Salon | Letters to the editor

_______________ IS BILL GATES A CLOSET LIBERAL? BY ANDREW LEONARD (01/29/98)

After Salon's poorly researched piece on Bill Gates' philanthropy that ran in January 1997, Andrew Leonard's piece is refreshingly accurate -- the polar opposite of the earlier piece. And I say that as a reporter who has covered Microsoft continuously for national news magazines for a total of 10 years this month.
Mr. Leonard produced a nice and well-researched as well as well-written piece -- except for one thing. In examining the various "causes" Bill Gates has supported with the small donations Mr. Leonard highlights as "liberal," did it occur to anyone that Melinda French Gates is neither a marionette-esque show bride nor a stay-at-home, apolitical, soccer mom-in-training? She seems to be almost nonexistent as far as the article goes, except for a brief mention.
But Ms. Gates is a Duke University graduate and an MBA in her own right. She was outstanding enough to be hired at Microsoft on her own, before she met Bill. She is both brilliant and witty, besides caring. And she very publicly cares about all kinds of issues -- from local theater to breast cancer research to young women's mentoring programs. I think Mr. Leonard got a bit too caught up in the so-called "cult of Bill" and missed that part of the story.
The Gates' marriage is, from all externally observable signs, just that -- a marriage, a loving collaboration between equals. Bill may be the one who put the "bill" in billionaire, but he is only half of that union. Like he loved and respected his mother, Bill most apparently feels the same for Melinda.
In examining many of the "causes" supported by the Gates family, don't shortchange her. Don't you suppose that, with a young daughter, she might also have a stake in issues such as education, women's reproductive rights and gun control? I'm relatively certain that she has as much to do with what causes the Gates Foundation chooses to support as either father or son.
So the article's connections between Bill Gates' technology/business agenda and his purported social agenda may be a bit overplayed once you examine them in that light. To examine the conspiracy-theory point of view may be convenient for the sake of creating a story thread for the piece, but it is just as likely that Melinda's influence helps to drive many of those choices.
-- Stuart J. Johnston
Senior Editor
Information Week magazine
SALON | Feb. 5, 1998

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_______________ IS BILL GATES A CLOSET LIBERAL? BY ANDREW LEONARD (01/29/98)
	After Salon's poorly researched piece on Bill Gates' philanthropy that ran in January 1997, Andrew Leonard's piece is refreshingly accurate -- the polar opposite of the earlier piece. And I say that as a reporter who has covered Microsoft continuously for national news magazines for a total of 10 years this month. Mr. Leonard produced a nice and well-researched as well as well-written piece -- except for one thing. In examining the various "causes" Bill Gates has supported with the small donations Mr. Leonard highlights as "liberal," did it occur to anyone that Melinda French Gates is neither a marionette-esque show bride nor a stay-at-home, apolitical, soccer mom-in-training? She seems to be almost nonexistent as far as the article goes, except for a brief mention. But Ms. Gates is a Duke University graduate and an MBA in her own right. She was outstanding enough to be hired at Microsoft on her own, before she met Bill. She is both brilliant and witty, besides caring. And she very publicly cares about all kinds of issues -- from local theater to breast cancer research to young women's mentoring programs. I think Mr. Leonard got a bit too caught up in the so-called "cult of Bill" and missed that part of the story. The Gates' marriage is, from all externally observable signs, just that -- a marriage, a loving collaboration between equals. Bill may be the one who put the "bill" in billionaire, but he is only half of that union. Like he loved and respected his mother, Bill most apparently feels the same for Melinda. In examining many of the "causes" supported by the Gates family, don't shortchange her. Don't you suppose that, with a young daughter, she might also have a stake in issues such as education, women's reproductive rights and gun control? I'm relatively certain that she has as much to do with what causes the Gates Foundation chooses to support as either father or son. So the article's connections between Bill Gates' technology/business agenda and his purported social agenda may be a bit overplayed once you examine them in that light. To examine the conspiracy-theory point of view may be convenient for the sake of creating a story thread for the piece, but it is just as likely that Melinda's influence helps to drive many of those choices. -- Stuart J. Johnston Senior Editor Information Week magazine SALON \| Feb. 5, 1998