Microsoft Donates to No!200 Campaign

Friday, August 28, 1998 - Seattle Times

by Tom Brune
Seattle Times staff reporter

Microsoft has signed on to efforts to defeat Initiative 200 with a contribution of $25,000, the No!200 campaign said yesterday.

Microsoft came to its decision after a long process and despite the fact some of its executives are supporters of I-200.

I-200, which voters will decide in the Nov. 3 election, would ban preferences based on race, ethnicity and gender in state and local public employment, contracting and education, ending affirmative action as it is now practiced.

Like Boeing and other corporations that have contributed to the No!200 campaign, Microsoft stressed the business reasons for its stand on the initiative.

"We view Initiative 200 as a step backward in creating a community where there are opportunities for everyone," said Microsoft spokesman Jim Cullinan.

Noting the nation's high-tech industry has more than 340,000 open positions, he said, "We in Microsoft are actively working to expand the number of people of color and women who go into those careers. We believe Initiative 200 could have a negative impact on those efforts."

I-200 chair John Carlson said, "I'm disappointed. All we're asking the government to do is what Microsoft already does - hire the best applicants, regardless of race, regardless of gender."

Both sides made presentations to Microsoft. The company notified No!200 about its support this week, said campaign spokeswoman Michelle Ackermann.

Bill Gates, founder and chairman of the Redmond software giant, has not made a personal contribution to either side, but his father, attorney William Gates Jr., has given $25,000 to No!200 and has encouraged others to contribute to it.

However, the I-200 campaign has gotten contributions of $10,000 from Tom Isenberg, a Microsoft program manager, and $6,580 from Microsoft chief operating officer Bob Herbold and his wife Pat, an I-200 co-chair.

Return to the I-200 page.
Return to the Affirmative Action and Diversity Page

Carl Gutiérrez-Jones
Department of English
University of California, Santa Barbara
e-mail: carlgj@humanitas.ucsb.edu