Patrick M. Browne (born December 8, 1963) is an American accountant, lawyer, and politician. A

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, he served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1995–2005) and

Pennsylvania Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered ...

(2005–2022). On January 12, 2023, Democratic Governor-elect

Josh Shapiro Joshua David Shapiro (born June 20, 1973) is an American politician and attorney who has served as the Pennsylvania Attorney General since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the governor-elect of Pennsylvania. Raised in Montgomery ...

nominated Browne to serve as Secretary of Revenue.

Biography

Browne is a graduate of the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

and Temple University Law School. He is a graduate of

Allentown Central Catholic High School Allentown Central Catholic High School (ACCHS) is a private, parochial school located at 301 North Fourth Street in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown, ACCHS predominantly serves students from the Lehigh ...

. Prior to his election to the State Senate, Browne worked as Certified Public Accountant and attorney. He also was a tax manager for Coopers and Lybrand from 1990 to 1994 and a tax supervisor for

Price Waterhouse PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

from 1986 to 1990. Browne was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1994 to 2005. In 2005, he won a special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by

Charlie Dent Charles Wieder Dent (born May 24, 1960) is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for from 2005 to 2018. Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Dent worked in a variety of occupations ...

who resigned to take a seat in 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 ...

. Browne became Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman in November 2014. He was also a member of the Communications & Technology, Education, Finance and Transportation Committees. Browne has been arrested three times for DUI offenses, most recently in 2015 following a motorcycle accident resulting in a punctured lung. Browne's longtime campaign committee treasurer, Michael P. Ellwood, was arrested in September, 2019 on 179 criminal counts involving the embezzlement of $578K in campaign funds over 11 years. Browne has been accused of corruption with regard to legislation he wrote in 2009 to give tax breaks to companies in a newly designated

Neighborhood Improvement Zone The Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ) is a special taxing district intended to encourage economic development in Allentown, Pennsylvania. This zone has been credited with attracting investment to Allentown but has also been criticized for failing ...

in Allentown. His wife Heather was hired as a lobbyist with Harrisburg-based Pugliese Associates in 2010 and then quickly hired by multiple companies that benefited substantially from the NIZ provisions. Several beneficiaries of the NIZ have also made significant campaign contributions to Pat Browne, according to state records. Browne also pushed in 2013 to designate a City Revitalization and Improvement Zone in Bethlehem with similar tax breaks, and the same year Heather Browne was hired as a lobbyist by the biggest potential beneficiary of that fiscal arrangement. In 2019 Browne announced that he had succeeded in diverting hundreds of millions of dollars of PennDOT funding to a project that will add another interchange on a rural stretch of Route 78, though he admitted that area residents oppose it. His stated purpose in advocating for the interchange was to allow businesses to build warehouses on cheap farmland in one of the few areas of the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...

where until then they had not proliferated. Browne narrowly lost renomination in the 2022 Republican primary to Parkland School Board member Jarrett Coleman, who defeated Browne by only 24 votes. On January 12, 2023, Democratic Governor-elect

nominated Browne to serve as Secretary of Revenue.

Family

Pat Browne is the older brother of the acclaimed fashion designer

Thom Browne Thom Browne (born September 27, 1965) is an American fashion designer. He is the founder and head of design for Thom Browne, a luxury fashion brand based in New York City. Browne debuted his womenswear collection in 2014. Early life and education ...

who designed past First Lady Michelle Obama's 2013 Inauguration day ensemble.

Biography

Family

References

External links