Bill Gates isn't the only billionaire thug prowling Western Washington. There's his partner in crime, Paul Allen. And there's Craig McCaw, another high-teck jerk.
McCaw helped promote the late Seattle Schools Superintendent John Stanford - a retired general and friend of Colin Powell - for promotion to the position of U.S. Secretary of State. I'm certain Stanford would have got the job under either President Gore or Bush, had he survived.
More recently, McCaw hosted George W. Bush when he visited Seattle. The event raised more than $1 million for Bush's re-election, but guess who got stuck with the tab? That's right - the taxpayers.
I know a guy who used to work for the McCaw's. He said Craig's wife was a real skinflint. They divorced, and she used part of her fortune to buy a newspaper in California - after which she began shafting the employees right and left. Sounds like a couple of corporate lemons that were made for each other.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001842839_bush24e.html