Stephen Clark Bullock (born April 11, 1966) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the 24th and current Governor of Montana. A member of the Democratic Party, he serves as Chairman of the National Governors Association, a bipartisan organization of America's governors, created to develop policy to improve state governments.
Born in Missoula, Montana, Bullock is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College and Columbia Law School. Bullock began his career working as the legal counsel to the Secretary of State of Montana before becoming the Executive Assistant Attorney General and acting Chief Deputy Attorney General of Montana. Bullock then entered private practice as an attorney for Steptoe & Johnson. He was also an adjunct professor at the George Washington University Law School before opening his own private law firm upon returning to Montana. In 2008, Bullock was elected Attorney General of Montana, where he served one term from 2009-13.
After incumbent Governor Brian Schweitzer was term-limited, Bullock declared his candidacy for the Governorship on September 7, 2011. He won with 87% of the vote in the Democratic primary election, and defeated the Republican nominee, former U.S. Representative Rick Hill, in the general election, with 48% of the vote.
In 2016, Bullock won re-election with 50.2% of the vote, defeating Republican nominee Greg Gianforte.
Video Steve Bullock (American politician)
Early life, education, and law career
Bullock was born in Missoula, Montana and raised in Helena, the state capital. He is the son of Penny Clark, a school board trustee, and Mike Bullock, a teacher and administrator. He graduated from Helena High School in 1984. He received his undergraduate degree from Claremont McKenna College and his law degree with honors from Columbia Law School in New York.
Bullock served as chief legal counsel to Montana Secretary of State Mike Cooney. He went on to work for four years with the Montana Department of Justice under Attorney General Joe Mazurek, first as executive assistant attorney general, and later as acting chief deputy (1997-2001). During this time, he also served as legislative director, coordinating the Attorney General's legislative efforts. As an Assistant Attorney General, Bullock wrote the landmark opinion that guaranteed public access to streams and rivers.
He was unsuccessful in his first race for Montana Attorney General, losing in the 2000 Democratic primary to Mike McGrath, who went on to be elected Attorney General that year and currently serves as Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court.
From 2001-04, Bullock practiced law in Washington, D.C. with Steptoe & Johnson, where he served as an adjunct professor at George Washington University Law School. He returned to Montana in 2004, working in private practice in Helena where he represented individuals, consumer organizations, labor unions, peace officers, associations of political subdivisions, and small and large businesses. He ran successfully for Attorney General in 2008.
Maps Steve Bullock (American politician)
Attorney General
Bullock was the Democratic nominee for Attorney General in 2008, defeating two other candidates in the primary election in June. He went on to win the contested general election race with 52.64% of the vote against Republican Tim Fox. Bullock received 245,669 votes, more than either presidential candidate. He pushed for tougher drunken driving laws and a crackdown on prescription drug abuse. He introduced the 24/7 Sobriety Program for repeat DUI offenders statewide. This program requires repeat drunk drivers to take breath tests twice a day. The program is aimed at keeping highways and communities free of drunk drivers, and keeping non-violent offenders out of jail and off the public rolls. The program has had success in dropping DUI offenses.
The Attorney General's office also pursued the railroad industry for monopolistic business practices, and led the way in stopping an anti-competitive merger between two the largest meat packers in the country. Bullock focused on the misclassification of employees as independent contractors and allowing FedEx to avoid paying millions in state taxes and fees. Bullock's efforts resulted in changes by FedEx to comply with federal and state laws.
Bullock attracted national attention by challenging the Citizens United decision through his defense of Montana's 100-year-old ban on corporate campaign expenditures. After winning in the Montana Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the State of Montana in a 5-4 decision.
Bullock, who authored the state's opinion guaranteeing access to rivers, streams, and public lands, worked with the legislature and Governor Brian Schweitzer to codify the access opinion into law.
Governor of Montana
Elections
Bullock announced on September 7, 2011 that he would be a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Montana in 2012. In the Democratic primary, Bullock faced off against Helena resident Heather Margolis. Bullock won with 87% of the vote.
Bullock and his running mate, then Adjutant General of Montana John Walsh, proposed a jobs plan that focuses on small and medium-sized Montana businesses as the engines of job creation. Bullock and General Walsh support:
- Streamlining the regulatory permitting process and establishing a new permit tracking system,
- Ensuring that government services meet the demands of job creators,
- Supporting rapid growth in eastern Montana by making ensuring that communities receive funds before or in preparation for natural resource development rather than afterwards,
- Promoting the hiring of Montanans first for jobs inside the state paid for by taxpayers' money,
- Expanding in-state business activity to create a business climate that spurs faster expansion and greater business-to-business activity among Montana companies,
- Further reforming Montana's workers' compensation system to reduce the number of workers who are injured or killed on the job, getting injured workers back to work as soon as possible and controlling medical costs.
- Requiring major firms that are awarded state contracts to subcontract a substantial percentage of their work to in-state businesses.
Bullock proposed a $400 property tax rebate for homeowners in Montana to spur job creation and refund a portion of the state's $400 million budget surplus.
