President Obama – Bill Gates

Bill Gates supported President Obama with his attendance at the fundraising lunch at the mansion of Jeff and Susan Brotman on February 17, 2012. This event was reported today in The Seattle Times. The Times reported the $17,900 per plate brunch was attended by approximately 70 people. Natalie Cole performed and the lunch was prepared by renowned chef, Tom Douglas. An earlier post has more information on the event.

Gates and Brotman are Medina neighbors with Jeff Bezos’ mansions in between. The Brotman mansion is in the exclusive cove of Medina that includes Nathan Myhrvold’s T-Rex house, Charles Simonyi’s Windows 2000 house and Gary Reed’s former estate. Cruising, boating and viewing this area is featured in Lake Washington Cruising blog posts (5/8/11 and 5/4/11).

Jeff is the Chairman and co-founder of Costco. The mansion, as reported in the New York Times and my earlier post, is known as “Their Art House.”

The A through F letters in the above picture of Gates’ mansion and convention center refer to a “Guide For Viewing Gates’ Mansion From the Water.” The page number on all the above mansion pictures refer to Lake Washington 130 Homes.

Jeff Brotman Hosts Michelle Obama

Jeff and Susan Brotman hosted lunch with Michelle Obama at their Medina mansion on October 25, 2010. The lunch was a fundraiser for US Senator Patty Murray’s (Democrat Washington) reelection. Table captains pledged $7500 each. The mansion is in the exclusive cove of Medina that includes Nathan Myhrvold’s T-Rex house, Charles Simonyi’s Window 2000 house and Gary Reed’s former estate. The mansion is on page 98 in Lake Washington 130 Homes.

Jeff is the Chairman and co-founder of Costco. The mansion is also known as “their Art House” that includes monumental pieces by Richard Serra and James Turrell. The house was designed by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects who are known for designing art-galleries-cum-residences (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/13/magazine/footnotes-100439.html?pagewanted=2). The louvers on the front (water side) and roof of the house adjust to provide the opitimun natural light on the extensive art collection.

Obama – Murray Fundraiser at Glaser Mansion

The major Seattle fund raiser for President Obama and U.S. Senator Patty Murray on August 17, 2010, was at the new 7,300 sq ft mansion of Rob and Cori Glaser. 60 prominent Democratic donors attended the $10,000 per late luncheon. Rob, a former Microsoft mega-millionaire, started RealNetworks in 1995. He recently retired from his CEO position at the company.

RealNetworks produces music, video and other software for PCs, smart phones, and portable music players. Some of its best known products are RealPlayer and RealRhapsody.

Rob and his wife, Cori, are major Democratic contributors and fund raisers. They were strong financial supporters of Obama’s 2004 U.S Senate campaign.

Glaser owns two similar looking side-by-side mansions in the Madison-Park/Denny-Blaine/Madrona area. The 5,240 sq ft mansion on the left/south was built in 1980 and had a major renovation completed in 2008 when the new 7,300 sq ft mansion on the right/north was completed. This compound was not included in Lake Washington 130 Homes. It is between the McCaw and Rose Mediterranean villas on pages 38 and 40 in the book.