1. Michael R Cooney was born on September 3,1954 and is an American politician who served as the 36th lieutenant governor of Montana from 2016 to 2021.
42 Facts About Mike Cooney
1. 2.
Mike Cooney previously served in the Montana House of Representatives, as the Secretary of State of Montana, in the Montana Senate, as the president of the Montana Senate and ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Montana in 2000.
3.
Mike Cooney worked at the family business, Cooney Food Brokerage, from 1970 to 1977.
4.
Mike Cooney graduated from Butte High School in 1972 and, intending to become a TV news presenter, enrolled at University of Montana to study journalism.
5.
Cooney was impressed by Baucus, who was elected to the multi-member 18th District in first place, and when Baucus ran for Montana's 1st congressional district against Republican incumbent Richard G Shoup in 1974, Cooney paused his studies to work for him.
6.
Mike Cooney worked as an advance man, travelling to towns ahead of Baucus to prepare for his visits.
7.
Mike Cooney modelled his campaign literature on Baucus' and campaigned door-to-door, which was unusual at the time.
8.
The 21 year-old Mike Cooney defeated two other candidates in the Democratic primary with 1,044 votes and was unopposed in the general election.
9.
Mike Cooney, sworn into office at age 22, became one of the youngest state legislators in Montana history.
10.
Mike Cooney immediately received attention as he and another Butte-based legislator voted for Hamilton Representative John Driscoll as Speaker of the House instead of fellow Butte Representative JD Lynch, helping Driscoll to beat Lynch.
11.
Mike Cooney said that he thought Lynch would be able to offer "a little more diplomacy" with the Montana Senate, which was evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.
12.
In 1977, Mike Cooney sponsored successful legislation that declared Montana would process its own nuclear waste but wouldn't take waste from any other state.
13.
Mike Cooney has called this his proudest achievement in the State House.
14.
Mike Cooney ran for re-election in 1978, defeating a single primary opponent with 1,577 votes and again ran unopposed in the general election.
15.
In 1979, Mike Cooney received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Montana and in that December, he married DeeAnn Gribble after five years of dating.
16.
Mike Cooney then felt the need to settle down in a permanent job, so did not run for re-election in 1980.
17.
The Montana Legislature is part-time and Mike Cooney had supplemented it with other work: at his family's company until 1977 and then at the Montana Energy Research Development Institute from 1977 to 1979, all the while continuing to work as an Executive Assistant for Baucus, who had been elected to the US Senate in 1978.
18.
The Cooneys moved to Washington, DC in 1982 so that DeeAnn could attend Antioch School of Law and Mike transferred to Baucus' staff there.
19.
Mike Cooney continued working for Baucus until 1988, when he was encouraged to run for Secretary of State of Montana.
20.
Mike Cooney received permission from Baucus to run, though reluctantly, as Baucus did not want to lose him, so Cooney agreed to only campaign on evenings and weekends.
21.
Mike Cooney was unopposed in the Democratic primary and defeated the Republican nominee, State Senator Pete Story, by 174,917 votes to 163,830.
22.
Mike Cooney succeeded two-term Republican Jim Waltermire in the office, who had been running for Governor of Montana in the 1988 election when he was killed in a plane crash on April 8,1988, after returning from a campaign event.
23.
Mike Cooney said that the office had been "fairly political" under Waltermire: several employees asked Mike Cooney how much they would be expected to contribute to his campaign fund in order to retain their jobs.
24.
Mike Cooney was elected to a second term in 1992, defeating Republican Bob Werner, a former Waltermire employee, by 249,359 votes to 139,977.
25.
Mike Cooney did not face a Republican opponent in 1996, winning a third term against Libertarian Martha Oaas by 309,503 votes to 59,125.
26.
Mike Cooney said that his aim as secretary of state was to avoid being deeply involved in partisan politics and to give everyone, regardless of their politics, a fair chance.
27.
Mike Cooney is proud of his work upgrading the computer systems used by the office, increasing voter turnout to second in the country in the 1998 elections, increasing access to state lands through his role on the State Land Board, and updating and restoring the historic Montana State Capitol.
28.
Unable to run for a fourth term as secretary of state because of term limits, Mike Cooney ran for Governor of Montana in the 2000 election instead.
29.
Mike Cooney left office in January 2001 and was named Executive Director of Montana Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies in that November, a position he held until 2006.
30.
Mike Cooney returned to politics in 2002, running to represent the Helena-based 26th District of the Montana Senate.
31.
Mike Cooney was redistricted to the 40th District in 2005 and was re-elected to a second term in 2006 against Republican Robert Leach by 5,869 votes to 2,739.
32.
In 2007, Mike Cooney was selected by Senate Democrats to become President of the Senate, succeeding Jon Tester, who had been elected to the US Senate in 2006.
33.
Mike Cooney served as President of the Senate from 2007 to 2009, when the Democrats lost control of the Senate to the Republicans.
34.
Mike Cooney was term-limited in 2010 and left office the following year.
35.
Mike Cooney was succeeded by Democratic state representative Mary Caferro.
36.
Mike Cooney left Montana Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies in July 2006 to become the Division Administrator of the Workforce Services Division at the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, a role he held until 2015.
37.
Mike Cooney was named as the interim Director of the Montana Historical Society in November 2010.
38.
Mike Cooney declined to be considered as the new permanent Director, despite urging from staff, who wore "I Like Mike" badges, and led the organisation until September 2011, when Bruce Whittenberg took over as permanent Director.
39.
Mike Cooney follows in the footsteps of his grandfather, who served briefly as lieutenant governor in 1933 prior to serving as governor.
40.
Mike Cooney's salary is $22,000 a year less than he had been receiving as Deputy Commissioner of the Montana Department of Labor and Industry.
41.
Mike Cooney ran with Bullock in the 2016 gubernatorial election, defeating Republican gubernatorial nominee Greg Gianforte and his running mate Lesley Robinson with 250,571 votes to 231,897.
42.
On July 3,2019, Mike Cooney announced his second run for governor in the 2020 election, as incumbent Democratic governor Steve Bullock was term-limited and running for US Senate.