Jack E. Robinson III
Jack E. Robinson III is an African-American Republican politician from Massachusetts. He ran for the United States Senate in 2000 against Ted Kennedy (Democratic) and Carla Howell (Libertarian), losing to Kennedy. He ran for Secretary of the Commonwealth in 2002 losing to William F. Galvin, and for US House of Representatives in Massachusetts's 9th district in 2006, losing to Stephen Lynch. In 2009, he ran against Scott Brown in the Republican primaries for the special election to fill Ted Kennedy's Senate seat, but lost to Brown in the primaries.
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[edit] Early life
Robinson grew up in the Roxbury section of Boston, in a family that was involved with the Republican party going back six generations.
In 1975, Jack appeared as an extra in the film Jaws.
He attended Brown University as an undergrad, and received law and business degrees from Harvard. After graduating he worked as an executive for Eastern Airlines and left to start his own cell phone company.[1]
[edit] Business career
Robinson has worked in a variety of executive positions in the airline industry with Continental Airlines and Eastern Airlines, and became the youngest airline president in modern U.S. aviation history when he served as president of Eastern Express – at the time one of the largest regional airlines in the country. He also worked in the financial services industry with MasterCard International.
Later he entered the wireless tele-com industry, where he founded the largest digital cellular company in the Caribbean—Oceanic Digital Communications (later sold to the world’s richest man—Mexican businessman Carlos Slim), and traveled to many developing countries, including Pakistan and Afghanistan, seeking to build cellular networks in those countries.
Today he is General Counsel of Benistar, the largest Third-Party Administrator of employer health and welfare benefit plans in the country and the only TPA to have passed a SAS 70 Level II audit by Price Waterhouse Coopers.
[edit] Political Philosophy
Robinson's political philosophy is eclectic, combining conservative economic views (free trade and lower personal and capital gains taxes on the wealthy) with more moderate social views such as strong support of gay rights (including same-sex marriage) and alternative energy initiatives (including the Cape Wind Energy Project). In this respect he may be similar to former Governor William Weld who was also a social liberal and fiscal conservative. He positions himself as a highly respected entrepreneur, attorney, and business leader combining an inspiring rags to riches personal story with over 25 years experience solving business problems and creating jobs. He promises to create jobs, cut wasteful government spending, prevent job-killing tax increases, eliminate the multiple-trillion dollars of U.S. debt, and fix the U.S. economy.
[edit] The Robinson Report
During his 2000 Senate run, Robinson's own website published "The Robinson Report", a report that explains every incident in his life that he thought might be fodder for attacks. The report included an ex-girlfriend's restraining order against him (which was dropped), a drunken driving charge (also dropped after he passed a Breathalyzer test), and an arrest for failing to pay a speeding ticket.
The report led to Robinson being disowned by Massachusetts Republican Governor Paul Cellucci and the State Republican Party.[1]
[edit] Candidate for Office
[edit] United States Senate, 2000
| United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 2000 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Democratic | Edward M. Kennedy | 1,889,494 | 72.69 | +14.62 | |
| Republican | Jack E. Robinson | 334,341 | 12.86 | -28.15 | |
| Libertarian | Carla Howell | 308,860 | 11.88 | +11.22 | |
| Constitution | Philip F. Lawler | 42,113 | 1.62 | +1.62 | |
| Independent | Dale E. Friedgen | 13,687 | 0.53 | +0.53 | |
| Timesizing Not Downsizing | Philip Hyde III | 8,452 | 0.33 | +0.33 | |
| All others | 2,473 | 0.10 | +0.07 | ||
| Total votes | 2,599,420 | 64.84% | |||
[edit] Secretary of the Commonwealth, 2002
| Massachusetts Secretary of State Election, 2002 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Democratic | William F. Galvin | 1,472,562 | 73.97 | ||
| Republican | Jack E. Robinson III | 516,260 | 25.93 | ||
| Write-in | 1,832 | 0.09 | |||
| Turnout | 1,990,654 | ||||
| Democratic hold | Swing | ||||
[edit] United States Congress, 2006 (9th District)
Robinson received 25.71% of the vote against incumbent Congressman Steven Lynch.
[edit] Published works
- Freefall: The Needless Destruction of Eastern Air Lines and the Valiant Struggle to Save It (Harpercollins, 1992) ISBN 0-887-30556-3
