Jack E. Robinson III
Encyclopedia
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
.
.
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
from Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. He ran for the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
in 2000 against Ted Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
(Democratic
Massachusetts Democratic Party
The Massachusetts Democratic Party is the state affiliate of the United States Democratic Party in the U.S. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The state party chairman is John E...
) and Carla Howell
Carla Howell
Carla A. Howell is an American political activist and small government advocate. She is President of the Center For Small Government. She is most known for organizing tax cut initiative petitions, called ballot measures in other states...
(Libertarian
Libertarian Party of Massachusetts
The Libertarian Party of Massachusetts is the Massachusetts affiliate of the Libertarian Party. The party has done well in several federal elections compared to other third parties and Libertarian state affiliates. In 2000 Carla Howell received 308,860 votes for 11.9% of the total vote . In 2002...
), losing to Kennedy. He ran for Secretary of the Commonwealth
Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth
The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth is the principal public information officer of the state government of the U.S...
in 2002 losing to William F. Galvin
William F. Galvin
William Francis Galvin is the 27th and current Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth .-Early life and career:...
, and for US House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
in Massachusetts's 9th district
Massachusetts's 9th congressional district
Massachusetts's 9th congressional district is in eastern Massachusetts, including part of Boston and some of its southern suburbs. It is currently represented by Stephen Lynch, who has served the district since 2001. It has subsumed much of the former 11th District in the south suburbs of Boston...
in 2006, losing to Stephen Lynch
Stephen Lynch (politician)
Stephen F. Lynch is the U.S. representative for . He is a member of the Democratic Party who has served since 2001. Lynch was previously an ironworker and lawyer, and served in both chambers of the Massachusetts General Court....
. In 2009, he ran against Scott Brown
Scott Brown
Scott Brown is a United States senator.Scott Brown may also refer to:-Sportsmen:*Scott Brown , American college football coach of Kentucky State...
in the Republican primaries for the special election
United States Senate special election in Massachusetts, 2010
The 2010 United States Senate special election in Massachusetts was a special election held on January 19, 2010, in order to fill the Massachusetts Class I United States Senate seat for the remainder of the term ending January 3, 2013...
to fill Ted Kennedy's Senate seat, but lost to Brown in the primaries.
Early life
Robinson grew up in the RoxburyRoxbury
Roxbury may refer to:United States*Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts*Roxbury, Connecticut*Roxbury, Kansas*Roxbury, Maine*Roxbury, New Hampshire*Roxbury Township, New Jersey*Roxbury, New York...
section of Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, 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
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
.
He attended Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
as an undergrad, and received law
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
and business
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
degrees from Harvard. After graduating he worked as an executive for Eastern Airlines and left to start his own cell phone company.
Business career
Robinson has worked in a variety of executive positions in the airline industry with Continental AirlinesContinental Airlines
Continental Airlines was a major American airline now merged with United Airlines. On May 3, 2010, Continental Airlines, Inc. and UAL, Inc. announced a merger via a stock swap, and on October 1, 2010, the merger closed and UAL changed its name to United Continental Holdings, Inc...
and Eastern Airlines, and became the youngest airline president in modern U.S. aviation history when he served as president of Eastern Express
Eastern Express
The Eastern Express is an overnight passenger train operated by the Turkish State Railways. The train runs from İstanbul's Haydarpaşa Terminal to Kars Railway Station in Kars. The train was the first overnight service east of Ankara. The Eastern Express stops in 11 provincial capitals: İstanbul,...
– at the time one of the largest regional airlines in the country. He also worked in the financial services
Financial services
Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry. The finance industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are credit unions, banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies,...
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
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, seeking to build cellular networks in those countries.
Today he is General Counsel
General Counsel
A general counsel is the chief lawyer of a legal department, usually in a corporation or government department. The term is most used in the United States...
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
SAS 70
Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70: Service Organizations, commonly abbreviated as SAS 70 and available by permission of the AICPA, is an auditing statement issued by the Auditing Standards Board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants with its content codified as...
Level II audit by Price Waterhouse Coopers.
Political Philosophy
Robinson's political philosophy is eclectic, combining conservative economic views (free tradeFree trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
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
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
) and alternative energy
Alternative energy
Alternative energy is an umbrella term that refers to any source of usable energy intended to replace fuel sources without the undesired consequences of the replaced fuels....
initiatives (including the Cape Wind Energy Project). In this respect he may be similar to former Governor William Weld
William Weld
William Floyd Weld is a former governor of the US state of Massachusetts. He served as that state's 68th governor from 1991 to 1997. From 1981 to 1988, he was a federal prosecutor in the United States Justice Department...
who was also a social liberal and fiscal conservative. He positions himself as a highly respected entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, attorney
Attorney at law
An attorney at law in the United States is a practitioner in a court of law who is legally qualified to prosecute and defend actions in such court on the retainer of clients. Alternative terms include counselor and lawyer...
, and business leader combining an inspiring rags to riches
Rags to riches
Rags to Riches refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, or sometimes from obscurity to fame. This is a common archetype in literature and popular culture ....
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.
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 orderRestraining order
A restraining order or order of protection is a form of legal injunction that requires a party to do, or to refrain from doing, certain acts. A party that refuses to comply with an order faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
against him (which was dropped), a drunken driving charge (also dropped after he passed a Breathalyzer
Breathalyzer
A breathalyzer or breathalyser is a device for estimating blood alcohol content from a breath sample...
test), and an arrest for failing to pay a speeding ticket.
The report led to Robinson being disowned by Massachusetts Republican Governor Paul Cellucci
Paul Cellucci
Argeo Paul Cellucci is an American politician and diplomat who served as the 69th Governor of Massachusetts and US Ambassador to Canada.-Early life and career:...
and the State Republican Party
Massachusetts Republican Party
The Massachusetts Republican Party is the Massachusetts branch of the United States Republican Party. Governance of the party takes the form of a State Committee which, in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 52, consists of one man and one woman from each of the 40 Senate Districts...
.
United States Senate, 2000
Secretary of the Commonwealth, 2002
United States Congress, 2006 (9th District)
Robinson received 25.71% of the vote against incumbent Congressman Steven LynchStephen Lynch (politician)
Stephen F. Lynch is the U.S. representative for . He is a member of the Democratic Party who has served since 2001. Lynch was previously an ironworker and lawyer, and served in both chambers of the Massachusetts General Court....
.
Published works
- Freefall: The Needless Destruction of Eastern Air Lines and the Valiant Struggle to Save It (Harpercollins, 1992) ISBN 0-887-30556-3