LEXINGTON - As a physician, Jill Stein says she grew tired of prescribing pills for people who could not afford them, so she left her clinical practice and decided to go into medical research and policy work to help improve the nation’s health care system.
Now, the 60-year-old says she is sick of politicians who promote solutions, such as business tax incentive programs, that only benefit the wealthy.
She says the focus of state government on corporate elites — instead of the working class — is what has motivated her to mount her second run for governor of Massachusetts as a Green-Rainbow candidate.
"Business as usual has not been delivering for ordinary people," she told The Associated Press during a recent interview at her home in suburban Lexington. "We are starving small businesses so that we can give to the big gorillas."
Stein paints her opponents — Democrat Gov. Deval Patrick, Republican Charles Baker, and independent Timothy Cahill — as three political insiders who care more about "arcane policy details" than the real needs of people across the state.
"They tend to spend a lot of time finger-pointing and calling each other liars," she said. "Who could care less?"
Stein is a graduate of Harvard and Harvard Medical School. She has been an internist, medical teacher, author and guitarist. Her husband is a surgeon, and the couple has two sons — 27-year-old Ben and 24-year-old Noah.
In 2003, she helped found the Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities, a nonprofit focused on health care and the green economy. She has not practiced medicine since 2006, instead becoming something of a perennial candidate.
In 2002, she ran for governor; she ended up receiving 3.5 percent of the vote. She then ran unsuccessfully for state representative in 2004 and secretary of state in 2006, but explained losing did not mean the campaigns were not successful.
"Change does not happen easily," she said.
If she were to be elected, Stein would have the state place more emphasis on creating green jobs. She would support public schools rather than pitting them against charter schools. When she gets to talking about subjects that she feels the most passionate about, like creating more home weatherization programs to reduce energy costs, she moves her hands emphatically and leans in to her audience.
Stein hopes her message connects with voters who are upset with the status quo, including tea party supporters. She says she sometimes refers to her coalition of supporters as the "Green Tea Party."
"We share the same feeling that we have been betrayed," Stein said.
Some political observers believer her campaign can siphon liberal voters from Patrick, since Stein espouses support for the legalization of marijuana and single-payer health care while opposing casino gambling.
So far, Stein has attacked Patrick for what she calls his failure to deliver results for the middle class.
"The governor pretends he is a friend of the ordinary working person," she said. "He is powered by big corporate America."
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