Ex-Assemblyman Brown Hired to Lobby for VTN

VTN Corp., the engineering and architectural firm based here, said Monday that it has hired former state Assemblyman Dennis Brown to lobby local government agencies on its behalf and advise it on winning municipal contracts.

Brown, who has been a director of VTN since October, 1989, was named vice president of the company. His duties will include advising and representing the company in federal, state and local government matters. He will not lobby legislators in Sacramento, the company said.

“We continue trying to get municipal and government work and we’re looking for him to be an adviser to us in that process,” said VTN President Mark Voorhis.

Among other projects, VTN has announced plans in the last four months to mine gold in the Philippines and develop a retirement community in Senegal for Japanese citizens. It is also pursuing municipal projects in Florida, Southern California and Massachusetts, Voorhis said.

“It’s not so much in lobbying that we needed him but his experience and knowledge of the government process,” Voorhis said. “He’ll act kind of like our government expert and adviser.”

Brown could not be reached for comment.

Brown, a Republican, represented the 58th Assembly District, which includes Huntington Beach and Long Beach, for 12 years.

His tenure was marred by an investigation by then-Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp into the forgery of President Reagan’s name on 1986 campaign literature sent out on behalf of four Republican candidates, including Brown. A Sacramento grand jury declined to indict Brown.

In retiring from politics last year, Brown cited his growing involvement in religious activities. He has donated thousands of dollars from his political campaign funds to evangelical organizations and has formed a nonprofit group to care for Vietnamese orphans.

Before his legislative service, Brown was a stockbroker and research director at C.L. McKinney and Co., a Los Angeles-based investment banking firm that was acquired last month by the Beverly Hills investment banking firm of H.J. Meyers & Co.

In the 1970s Brown worked with Dan C. Montano, then president of C.L. McKinney’s corporate finance. Montano is now chairman of VTN.