 In May 1994 he was elected as a Scottish National Party councillor to the former Tayside Regional Council and after only eight weeks was controversially appointed to be Leader of the Administration after the resignation of the previous leader, Councillor Lena Graham.In so doing Mr Dow made history as the youngest ever Scottish council leader since records began, being elected to this post at the age of 22 years.In April 1995 Dow was elected to the newly formed Perth and Kinross Council and following the abolishment of Tayside Regional Council in 1996 served as depute leader and finance convener in the Perth and Kinross Council's SNP administration until losing his council seat in the 1999 Scottish local government elections.