Floyd Gregory Brown (born March 10, 1961) is an American author, speaker, and media commentator. He is formerly the CEO of USA Radio Network. Brown founded the conservative website Western Journalism in 2008. Brown in his early career worked as a political consultant and conducted opposition research for political campaigns. Brown is noteworthy for founding Citizens United in 1988 and for his introduction of the "Willie Horton" television ad during the 1988 presidential election campaign. Early life and education The son of a sawmill worker, and the grandson of a member of the Industrial Workers of the World, Brown grew up in the Pacific Northwest in a family of Democrats with 100-year-old roots in the area. He graduated from Olympia High School in Olympia, Washington, in 1979, and from the University of Washington. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics. He was appointed to, but chose to leave, the United States Military Academy at West Point. Brown credits meeting Ronald Reagan at a Masonic Temple in 1976 for sparking his interest in politics when he was 15 years old. He is married to NYT Bestselling author Mary Beth Brown, author of The Faith of Ronald Reagan, with whom he has three children. In 1992, Brown was quoted in the Washington Times: I have a sense of what connects with people like me. We're not culturally Republicans. We're not libertarians. We're not neo-conservatives or former liberals. We're just old-fashioned, blue-collar social conservatives. These are people who couldn't care less about politics, want to be left alone by government, but if their country calls for them to fight abroad, will. You win elections by cultivating people like me. Political activities Citizens United In 1988 Brown founded Citizens United. Several Brown-organized campaigns have been studied for their effectiveness; these include the effort to secure the confirmation of Judge Clarence Thomas, and the independent campaigns against Michael Dukakis and Bill Clinton. The anti-Dukakis effort produced the famous "Willie Horton" commercial. Brown and Citizens United worked on behalf of the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court. At the time, Brown told the New York Times, "What people don't understand is how bitter conservatives are about Bork," referring to Robert Bork, a conservative federal appellate judge and former Yale law professor nominated by Ronald Reagan to the Supreme Court in 1987 and rejected by the Senate. In a 2007 CNN documentary, Broken Government: