Google Chairman Eric Schmidt is already ruling out a Cabinet seat under Hillary Clinton.
In an interview with Fox Business Network set to air on Friday evening, Schmidt said that he has no interest in Washington and “would not” work in Clinton’s administration if she were to run for the White House and win in 2016.
{mosads}“I’m very happy at Google,” said Schmidt, who was rumored to have been in the running for either Treasury or Commerce secretary earlier in the Obama administration.
“When you look at the situation we have in Washington, the incentives are not for compromise, they’re for misalignment,” he added. “The financial systems — and this is true of all the parties — we are better off trying to make America a better place from the private sector, from the education, in my opinion.”
Schmidt is an active political donor who has given tens of thousands of dollars to politicians this cycle. While he served as a campaign advisor to Obama and tends to support Democrats, he has also given generously to major Republicans.
In the Fox Business Network interview, Schmidt confirmed that he is a fan of Clinton, who is considered to be the prohibitive Democratic front-runner if she chooses to run for president, even though he would not work for her.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has made an aggressive attempt to court Silicon Valley executives ahead of a possible 2016 presidential run, and is in the process of opening an office near the tech mecca.
Paul is “not for me personally,” Schmidt said. “But the fact of the matter is he’s been an effective voice for high tech, and I think he understands us pretty well.”
The Google chief added that Paul “has a strong following in the high tech community because he is a libertarian,” which matches a similarly strong libertarian strain in the tech sector.