Governor Moonbeam nickname

As Governor, Brown proposed the establishment of a state space academy and the purchasing of a satellite that would be launched into orbit to provide emergency communications for the state—a proposal similar to one that was indeed eventually adopted. In 1979, an out-of-state columnist, Mike Royko, then at the Chicago Sun-Times, picked up on the nickname from Brown's girlfriend at the time, Linda Ronstadt, who was quoted in a 1978 Rolling Stone' magazine interview humorously calling him "Moonbeam". [19][20] A year later Royko expressed his regret for publicizing the nickname[21] and in 1991 he disavowed it entirely, proclaiming Brown to be just as serious as any other politician.[22][23]