Brian David Schweitzer (born September 4, 1955) is an
American politicianPolitics of the United States takes place in the framework of a presidential, federal republic where the President of the United States , United States Congress, and judiciary share federal powers, and the federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments...
from the
U.S. stateA U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government . Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile...
of
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
. Schweitzer is a
DemocratThe Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world. In the U.S...
and the current governor of Montana, serving since January 2005. Schweitzer currently has one of the highest
approval ratingIn the United States, presidential job approval ratings were introduced by George Gallup in the late 1930s to gauge public support for the president during his presidency. An approval rating is a percentage determined by a polling which indicates the percentage of respondents to an opinion poll...
s among
governorsIn the United States, the title governor refers to the chief executive of each state or insular territory, not directly subordinate to the federal authorities, but the political and ceremonial head of the state.-Role and powers:...
in the nation, with polls regularly showing a rating of around 70 percent. Schweitzer is also the Chair of the
Democratic Governors AssociationThe Democratic Governors Association is a Washington, D.C.-based organization founded in 1983, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Democratic Party. The DGA's Republican counterpart is the Republican Governors Association. The DGA is not directly affiliated with...
.
Early life
Schweitzer was born in
Havre, MontanaHavre is a city in and the county seat of Hill County, Montana, United States. It is said to be named after the city of Le Havre in France. The population was 9,621 at the 2000 census.-History:...
, the fourth of six children of Adam and Kay Schweitzer. His maternal grandparents were
IrishIrish Americans are citizens of the United States who trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,495,800 Americans reported Irish ancestry in the 2006 American Community Survey. The only self-reported ancestral group larger than Irish Americans are German Americans...
and his paternal grandparents were
ethnic Germans from present-day RussiaThe German minority in Russia and the Soviet Union was created from several sources and in several waves. The 1914 census puts the number of Germans living in Russian Empire at 2,416,290. In 1989, the German population of the Soviet Union was roughly 2 million. In the 2002 Russian census, 597,212...
. Following his high school years at The Abbey in
Canon City, ColoradoThe City of Cañon City is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Fremont County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 16,000 in 2005. Cañon City is famous for being the site of 9 state and 4...
, Schweitzer earned his
Bachelor of ScienceA Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years ....
degreeA degree is any of a wide range of status levels conferred by institutions of higher education, such as universities, normally as the result of successfully completing a program of study.- History :...
in international
agronomyAgronomy is the science and technology of using plants for food, fuel, feed, and fiber. Agronomy encompasses work in the areas of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and soil science. Agronomy is the application of a combination of sciences like biology, chemistry, ecology, earth...
from
Colorado State UniversityColorado State University is a public institution of higher learning located in Fort Collins, Colorado in the United States. Colorado State University is the state's land grant university and the flagship campus university of the Colorado State University System. The enrollment is approximately...
in 1978 and a
Master of ScienceA master's degree is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in
soil scienceSoil science is the study of soil as a natural resource on the surface of the earth including soil formation, classification and mapping; physical, chemical, biological, and fertility properties of soils; and these properties in relation to the use and management of soils.Sometimes terms which...
from
Montana State UniversityMontana State University - Bozeman is a public university located in Bozeman, Montana. It is the main campus in the Montana State University System and the state's land-grant university...
in 1980.
Upon finishing school, Schweitzer worked as an irrigation developer on projects in
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
,
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
,
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
and
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
. He spent several years working in
LibyaLibya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
and
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia , is an Arab country and the largest country of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Jordan on the northwest, Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south...
and speaks
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
. He returned to Montana in 1986 to launch a ranching and irrigation business in
WhitefishWhitefish is a city in Flathead County, Montana, United States. The population was 5,032 at the 2000 census. It is home to a ski resort called Whitefish Mountain Resort. Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer hails from Whitefish....
.
Bill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president; only Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were younger when entering office...
appointed Schweitzer to the
United States Department of AgricultureThe United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
as a member of the Montana USDA Farm Service Agency committee, where he worked for seven years. While working for the USDA, he was appointed to the Montana Rural Development Board (1996) and the National Drought Task Force (1999).
Political career
In 2000, Schweitzer ran for
U.S. SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
against the
RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. In the U.S...
incumbent
Conrad BurnsConrad Ray Burns is a former United States Senator from Montana. He was only the second Republican to represent Montana in the Senate since the passage in 1913 of the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution and is the longest-serving Republican senator in Montana history.While in the Senate,...
