Independent candidate for governor Jeffrey McCormick joined Jim and Margery on Boston Public Radio for his first sit-down interview on the show. McCormick talked about being a third-party candidate, his business record, and why he'd make an exceptional governor for Massachusetts.
McCormick started his venture capital firm Saturn Partners in 1994, and his clients include Boston Duck Tours, Moo Bella Ice Creamery and Constant Contact email marketing. The following interview was lightly edited, and questions were condensed.
Did you ride a duck boat to get here in this wintry weather?
Not today, but there are days where I certainly wish I had one.
Tell people who aren't familiar with you why you're running.
I've been building companies for 25 years, and I sincerely believe we have a lot of structural problems. The companies that we've built in areas like education, energy, health care — they're areas that are extremely important to the Commonwealth right now. The other thing is, I believe what we need to do is get small businesses really on track for growth. That is where job growth comes from, that is the rising tide, if you will, that lifts all boats.
You've talked about technology solutions. Like what?
For instance, in healthcare. There's a lot of technologies that could be brought to bear that increase efficiences tremendously, which decreases the cost of healthcare, and greatly improves the outcomes in healthcare. (...) That has a ripple effect into business, because, especially for small businesses, this growing healthcare cost is really starting to choke their growth.
You're quoted in the Boston Globe as saying Charlie Baker — former head of Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, now running for governor — is not an innovator in healthcare reform. How so?
I don't see Harvard Pilgrim as being terribly innovative, and I don't know anybody who does. I think that when you look at what small companies do — companies that have single-digit numbers of employees, when they start growing them into substantial companies — they have to be innovative, that's how they carve their way into the world, with better solutions that increase efficiencies.
What's your background?
I grew up in a very, very modest family neighborhood in upstate New York. Happened to be good at sports and in school, so that was my ticket to be able to attend a college or university. I parlayed that as a scholar-athlete into paying for grad school. (...) I've been [in Boston] over half my life. I started a company more than 20 years ago to invest in these early-stage entrepreneurs that had these great solutions to problems.
You're an Independent now, but used to be a Republican. When did you become unenrolled?
I've only been unenrolled for a couple years. I've been registered as a Republican, gave a lot more money to Democrats.
Why?
I've got pretty hands-off social views. I think that people ought to manage their own lives, and I think that people do a better job of managing their lives than governments do. But I also thought that the driving force for me was, we've got to be smarter financially. We have to do what the private sector does — employ technologies, drive efficiencies, drive the outcomes, have accountability throughout the system — things in government that we just don't do well.
So, as a hands-off guy, would you vote for the legalization of marijuana?