John Walsh, Bullock's running mate, is the former Adjutant General of the Montana National Guard. Bullock won the election, held on November 6, 2012, defeating Republican ex-US Representative Rick Hill. Bullock came out on top by 7,571 votes, or 48.9%, to Hill's 47.3%. Libertarian candidate Ron Vandevender pulled 3.8% of the vote.
In September 2014, Bullock signed an executive order creating a habitat conservation plan for sage grouse in a bid to keep management of the imperiled bird in state hands rather than see it come under strict federal Endangered Species Act protections. The government said to the press: "Montanans recognize that it is in the best interest of our state, its economy and our quality of life to maintain state management of the greater sage-grouse."
First term
Governor Bullock and his lieutenant governor, John Walsh, were sworn in on January 7, 2013. Bullock later appointed Walsh to become the new Senator from Montana to replace Max Baucus, who had been appointed Ambassador to China. Bullock then appointed Angela McLean to replace Walsh as lieutenant governor.
In November 2015, McLean announced her resignation as lieutenant governor, effective upon the appointment of her successor, in order to accept the position of director of American Indian and minority achievement in the office of the state commissioner of higher education.
In December 2015, Bullock announced the appointment of Mike Cooney as McLean's replacement. Cooney was sworn in on January 4, 2016.
According to a September 20, 2016, survey by Morning Consult, Bullock, with a 66% approval rating and a 19% disapproval rating, was the most popular Democratic governor in the United States, as well as the fourth-most popular overall, behind Republicans Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota, Larry Hogan of Maryland, and Charlie Baker of Massachusetts.
Second term
Political views
Abortion
Bullock is pro-choice. During the 2017 state legislative session, Bullock vetoed two bills that restricted the constitutionally-upheld right of Montana's women to determine whether or not they wish to have an abortion. Bullock received a 100 percent rating from NARAL in 2013 and was endorsed by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana in his successful 2016 reelection bid.
Bullock was one of 14 Democratic governors to write a letter to Alex Azar, President Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services, on March 31, 2018 demanding that Title X funding for women's reproductive health care and family planning remain in effect. The 14 governors threatened legal action if the Trump administration were to undermine women's access to reproductive health care.
Democratic Party
Bullock endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 general election, but expressed disagreement with Clinton's opposition to coal mining because it is an important industry in Montana and did not attend the 2016 Democratic National Convention, citing his duties as Governor of Montana. Bullock appears to have stayed neutral during the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries.
Bullock was chairman of the Democratic Governors Association in 2015, overseeing the election of Gov. John Bel Edwards of Louisiana, a pro-life Southern Democrat who expanded Medicaid to more than 471,000 Louisianans and reformed his state's criminal justice system after winning the governorship of a heavily Republican state. In 2015, Bullock expressed that there are "roles for all of us [Democrats]" within the party, referring to liberal, moderate, and conservative Democrats alike.
Bullock was one of just three Democrats to win gubernatorial elections (one of whom, Jim Justice, is now a Republican), in states that President Trump carried in 2016, and the only incumbent Democratic governor to win re-election in a state that Trump carried. He was also one of the only Democratic incumbents besides North Carolina State Auditor Beth Wood, North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, West Virginia State Treasurer John Perdue, and Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale to win re-election to statewide offices in states that President Trump won in the 2016 presidential election.
After the 2016 elections, in which Democrats lost the presidency, ceded control of several governorships, and came short of winning majorities in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, Bullock has publicly argued that the Democratic Party needs to expand its reach beyond urban areas and the nation's two coasts. He has encouraged Democrats to engage with and attempt to persuade voters in suburban and rural areas rather than relying solely on base turnout. He has visited Iowa, Wisconsin, and Colorado to campaign for and speak in support of Democratic candidates during the 2018 election cycle. With visits to Iowa and New Hampshire in August 2018 Bullock is believed to be testing the waters for a presidential run in 2020.
LGBTQ community and marriage equality
Steve Bullock supports marriage equality, and praised a federal judge for striking down Montana's same-sex marriage ban in 2014, which made Montana the 34th U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage. He also supported the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, and said in a statement on June 26, 2015: "This ruling protects the right of all Montanans to marry the person they love, and moves our state and nation closer to the promise of freedom, dignity, and equality that they were founded upon. All people, regardless of their sexual orientation, should have the opportunity to make a good life for themselves and their families." Bullock has also spoken at Pride rallies in Montana,, and, in 2015, became the first sitting governor in Montana history to officiate a same-sex wedding.
In 2016, Bullock enacted an executive order that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity for state employees, state contractors, and subcontractors. The executive order expanded upon a previous executive order signed by former Governor Brian Schweitzer in 2008, which prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation but did not include protections for gender identity and did not apply to contractors or subcontractors.
Electoral history
References
External links
- Governor Steve Bullock's official Montana government website
- Steve Bullock at Curlie (based on DMOZ)
- Appearances on C-SPAN
Source of article : Wikipedia
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