Obama Mercer Island Advisor Joseph Schocken

Joseph and Judy Schocken’s Mercer Island Mansion

This modern mansion, 0.4 miles north of Paul Allen’s (12/28/10 post for viewing guide) campus/compound, is 5,400 sq ft on 0.87 acres with 200 feet of waterfront and a private beach. An information and viewing guide for the neighborhood is in a 2/27/12 “Cruising South Lake Washington” post.

President Obama selected Joseph Schocken from Mercer Island as an advisor for the Administration’s JOBS Act signed into law last month. A 4/7/12 feature article in The Seattle Times by Jon Talton has more information. Schocken attended the Rose Garden bill-signing ceremony.

Back in 2004 a 7/27/04 feature article in The Seattle Times by David Postman highlighted Schocken’s rise to the Democratic Party’s elite. Joseph and his wife, Judy, have raised millions of dollars for the Democratic Party. This includes fundraisers at their beautiful Mercer Island waterfront mansion. They have personally donated close to a million dollars over the years. They personally know the last three Democratic presidential candidates and spent weekends on Nantucket with John and Teresa Heinz Kerry during the Edwards-Kerry campaign. He is a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and attends dinners with the Committee’s high-level National Advisory Board. The Board has about 30 members that are at the highest level of the Party. The Schocken’s four children are also political activists.

Joseph is president and founder (1987) of Broadmark Capital, LLC, a prominent Seattle investment bank. The firm has raised more than $1 billion for investment in more than 75 (and growing) regional businesses. Most of these are technology related and the investments can be for start-up or secondary stages. Bennett Environment, Optiva and Universal Access are some of the firm’s client companies. Joseph is on the boards of numerous companies.

President Obama at Blumes’ Seattle Mansion

President Obama returned to the Seattle area last Thursday for a lavish fundraiser at a prominent waterfront mansion. The event was covered in a Seattle Times 5/10/12 article. The $35,800 per plate lunch was at the mansion of Bruce and Anne Blume in the Denny-Blaine neighborhood of Seattle on Lake Washington waterfront. The article reported the Blumes are major Democratic donors, who have given more than $118,000 to federal Democratic candidates and committees since 2008, including $50,000 they gave to help finance Obama's inauguration party. President and Michelle Obama have attended previous lavish Lake Washington waterfront mansion fundraisers at the homes of Costco Co-Founder Jeff Brotman (12/18/12, 2/9/12, 10/24/10 posts), former Microsoft President Jon Shirley (10/5/11 post), and RealNetworks Founder Rob Glaser (9/27/10 post).

This $20 million mansion was built over a period of three plus years for the Blumes by Charter Construction. The mansion is on page 37 in Lake Washington 130 Homes. The neighborhood includes numerous prominent mansions including two that formerly belonged to two of the famous McCaw brothers. Neighborhood information is in LW Cruising 4/19/12 and 4/24/12 posts.

The Blumes’ former residence in Broadmoor is listed for sale for $3 million. Bruce is a prominent commercial real estate developer. His firm, The Blume Co., is a major developer in the South Lake Union and University of Washington districts. He founded the company in 1982. The company owns 16 buildings on 10 acres in 6 centers. The centers are Yale Campus, 1100 Eastlake, Eastlake Center, University Center, 45th Street Place and Northlake Place.

The mansion is 13,300 sq ft on 1.0 acres with 160 feet of waterfront. This is the former site of the Canadian Consulate. Blume acquired the property from Canada 1/18/05 for $7.8 million and, in 2006, demolished the consulate and started construction on the current mansion. The seller is listed as “Her Majesty Elizabeth II – Queen of Canada.” This is the way Canada lists its foreign properties but the Queen was never here. Some tours incorrectly tell their groups this was the site of the Seattle vacation home for the Queen. The Canadian Consulate is now located in downtown Seattle in the 30 story Century Square building at the corner of Pike and 4^th Ave.