Preface:
This series will attempt to do a profile of all presidential candidates for 2020, to include President Donald Trump, potential Independent candidate Howard Schultz, and lesser known candidates like Andrew Yang and Marianne Williamson.
The goal will be to show the political viewpoints, ratings, key milestones and who has funded each candidate with a fair, no B.S.presentation of facts. I will attempt to offer as little personal perspective as practical, while sourcing reference material. It is entirely possible that other candidates will join the race after the initial run of this series. I will attempt to include as many as practical.
The most important thing is to be sure that readers are informed without bias on the candidates, so that they can make as informed of a decision as possible.
*Please note: Some categories are not listed for sake of brevity. Links to all referenced information sources are at the end of the post.
Presidential Candidate: Bill Weld
The Basics:
- Campaign Websites
- Currently:
- Member of The Council on Foreign Relations
- Independent Director / Lead Director of Investor Relations at Just Energy
- ML Strategies (Lobbying an Public Policy) – Principal at Mintz Attorneys, Corporate-Litigation-IP
- Education
- BA, Humanities, Harvard University
- JD, Law, Harvard Law School
- Diploma, Economics and Political Science, Oxford University
- Prior roles:
- Professor, Harvard University, 2000-2005
- Governor, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1991-1997
- Attorney, Hale & Dorr, 1988-1990
- Head, Department of Justice Criminal Division, 1986-1988
- Chairman, Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of United States Attorneys, 1985
- United States Attorney, District of Massachusetts, 1981-1986
- Associate Minority Council, United States House Judiciary Committee on Watergate, 1974
- Attorney, Hill & Barlow, 1970-1980
Notable Quote(s) on why he’s running:
Today at CPAC, RNC Chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, was asked about a Republican primary to President Donald Trump. In a stunning reversal of past party practice of honoring neutrality in primaries, Chairwoman McDaniel declared her endorsement of Donald Trump, asking why any Republican would run against the President.
The remarks made by RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel today were shocking coming from a Chair who is mandated by Party bylaws to remain neutral in primaries. Her endorsement of Donald Trump for President is an attempt to silence the voices of millions of Republicans across America who have every right to be heard.
She asks, “What would any Republican be thinking saying, ‘this is a guy I’m going to run against?’” I am happy to tell her what millions of her own party are thinking: “this guy” has been the most destructive and divisive President in the history of our nation. “This guy” has demeaned Americans from every walk of life, including women, the disabled, and veterans. “This guy” has embraced dictators and tyrants and nearly destroyed relationships with some of our closest friends around the world.
If the Chairwoman would like to understand why anyone would primary the President, I am happy to tell her – it’s because this corrupt, narcissistic guy is on a sure path to destroy our party and our nation and for the good of future generations, “this guy” must be stopped. Primaries should be decided by the people, not the party.
-From Bill Weld’s Instagram Campaign Site
- Not a current legislator. Not Applicable
Political History (Ballotpedia.org)
- Ran as VP candidate with Gary Johnson representing the Libertarian Party (2016).
- Won the Libertarian nomination for Governor of the State of New York. /he subsequently lost to Democrat Eliot Spitzer in the general election (2006).
- Ran as a Republican, and lost against Democrat John Kerry for a U.S. Senate seat (1996).
- Bill Weld (Republican) defeated Democrat John Silber to become Governor of the State of Massachusetts (1990)
- Approved the Massachusetts Education Reform Act (1993)
- Served as U.S. Attorney General (1986-1987) “He eventually resigned after conflicts with U.S. Attorney General Ed Meese, who appointed Weld to the position, over which division of the department should investigate the Iran-contra affair.”
