The shy and retiring, softly spoken CEO of Microsoft, Steve "there is a kind of hush" Ballmer, has written a cheque which will turn his former boss's dad incandescent with rage.
Ballmer has broken his piggy bank to spend $100,000 in a bid to defeat an income tax on individuals in Washington state making more than $200,000. Dubbed Initiative 1098 the proposal is set for a November ballot.
One of the biggest proponents of the new law is Bill Gates II, who is the father of Microsoft co-founder Sir Bill Gates III. Sir Bill was once Ballmer's boss before he went off to save the world from the mosquito, leaving Steve to lose control of the mobile market.
Initiative 1098 will reduce state property taxes and eliminate business and occupation tax for some of the state's smallest businesses.
Proceeds from the income tax would be used for health services and public education.
Ballmer's contribution gives the Defeat 1098 campaign a shot in the arm at a time when the rhetoric on the issue is starting to heat up.
Their feeling is that I-1098 would be the largest tax increase in state history, adding that it could damage the business community by making it harder to recruit talent to the region. They even dusted off Thatcher's idea that if a few people get stonkingly rich then it will eventually "trickle down" to poor people who will finally have jobs shining rich people's shoes or supplying them with cocaine.
Total funding of Defeat 1098 now stands at $3.4 million while supporters of 1098 have raised $3.5 million so it is looking like a tie.
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But the $7,500 for
Jim DeMinted of SC?
Well that just cakes the take!
I never had the King of Bing
pegged for a Tea Partier. But eh, meh.
There are three things I have learned never to discuss with Tea Party people: religion,
politics and
the Great Pumpkin.
Shorely, Sarah {van} Palin hath pulled away Ballmer's fútbol - so we can see him fly through the air, punt and fall flat on his back. Re-runs? Again?
We're obviously separated by denominational differences.
So it's Ballmer's mission to find Sir William's Red Baron and shoot him down with his Sopwith Camel upholstered chair?
"Contact!" he shouts.
Ballmer must get discouraged because more people believe in Steve Jobs than in him. Well, let's face it; Steve Jobs has had more publicity, but being #2, perhaps you try harder.
The Great Pumpkin is a fake!
Everyone tells me you are a fake, but I believe in you. P.S.: If you really are a fake, don't tell me. I don't wanna know. You're a Good Man, Todd Palin. I wouldn't give your troubles to a monkey on a rock.