, losing by a margin of 51 to 47 percent. When incumbent Governor
Judy MartzJudy Martz is the former governor of Montana, having served a single term from January 2, 2001, to January 3, 2005. Earlier, she was the Lieutenant Governor under Marc Racicot from 1997-2001...
announced she would not run for re-election in 2004, Schweitzer announced his candidacy. His running mate was
John BohlingerJohn Bohlinger, Jr. is the current Lieutenant Governor of Montana. Bohlinger ran as a Republican, on a ticket headed by Democrat Brian Schweitzer and was elected on November 2, 2004...
, a Republican state senator. He won the general election by a margin of 50 to 46 percent over Montana Secretary of State Bob Brown. Both while campaigning and as governor, Schweitzer became known for an easygoing and folksy public persona. The governor's dog, a
Border CollieThe Border Collie is a breed of herding dog originally called the "Scotch Sheep Dog" that originated in Northumberland along the borders of Scotland and England...
named Jag, regularly accompanies him on work days at the Capitol, as well as some other official occasions.
Schweitzer's reputation led him to be mentioned by some political pundits in the liberal
blogosphereThe blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions....
as being among the top candidates for
Vice PresidentA vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
under Democratic nominee
Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office, as well as the first president born in Hawaii...
in the 2008 presidential election. Schweitzer gave a speech on American energy independence at the
2008 Democratic National ConventionThe 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. The convention was held in Denver, Colorado,...
that was widely acclaimed.
Political positions
In March 2005, Schweitzer suggested that Montana's
National GuardThe National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States...
troops be recalled from service in
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
to assist firefighting during Montana's
wildfireA wildfire is any uncontrolled fire that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Reflecting the type of vegetation or fuel, other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, vegetation fire, and wildland fire may be used to describe the same phenomenon...
season. He has also gained national attention for his focus on converting Montana's vast
coalCoal is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock normally occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
reserves into fuel, which he has said is one way to wean America off of foreign oil. Schweitzer has been interviewed by
60 Minutes60 Minutes is an American investigative television newsmagazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by long time producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation. It has been among the top-rated TV programs for much of its life,...
(first aired on February 26, 2006), and
Charlie RoseCharlie Rose is an American television interview show, with Charlie Rose as executive producer, executive editor, and host. The show is syndicated on PBS and is owned by Charlie Rose, LLC. Rose interviews well-known thinkers, writers, politicians, athletes, entertainers, businessmen, leaders,...
(March 7, 2007) regarding his work in this field.
Schweitzer is against
gun controlGun politics is a set of legal issues surrounding the ownership, use, and regulation of firearms as well as safety issues related to firearms both through their direct use and through legal and criminal use.-International:-National sovereignty:...
and a vehement critic of the
REAL IDThe REAL ID Act of 2005 is U.S. federal law that imposes certain security, authentication, and issuance procedures standards for the state driver's licenses and state ID cards, for them to be accepted by the federal government for "official purposes", as defined by the Secretary of Homeland Security...
legislation.
Schweitzer signed in to Law the Montana Firearms Freedom Act on April 15, 2009 and it will become effective October 1, 2009. The law exempts firearms made and kept in Montana from
Federal firearms regulationsGun law in the United States is defined by a number of state and federal statutes. In the United States of America, the protection against infringement of the right to keep and bear arms is addressed in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution...
. It applies mostly to non-military types of firearms, along with ammunition and accessories such silencers, provided that these items are manufactured in the state, and do not leave the state.
In August 2008, Schweitzer gave a well-received speech at the
2008 Democratic National ConventionThe 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. The convention was held in Denver, Colorado,...
.
Governorship
As Governor, Schweitzer is an active member of the
Democratic Governors AssociationThe Democratic Governors Association is a Washington, D.C.-based organization founded in 1983, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Democratic Party. The DGA's Republican counterpart is the Republican Governors Association. The DGA is not directly affiliated with...
. Prior to becoming Chair, he served as the organization's Vice Chair, Finance Chair, and Recruitment Chair.
As a result of Schweitzer's efforts, Montana’s electrical generation capacity has increased more during his term as Governor than the previous 16 years combined.
On May 3, 2006, Schweitzer granted posthumous
pardonA pardon is the forgiveness of a crime and the penalty associated with it. It is granted by a head of state, such as a monarch or president, or by a competent church authority. Clemency is an associated term, meaning the lessening of the penalty of the crime without forgiving the crime itself. The...
s to 78 persons convicted of
seditionSedition is a term of law which refers to overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority as tending toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority...
during
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
for making comments that were critical of the war. These were the first posthumous pardons in Montana history, but the convictions had become notorious in recent years because Montana's sedition law had been one of the broadest and harshest of its time: one man went to prison for calling food rationing a joke, while others were targeted because they refused to physically kiss a U.S. flag or to buy
Liberty BondA Liberty Bond was a war bond that was sold in the United States to support the allied cause in World War I. Subscribing to the bonds became a symbol of patriotic duty in the United States and introduced the idea of financial securities to many citizens for the first time. The act of congress which...
s. At a public ceremony attended by family members of the pardon recipients, Schweitzer said, "[i]n times when our country is pushed to our limits, those are the times when it is most important to remember individual rights."
