 2008.

Andy Levin’s race was even more disappointing. He lost by 788 votes (0.6% of all the ballots cast). What was particularly disturbing was that the Green Party candidate (who did not actively campaign) received more than three times as many votes as the margin of victory for the Republican candidate—John Pappageorge.

2008 DSA electoral support

Greater Detroit Democratic Socialists of America has a "simple but effective electoral strategy. We endorse progressive candidates in competitive races where the focused efforts of a small group such as ours can tip the balance in favor of the progressive candidate. This strategy has served us well in electing state representatives such as Steve Bieda, Alma Wheeler Smith, John Espinoza, Aldo Vagnozzi, and Fred Miller, and state senators such as Gilda Jacobs and Hansen Clarke."

We have expanded our efforts in 2008 by endorsing four candidates instead of two candidates as we traditionally do.

In 2008 Greater Detroit Democratic Socialists of Americaendorsed state representative candidates Sarah Roberts (St. Clair Shores-Harrison Township), Vicki Barnett (Farmington-Farmington Hills), Lisa Brown (West Bloomfield-Harrison Township), and Jonathan Switalski (Warren-Sterling Heights). As a result, DSA members have been canvassing, phone banking, and stuffing envelopes for one of these four candidates almost every weekend since the late summer. To date, the following members have participated in at least one (and usually several) campaign dates: Brandon Moss, Selma Goode, Michelle Fecteau, Bob Alpert, Lon Herman, Maurice Geary, Helen Samberg, Bob Frumkin, Charlie Rooney, Julie Barton, David Elsila, David Green, Dave Ivers, Michael Dover, Bill Helwig, Bob Denoweth, and Marylyn Schmidt.

Our last campaign date is for Lisa Brown on Saturday, November 1st from 2-4 PM. We will meet at Lisa’s campaign headquarters located at 4088 Haggerty Road (in a strip mall at the intersection of Haggerty and Richardson Roads—adjacent to Jennifer’s Café) in Commerce Township at 1:30 PM to receive our assignments. Anyone who wishes to volunteer should contact David Green

. In 2008, the Brown campaign was supported by Democratic Socialists of America help. According to the newsletter of the Greater Detroit Democratic Socialists of America, January 2009;

Having been rebuffed in our offers of assistance to progressive Congressional candidates Gary Peters (9th district) and Mark Schauer (7th district)—both of whom were afraid of being red-baited--Detroit DSA focused instead on local and state races.

Our strategy was simple: Given our limited resources and manpower, we concentrated on competitive races in which a progressive Democrat was running for an open seat. In such a setting, the efforts of a small, but disciplined, group such as ours might provide the margin of victory for the progressive Democrat.

After interviewing candidates "to make sure their views on labor issues, health care, the environment, living wage, and progressive taxation ran parallel to ours, our membership voted to endorse four candidates for state representative: Sarah Roberts (St. Clair Shores-Harrison Township), Vicki Barnett (Farmington-Farmington Hills), Lisa Brown (West Bloomfield- Commerce Township), and Jonathan Switalski (Warren-Sterling Heights).

As part of our endorsement, Detroit DSA held a fundraising house party for the four candidates in early September... Our house party raised $6500 which provided the seed money for the state representative campaigns.

Almost every weekend from late summer through the election, DSA volunteers canvassed, prepared literature, or phone banked on behalf of one of these four state representative candidates. All four candidates won—two by razor thin margins.

DSA fundraiser

On Saturday, September 6th 2008, Detroit DSA held a fundraising house party at the home of David Green and Teena Green. The goal of the party was to raise money for the campaigns of state representative candidates Vicki Barnett (Farmington-Farmington Hills), Lisa Brown (West Bloomfield-Commerce Township), Sarah Roberts (St. 0Clair Shores-Harrison Township), and Jonathan Switalski (Warren-Sterling Heights). Our "local endorsed these four candidates because of their progressive positions on issues (e.g., support for universal health care, support for living wage, support for the labor movement, environmental consciousness). We also endorsed them because we suspected their respective races would be difficult, and the concerted effort of a small group such as ours might provide the margin of victory."

Our fundraising effort was essential for these campaigns because the Presidential (Obama) and Congressional (Gary Peters and Mark Schauer) races had already tapped the traditional sources of funding for Democratic/progressive candidates. Surprisingly, we raised $6500 from 37 different contributors. And we had fun doing it! Folksinger Julie Beutel provided the entertainment and had everyone singing by the end of the party.

Guest of Honor: State Representative Aldo Vagnozzi.

Endorsements

The following organizations endorsed Brown in her 2010 run for State Representative:

• Michigan Credit Union League
• Michigan Township Association
• Michigan League of Conservation Voters
• Sierra Club
• Operating Engineers Local 324
• Michigan Nurses Association
• Michigan Association of Police Organizations
• UAW Region 1
• AFT Michigan
• Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan
• Michigan State AFL-CIO
• Michigan Professional Fire Fighters Union
• Michigan Public Transit Association
• Michigan Fraternal Order of Police
• Michigan AFSCME Council 25
• Michigan National Organization for Women
• Michigan Service Employees International Union
• United Food and Commercial Workers of Michigan
• Michigan Teamsters Joint Council 43
• Michigan Association of REALTORS
• School Administrators Political Action Committee
• Michigan Physical Therapy

References

Template:Reflist