William Harrison "Bill" Binnie is an American businessman. He currently serves as president of Carlisle Capital Corporation and was chairman of Carlisle Plastics, Inc until he sold the company in Sept, 1996.

Binnie resides in Rye, New Hampshire with his wife Nina and four children.

Early years and education

Binnie was born in Scotland and immigrated to the United States at the age of 5. The son of a janitor and day laborer, Binnie attended Harvard University on a scholarship, paying for room and board by working on cars as a mechanic. As a student, Bill managed to serve as a research fellow for the Accounting Review, a technical journal on finance and accounting.

Upon graduation from Harvard, Binnie attended Harvard Business School. He became the president of one of the largest student organizations on campus, the Management Consulting Club, and began his business career at McKinsey & Co.

Candidacy for United States Senate

Binnie is running as a Republican for the United States Senate seat currently held by Judd Gregg. The primary will be held on September 14, 2010, and Binnie will be running for the Republican nomination against former state Attorney General Kelly Ayotte and former State Board of Education chair Ovide Lamontagne. The Democrat in the Senatorial race is incumbent Congressman Paul Hodes.

Binnie formally announced his candidacy in November 2009. He is the only businessperson in the Republican primary race and the only candidate on either side who has never held political office before.

Binnie modeled his political beliefs after the former President Ronald Reagan's vision of a limited government in order to foster economic growth.

Economic issues

Government stimulus plan

Binnie has said publicly he would have voted "no" on the stimulus plan if he had been in office. Binnie has also publicly stated he would fire CEOs on Wall Street if they had taken the public money because their companies had failed and it was time for new management.

Jobs

As an immediate solution for unemployment, Binnie has said "he would advocate proposals for a job tax credit to aid the unemployed get jobs and by helping help employers afford their salary."

Spending

After announcing to the Rye Republican Party that he would be filing for the US Senate, Binnie noted he would make holding Washington spending accountable one of the key platforms of his campaign.

Binnie told reporters that "[to] put Washington on a financial diet is critical to restoring a healthy economy".

Health care

Binnie has proposed building new public health schools for doctors, dentists, and nurses to handle the increase in demand.

Social issues

Same-sex marriage

Binnie told reporters he personally believed the term marriage applied to a union between a man and a woman, but took no issue with the settled law in New Hampshire. Current New Hampshire law does not reserve marriage to heterosexual couples: legislation passed in June 2009 permits same-sex marriage (as of January 1, 2010.)

Abortion

Binnie identifies himself as pro-choice.

Business career

Forbes Magazine (July 1992) has described Bill as “energetic and bright” and a “whirlwind of a manager”.

Over the years, Binnie has founded and started a number of small businesses and large corporations. Until September 1996, Binnie was the chairman of Carlisle Plastics, Inc., which manufactures trash bags, coat hangers and plastic sheeting.

He served as the chairman of the board of the company from 1985 onwards and as Chief Executive Officer and President from 1985 to 1994. In 1996 he owned 62.5% of the class B shares in the company which made him the majority owner. In September 1996 he sold his controlling interest to Tyco International.

He built Carlisle Plastics into an industry-leading plastics developer. The company provided jobs for thousands of individuals, some of which have been moved overseas. Carlisle Plastics was voted one of Walmart’s “Vendors of the Year” and made Bill one of the youngest CEO’s on the New York Stock Exchange at the age of 32.

Binnie recently founded Carlisle Capital Corporation, also known as Sterling Capital Corporation, an investments firm. "Current estimates show this company has an annual revenue of $2.5 to 5 million and employs a staff of approximately 5 to 9," says the tracking site Manta.com.

Controversy

A&E Plastics, Plásticos BajaCal

According to The Children of NAFTA: Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border by journalist and photographer David Bacon, a 2004 book which received a Gustavus Myers award, in 1989 a Carlisle Plastics factory named A&E Plastics in Santa Ana, California employing 450 workers was closed by Carlisle and operations were moved to Tijuana, Mexico, to a maquiladora named Plásticos BajaCal. The book implies that this was done partly in response to an attempt by the A&E Plastics employees to form a union.

At Plásticos BajaCal in Mexico numerous workers were fired for attempting to organize an independent union, a step documented in company letters to fired employees that named handing out leaflets as a cause for termination. These and various other incidents led to an investigation by the U.S. Congress. However, such terminations may have been permitted by Mexican labor law.

A vote mandated by the Mexican government nominally resulted in the workers choosing the existing union rather than the newly-formed independent union. Unsubstantiated allegations have been made claiming that threats and blacklisting of workers influenced the outcome of that vote.

Democratic candidate campaign contributions

Although Binnie is competing for the Republican candidacy he has previously made at least one campaign contribution to Democratic New Hampshire state Senator Martha Fuller Clark. The $1000 contribution was in equal amount to a contribution made to the campaign of former Republican U.S. Senator John Sununu at the same time.

Racing career

A lifetime driver and mechanic, Bill drives for Binnie Motorsports, two-time class winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Philanthropy

After the death of his long-time friend George Jackson, Binnie became a cofounder of the George Jackson Academy in New York City, NY for underprivileged youth.

References

1. http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091105/GJNEWS_01/911059930/-1/FOSNEWS
2. {{Citation | title = http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=12BCC0A2C55DF660&p_docnum=1 | first1 = Kevin | last1 = Landrigan | authorlink1 = Kevin Landrigan | newspaper = Nashua Telegraph | date = 2009-11-05 | accessdate = 2009-11-09 | url = http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=12BCC0A2C55DF660&p_docnum=1
3. http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091105/GJNEWS_01/911059930/-1/FOSNEWS
4. http://www.business.com/directory/industrial_goods_and_services/industrial_supplies/plastics/carlisle_plastics,_inc/profile/
5. http://www.manta.com/company/mm42n0p
6. ,
7. http://www.binniemotorsport.com/drivers.php}