2010 candidate pushing small business

Teresa Williams

THOMASVILLE — Doug MacGinnitie, a 2010 candidate for secretary of state, believes the key to creating jobs during the current recession is a focus on small business.

“More than 75 percent of jobs that are created in this kind of recession are created at the small business level,” he said. “If you care about jobs in the state, then you should care about small business.”

A Sandy Springs resident, MacGinnitie, 42, was in town Tuesday to meet with local constituents and talk about his goals if elected to the open seat (current seat-holder Karen Handel is running for governor). He was the first Republican to officially file his candidacy in February.

“I’ve been an entrepreneur and a businessman, but I’ve also given back to my community and been involved with non-profits here in Georgia and overseas. I’d like to bring that experience to the office. I think it is very important that we have people with business backgrounds in state government.”

MacGinnitie interned in President Ronald Reagan’s White House in college and said he was always interested in politics, but between his family — wife, Missy, and three children — and career, he did not have time.

“That changed the last couple of years. I wanted to go from doing things in the community to seeing if this could have some value in the political world.”

He graduated from Dartmouth College and Emory Law School, worked as an associate at Alston & Bird, was chief counsel for Georgia Pacific, and served as general counsel for Hobbs Group.

MacGinnitie co-founded and served as chief operating officer for Beecher Carlson, a commercial insurance brokerage firm based in Atlanta that now has more than 550 employees.

He currently services on the Sandy Springs City Council and is active in several civic organizations, including the Truancy Intervention Project and the Sandy Springs Rotary.

To MacGinnitie, the secretary of state has two big responsibilities: overseeing elections and regulating and administering business, especially small business.

“On the elections side, the next secretary of state is going to have to implement the new citizenship law the legislature passed this year. In summary, it says a person has to prove U.S. citizenship before being allowed to vote. The secretary of state will have to enforce that law and guide it through the court system because it will almost certainly be challenged.

“On the business side, as a state, we need to make Georgia an easy and efficient place for people to start a business, especially a small business. I would like to make the office a one stop shop for people who want to do that.”

Other duties the secretary of state has, he said, include acting as boxing commissioner and overseeing all archives in Georgia.

MacGinnitie describes the office as “a $35 million, 400 employee executive office of the state.”

“I tell people to take a look at my background. I think they will feel comfortable giving me that responsibility. I have the entrepreneurial and business experience to run the office. My goal is not to get elected, but to do something with the office and make Georgia a better place, especially on the business side.”

His goals include: conducting elections with the utmost integrity, ensuring that everyone entitled to vote has the opportunity, and bringing business fiscal discipline to the office.

“I think the current secretary of state has done a good job but, like anything, it needs constant attention.”

This is MacGinnitie’s second visit to south Georgia, and specifically to Thomasville, in the last four months, he said. Although he is from Atlanta, he believes it is important to run state-wide, get out in the communities and ask for votes.

A question he is regularly asked, MacGinnitie said, is whether or not area offices would be open under his care.

“I think there should be offices around the state and not just in Atlanta,” he said. “There are currently offices in Tifton and Macon and I would hope that we do everything we can to keep them open. This is a big state and expecting people to go to Atlanta for everything is unrealistic and not very customer friendly.”

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