The following bio is that of an event speaker or guest author. This person is not directly affiliated with the John Locke Foundation.
Brad Crone is president of Campaign Connections. Campaign Connections provides political consulting services specializing in direct mail for candidates running for down-ballot races.
Mr. Crone has been providing governmental affairs and public relation consulting services since creating his firm in 1991. Prior to that he was a daily newspaper publisher at The Thomasville Times in Thomasville, N.C. He was the first desk-top newspaper publisher in the state with his weekly publication The Clayton Star, which he sold in 1989. He served as a special assistant to N.C. Commissioner of Agriculture Jim Graham and deputy press secretary to U.S. Senator Lauch Faircloth during his 1984 gubernatorial campaign. During his college education, Mr. Crone served as a political reporter and then afternoon news editor for WPTF Radio 680, a 50,000 watt news/talk station in Raleigh, N.C.
Mr. Crone has 30 years of experience in regional politics, managing grassroots campaigns in North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. He has consulted on a number of issues including: health care reform, prescription drug policies, free trade, NAFTA, Bankruptcy Reform, Animal Waste Management, Agriculture Labor policies, Credit Identity Theft and Volunteerism in America.
He holds a B.A. degree from North Carolina State University in Political Science and a concentration in Communications. He has additional studies at Mount Olive College, N.C., and the N.C. Institute of Government.
He is a former Rotarian, former Board of Directors member and volunteer for the Clayton Rescue Squad, former Board of Directors member for the Davidson County Salvation Army, former Board of Directors member for Branch Banking & Trust in Thomasville, NC. He currently serves as president of the Charleston Ridge Homeowners Association.
He is a frequent panelist and guest anchor on NC Spin, a weekly public affairs program aired on Public Broadcasting Stations across the state. (www.ncspin.com