- U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts (1981-1986)
Issue Positions (Votesmart.org):
- Conservative Organizations:
- The Cato Institute – Gov. Fiscal Report Card – 75%
Policy Stances (OnTheIssues.org):
- Abortion
- Remove anti-abortion language from GOP platform. (Feb 2019)
- Clinic access is guarding a fundamental constitutional right. (Jun 2016)
- Partial-birth abortion is terrible, but don’t ban it. (Aug 1997)
- Pro-choice despite the Republican pro-life party platform. (Sep 1996)
- Support a woman’s right to choose as an individual freedom. (Jun 1996)
- Establish state pro-choice laws in case Roe gets overturned. (Oct 1991)
- Civil Rights
- Supports gay marriage. (Feb 2019)
- Marriage equality is dictated by equal protection clause. (Jun 2016)
- $1M for homosexual youth office coordinator. (Aug 1997)
- 1995: reaffirmed commitment to affirmative action. (Sep 1996)
- Crime and Policing
- Prosecute police for civil rights violations. (Jul 2016)
- Opposes weekend furloughs for convicted murderers & rapists. (Oct 1996)
- When we catch the bad guys, we’ve got to hammer them. (Oct 1996)
- Support death penalty for cop killers. (Apr 1996)
- Tough on taxes, tough on crime. (Aug 1992)
- Drugs
- Tighten opioid prescription rules to keep them off streets. (Jul 2016)
- 100 million Americans who’ve smoked dope are not criminals. (Jul 2016)
- Substance abuse cases should not go to criminal prison. (Jun 2016)
- Favors medical marijuana and needle-exchange programs. (Aug 2005)
- Less welfare for drug users; tougher sentences for offenders. (Oct 1996)
- Education
- Prefers state input on education, not one national standard. (Jul 2010)
- Establish the first 25 charter schools in Massachusetts. (Mar 1995)
- Energy and Oil
- Carbon capture & sequestration technology for global warming. (Jul 2016)
- Carbon trading credits but no carbon tax. (Jul 2016)
- TAs governor, supported hybrid electric cars and natural gas. (Jun 2016)
- Foreign Policy
- Priority is not “no fly zone” but to stop killing in Aleppo. (Oct 2016)
- No alliances for intelligence: We have to do it ourselves!. (Oct 2016)
- Focus on nuclear proliferation & the Sunni-Shia schism. (Jul 2016)
- 1994: Supported $25B Mexico bailout. (Jun 2004)
- Free Trade:
- Tariffs in 1920s croaked the world economy. (Jun 2016)
- Despite being Libertarian VP, still interested in free trade. (May 2016)
- Government Reform
- Blow up unnecessary state agencies. (Feb 2019)
- Supports term limits; they bring in fresh blood. (Oct 1996)
- Reinvent ourselves from failed dogmas of big government. (Jan 1996)
- Gun Control
- Now Libertarian, changed position to opposing gun control. (May 2016)
- 2nd Amendment right s are individual rights. (May 2016)
- Supports gun control. (Aug 2005)
- Immigration
- Trump’s deportation policy is like Nazi Germany. (Feb 2019)
- Fear-mongering about immigrants is like Nazi round-ups. (Jun 2016)
- More H-1B visas; keep more foreign grads & entrepreneurs. (Apr 2013)
- Current system is “de facto legalization” for 11 million. (Apr 2013)
- Social Security
- Will not abolish social security and receives it himself. (May 2016)
- Tax Reform
- I am releasing my returns and Trump should release his. (Oct 2016)
- Cut taxes without abolishing the IRS. (Jun 2016)
- 1990s: Produced nine tax cuts as governor of Tax-achussets. (Nov 2005)
- Cut taxes 15 times as governor. (Oct 1996)
- My across-the-board tax cuts exceeded $1 billion. (Oct 1996)
- War and Peace
- Supports non-nuclear proliferation efforts. (Feb 2019)
- Presumption of non-intervention on foreign soil. (Jul 2016)
- Don’t intervene abroad when people are mean to each other. (Jun 2016)
- Welfare and poverty
- Instituted work requirements for welfare recipients. (Aug 2005)
- Wage all-out war on culture of welfare dependency. (Apr 1996)
Lobby history:
*Complete lobby history found in item 12 in the "Sources" listing
Sources
- https://www.weld2020.org/
- https://www.cfr.org/report/building-north-american-community
- https://investors.justenergy.com/william-weld
- https://investors.justenergy.com/static-files/bcb2180c-da7b-4cba-a75f-a2a1919ba14a
- https://www.mintz.com/our-people/william-f-weld
- https://www.mintz.com/industries-practices/lobbying-public-policy
- https://votesmart.org/candidate/biography/21733/william-weld
- https://www.instagram.com/p/Buc7aKIl6YK/
- https://ballotpedia.org/Bill_Weld
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Weld
- http://www.ontheissues.org/Bill_Weld.htm
- https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=william+weld&order=desc&sort=D
Previous posts in this series (2020 Presidential Candidate Profiles):
Representative Tulsi Gabbard
Senator Cory Booker
Andrew Yang
Senator Bernie Sanders
Senator Kamala Harris
Seeing Through the B.S. 
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