Anthony Brooks Firestone (born June 18, 1939) is an American businessman and politician.
The son of
Leonard Firestone, a grandson of
Harvey Samuel Firestone and
Idabelle Smith, and a nephew of
Harvey Firestone, Jr., he was educated at
The Webb School, and graduated from
Columbia College with an A.B in economics in 1961. He worked for
Firestone until 1972, when he quit the company, and moved his family to the
Santa Ynez Valley
The Santa Ynez Valley is located in Santa Barbara County, California, between the Santa Ynez Mountains to the south and the San Rafael Mountains to the north. The Santa Ynez River flows through the valley from east to west. The Santa Ynez Val ...
.
He represented the 35th District in the
California State Assembly for two terms (1994–1998). In 1998, he ran for the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
to succeed the late
Walter Capps, but lost the Republican nomination to
Tom Bordonaro, who went on to lose the general election to
Lois Capps
Lois Ragnhild Capps (née Grimsrud; January 10, 1938) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1998 to 2017. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, numbered as the 22nd District from 1998 to 2003 ...
, the widow of the prior incumbent. Firestone operated the San Antonio Ranch,
Firestone Vineyard
Firestone Vineyard is a family-owned estate winery on the Central Coast of the U.S. state of California, founded in 1972 as Santa Barbara County's first estate winery. Firestone Vineyard is one of the wineries along the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail. ...
, Prosperity Wines, and other businesses.
His son, Adam, and his son-in-law, David Walker, run
Firestone Walker Brewing Company
Firestone Walker Brewing Company is a family-owned craft brewery with operations in Paso Robles, Buellton and Venice, California. The brewery was established in 1996 by brothers-in-law Adam Firestone and David Walker. The original brewery was l ...
; his other son,
Andrew
Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...
, appeared on
ABC's show ''
The Bachelor''.
In the 2004 supervisor election, Firestone defeated John Buttny, Slick Gardner and Steve Pappas for the district seat. As Supervisor, Firestone has been criticized for his plan to get rid of the county's Oak Tree Protection ordinance, a historic 1998 compromise between agriculture and environmental interests.
In his personal life, Brooks Firestone has written and published three books, including the Valley Animals Series:
Valley Animals 2010 and More Valley Animals 2020, and the semi-autobiographical title, Evensong.
In 2020 these titles were published and re-distributed by Polyverse Publications.
References
External links
Third District officeFirestone WineJoin California - Brooks FirestoneAnimals of the Valley - Santa Barbara News Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Firestone, Brooks
1939 births
American businesspeople
American people of Austrian descent
Firestone family
Living people
Republican Party members of the California State Assembly
Wine merchants
County supervisors in California
Columbia College (New York) alumni