ShareThisForty-eight years after her father was the California GOP's candidate for lieutenant governor, Anne Gust Brown has emerged as a key Democratic advisor to her husband -- gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown.
Gust -- the candidate's wife of five years and partner for 20 years --is one of Brown's closest political confidantes in the most high profile and expensive race in the country this year.
She's a valued member of the 72-year-old Democratic candidate's brain trust, consulting with Brown and campaign manager Steve Glazer on political strategy. And she also oversees the campaign's fundraising, helps manage the office staff, does data entry and makes coffee on occasion.
In Jerry Brown's day job as state attorney general, Gust works as an unpaid senior adviser, consulting on legal issues and tag-teaming with Brown to question attorneys.
It's a big change for a woman who spent much of her career in a high-powered business role, most noticeably as the chief administrative officer for clothing retailer Gap Inc. She began her political work in 2006, when she helped Brown win the attorney general's race.
If Brown defeats Republican rival Meg Whitman in November, his 52-year-old wife says she expects to be an unpaid adviser in the administration.
"I think what I can bring to the campaign is Jerry trusts me completely," Gust said."Obviously, I'm a person who has no other interest other than his success. I think it's very comforting in these stressful sorts of campaigns to know there's someone here only making decisions in your best interest."
Indeed, Gust has sent out e-mails and tweets to supporters painting a warmer Brown, including a recent Twitter message reading "That's my Jerry!"
Brown says that if he's elected, his wife could help him build bipartisan cooperation by playing the traditional role of social host.
In fact, politics was always a family business for Brown, whose father, Pat Brown, was one of the state's most influential governors and whose sister lost her bid for the same office in 1994.
Her Republican father, Rockwell "Rocky" Gust, ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor of Michigan in 1962 alongside that year's GOP gubernatorial candidate, George Romney.
"I grew up in a sort of political family like Jerry," Gust said. "I remember being in a flier once. 'Rocky Gust, the man you can trust!' I remember that little slogan."
Gust, however, didn't immediately follow her father into politics. Instead, she migrated to California, where she attended Stanford University. She returned to her home state for a University of Michigan law degree but joined San Francisco-based Gap in 1991, where she oversaw everything from the company's legal department to the practices of overseas suppliers.
Throughout her time at the Gap, Gust ran head-on into the biggest controversy surrounding the company -- its use of cheap, foreign labor. In fact, the Gap became a poster child for U.S. companies accused of exploiting sweatshop workers.
"There was a problem with the way workers were treated in factories, and we believed retailers were responsible for that treatment," said San Francisco-based attorney Michael Rubin, who filed three lawsuits against the Gap. "I found the Gap was responsive in my discussions, and we worked well with them. They were an important part of the settlement process."
Gust says her corporate experience, including dealing with the company's overseas factories, turned out to be valuable preparation for her current position.
"I had a career before here," she said. "I had literally a global scope of responsibilities," which taught her "how you deal with finding the right people to do the right jobs, keeping them on track."
Gust has been a close professional partner to her husband since their 2005 wedding in Oakland's Rotunda Building.
She left the Gap the same year she married Brown and has served as his senior deputy in various organizations since. Neither Brown nor his wife had been married before, and they have no children.
As they work, Gust zeroes in on details while Brown widens the focus of whatever they're considering, she said.
"I've approached a legal issue where I tend to (say), 'OK, we should just do this,' and I narrow the discussion," she said, "whereas he can broaden it and open up different opportunities and different ideas."
Living and working together could be disastrous for most couples, especially in the high-pressure world of politics, but Gust said their campaign collaboration speaks to the strength of their marriage.
"I think we both feel very lucky that we found each other and we just feel there would be nothing that could ever separate us," Gust said. "It's a very nice feeling when you pick it right."
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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