Schweitzer was to co-lead an energy policy forum at the
National Governors AssociationThe National Governors Association , founded in 1908 as the National Governors' Conference, is a primarily taxpayer-funded lobbying organization of the governors of the fifty U.S. states and five U.S. territories The National Governors Association (NGA), founded in 1908 as the National Governors'...
meeting in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
, on February 22, 2009, along with Republican Governor
Sarah PalinSarah Louise Palin is an American politician who served as Governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009 and was the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States in 2008....
of
AlaskaAlaska is the largest state of the United States of America by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, the
2008 GOP vice-presidential candidateJohn McCain, the senior United States Senator from Arizona, launched his second candidacy for the presidency of the United States in an unsuccessful bid for the 2008 presidential election. His candidacy, in the works for a number of years, was informally announced on February 28, 2007 during a live...
. Palin announced just days before the event that she would not be going to the nation's capital the weekend of the event, leaving Schweitzer alone to lead the discussion. The Montana governor caused a minor stir when he ribbed his colleague over the cancellation, joking in a reference to the high-profile purchase of a $150,000 wardrobe for Palin by the Republican Party during the 2008 campaign, "I don't know where she's going to be. You'll be stuck with me. There will be no glamor, certainly no snappy dressing. I brought my best two pairs of jeans. There's a little bit of a horse shit stain by the knee, but I've been washing that stuff out."
Following
General MotorsGeneral Motors Company, often known as simply GM, is a United States based automaker with headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. GM was the world's 18th largest corporate entity and third largest automaker as ranked by 2008 revenues on the Fortune Global 500. Ranked by global unit sales for 2008, it...
' announced decision to terminate its contract with Billings-based
Stillwater Mining CompanyStillwater Mining Company is a palladium and platinum mining company with headquarters located at Columbus, Montana, United States. It is the only palladium and platinum producer in the USA. The only other North America based palladium/platinum producer is North American Palladium Ltd., located in...
to procure
palladiumPalladium is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pd and an atomic number of 46. Palladium is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal that was discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston, who named it after the asteroid Pallas, which in turn, was named after the epithet of the Greek...
,
platinumPlatinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is in Group 10 of the periodic table of elements...
, and
rhodiumRhodium is a chemical element that is a rare, silvery-white, hard transition metal and a member of the platinum group. Rhodium is found in platinum ores and is used in alloys with platinum and as a catalyst. It is abbreviated to Rh and has atomic number 45...
for use in
automobileAn automobile, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
s to reduce
air pollutionAir pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or damages the natural environment, into the atmosphere....
, Schweitzer broke Democratic party ranks to protest the Barack Obama administration's perceived bias toward Montana. He asked the administration to force GM, which is receiving an infusion of around $50 billion as part of the automotive corporation federal recovery plan, to honor its contract in a manner consistent with the "buy American" provision of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA , is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009. The Act of Congress was based largely on proposals made by President Barack Obama and was intended to provide a stimulus to the U.S....
. According to Schweitzer and the mining company, the Montana mines operated by Stillwater are the only source of palladium and platinum outside the Republic of South Africa and the Russian Federation. "When the American people find out that we have spent tens of billions of dollars to bail out General Motors and then they turn around and void a contract with Stillwater Mine, the only source of platinum, palladium and rhodium in the
Western HemisphereThe Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere or western hemisphere, is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian , the other half being the eastern hemisphere...
, and continues to buy that metal from the Russians and South Africans, they will be outraged," Schweitzer asserted.
Family
Schweitzer married Nancy Hupp in 1982. Nancy was born on November 3, 1959 in Calgary, Alberta and moved to
Billings, MontanaBillings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, located in the south-central portion of the state. Billings is rapidly growing; as of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 89,847, while the Census Bureau's 2008 estimate listed the city's population at 103,994. It is the...
in 1966. The couple began a family after returning to Montana, and are the parents of three children: Ben, Khai, and Katrina. As the father of an autistic son (Ben), Schweitzer has also spoken publicly about autism-related issues. In July 2008, he responded to controversial on-air remarks by conservative talk radio host
Michael SavageMichael Alan Weiner , better known by his pseudonym Michael Savage, is a U.S. radio host, author, and political commentator. He is the host of The Savage Nation, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Talk Radio Network...
, saying: "I'm very close to some autistic people and I can tell you who is a brat. That would be Michael Savage, not the autistic people of Montana."
Electoral history
External links