Weld touts app for recovering alcoholics

Governor William Weld.Bill Brett/Globe staff

To be clear, he still enjoys a little wine.

William Floyd Weld, the former governor, is not a user of a fledgling smartphone app that connects recovering alcoholics. But he is on the board of advisers.

Weld, who famously enjoyed "amber-colored liquid" during his time in office, is helping the app get off the ground, advising, and fund-raising. The app works because it can help someone, for example, in an airport who wants a drink, and can't get to a meeting, connect with someone else in recovery, he said.

"The ability of these folks to stay in touch with each other is a real part of the program, of staying sober," Weld said. He added that he had been impressed by Sober Grid's revenue models, calling it "the ultimate double bottom-line company."

Despite having lost 33 pounds in the past year, he said — "I started shopping at Whole Foods and eating their salads" — Weld told the Globe that, while staying away from the hard stuff, he is "a wine-drinker, still."

Big Red held forth on a range of issues:

■  The Iranian nuclear deal, engineered by former rival John F. Kerry, may have “gifts that keep on giving” as the Iranian populace “tilts toward the West” in the next few decades.

■  His former protégé, Governor Charlie Baker, is “doing a terrific job,” Weld said. “He’s just like me, except he’s a hard worker.”

■  He has joined former governor Michael Dukakis as a mass transit advocate and user. From his new home in Canton, Weld hops the commuter rail in Readville, and gets “25 minutes’ work done” en route to South Station. It beats driving from Cambridge, he said.

■  Higher salaries for lawmakers would be a good thing, the former GOP governor said, because it would diversify their backgrounds. “I agree with [Senate President] Stan Rosenberg that people in public life are not paid enough in this state,” he said. Noting that he had long denied cutting “a tacit deal” with legislative leaders to bump lawmaker pay, Weld said, “Nobody ever asked me the follow-up question, which is: Was it an express deal? And the answer is, yes, it was an express deal.”