“Two years after the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, his widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, is stepping more visibly onto the national political stage — and generating buzz in Washington, D.C., about her future,” Michelle Quinn reports for Politico. “After dropping in on lawmakers late last year, Jobs has become a regular visitor to Capitol Hill to press for immigration reform, meeting last month with GOP leaders, including House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). She’s also weighed in on the current shutdown turmoil in Washington, offering support for the president’s approach to the budget battle and Obamacare in a recently released video. And she has been an active Democratic donor and player for other political causes.”
“Her evolution from a quiet supporting player in the shadow of her charismatic husband to a public figure willing to speak out about hot-button issues is especially notable, given Steve Jobs’s purported contempt for politicians and the political process. And while she’s just beginning to embrace a more prominent role and has largely kept to tightly controlled appearances, Washington is taking notice,” Quinn reports. “‘The word has gone out: If she wants a meeting with you, you meet with her,’ said Frank Luntz, a GOP pollster who has done immigration reform focus groups and surveys on behalf of Laurene Powell Jobs. ‘She is known on the Hill… The only thing that Senate Democrats and House Republicans have in common is a good relationship with Laurene.'”
“Along with her increasing profile on policy matters, Jobs also has landed some press coverage amid rumors she’s been spending time with former Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty, now an adviser to Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm,” Quinn reports. “Described by Forbes as the richest woman in Silicon Valley with an estimated net worth of $11.7 billion, Jobs has been a behind-the-scenes advocate for education reform for years… It was her work with College Track kids that led her to campaign for the DREAM Act, a longtime proposal in Congress to provide a path to citizenship for undocumented youth.”
Quinn reports, “She has also given to the president and a smattering of Democratic campaign committees and candidates nationally, according to Center for Responsive Politics’ OpenSecrets.org website. This year, she gave $2,600 to Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a Democrat running for Senate, and attended a fundraiser at the home of venture capitalist John Doerr for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). In January, she joined her friend Ron Conway, another leading Silicon Valley investor, to help raise money for the anti-gun violence group, Americans for Responsible Solutions.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Former D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty and his ‘budding romance’ with Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Steve Jobs – August 9, 2013
Laurene Powell Jobs urges passage of ‘Dream Act’ immigration reform bill – April 12, 2013
Laurene Powell Jobs looks to create bipartisan support for DREAM Act immigration reform – December 18, 2012
Laurene Powell Jobs aligns against teachers unions; backs education reform, charter schools, vouchers – May 26, 2012
The quest to turn the U.S.A. into beleaguered Europe continues with misguided, confused souls like Laurene.
Must’ve missed the memo.
What, exactly, does this video and Laurene have in common again? lol
You guys are weird. Scary weird.
just that he is another clueless idiot ranting about dingbat right wing politics on a gadget site.
Be charitable. The general population of normals has marginalized the right-wing nut jobs because they don’t make any sense and tend to have flecks of spit on their lips when they rant. So the RWNJs have taken to the Internet. You can’t see them foaming at the mouth in a gadget forum.
This is the only place the crazies can yell like maniacs without having to see mothers scurry to the other side of the streets with their children to avoid getting crazy-person spit all over them.
“What, exactly, does this video and Laurene have in common again?” The video shows that immigration reform can lead to nasty, divisive politics that is contrary to liberal democracy. And Laurene is advocating immigration reform. That’s what Laurene and this video have in common.
One can easily forget that the financial problems with the banks all started on your side of the pond. Difference is that on this side we have been having to bring half a continent into the real world the rest of us have come to take for granted. Certainly plenty of complacency to battle but don’t think that you are in any way immune from similar problems and economically the core of Europe may be better prepared than you are for the inevitable western decline. The religious nutters are a bigger worry but then they are pretty common over there too though usually for the moment more likely to look like your next door neighbour. But on immigration reform I agree be damn careful thats the danger for us all eventually.
Oh boy, let the political comment circus begin..
You must be one of the enlightened ones. “Screw everyone else as long as I get mine.”
… and saw no mention of “sharia”. Why would you want to inject this into the conversation? It isn’t related to AAPL, AFAIK it isn’t a topic LPJ has championed.
Perhaps you are merely wishing to derail what might be a useful conversation by trolling it?
@MacFreak is a Not Very Astute Troll! Go Away, Freakoid.
Why not discuss what the supporters of shariah mean when they say the democracy is incompatible with their religion?
Uhhhhh — because it’s a FUCKING MAC NEWS SITE!!!!!!!!!
It is fascinating to me that conservatives like to use sharia law to fear monger against the opposing party.
How about you stop raising the spectre of islamo-fascism and deal with the christo-fascists in your own party? Government policy driven by religious zealotry is evil regardless of the religion doing the driving.
I’m sure the millions who died under the atheistic governments of Russia, China, Cambodia, etc might disagree with your interpretation of history.
… those “atheistic governments” were just as hard on Islam as they were on Christianity. Did you not do your reading? Or does the truth not matter to you?
Don’t bother to answer … rhetorical question of a TROLL.
And now back to the topic of AAPL-related stuff.
So you are saying that the religion of Liberalism government should be outlawed? AGREED!
And wasn’t it the wingnuts on the Left calling Republicans Taliban??? Why yes… yes they were! My you have short term memory! Or maybe ‘Truth’ just deals in half-truths!
LOL @ the comment about the Democrats and Republicans having one thing in common. Nothing to do with the billions upon billions of dollars she has of course 🙂
As Muslims in Belgistan are roughly 6% of the population according to Wikipedia I think they’ll need a hell of a lot more of them to change the constitution.
It’s. It the number of population it’s the bomb threats and mass murders that make them cower,… Their numbers will grow as they pop little bomb throwers out at record rates. World if you haven’t got it by now, your doomed.
If she only had $11.70 in her pocket she wouldn’t even get the time of day.
Remember folks: This is an international forum. The world is watching and judging your rants. A fine rant can be appreciated if it includes genuine facts and shuns ‘talking points’ and personal attacks and insults.
LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
More fluff and bullshit articles. Lauren whatshername has nobody’s ear in Cesspool DC. Why would she, she has done nothing except be The Child Abandoner’s wife. How about you. Do you fawn over do-nothing wives?
Conservatives are like Samsung. Neither can think of new ideas and only copy what is ‘tried and true’. No creativity or imagination.
Precisely. Although it should be noted that many self-proclaimed conservatives also advocate repeating sub-optimal “tradition” despite all evidence that those methods are NOT “tried and true”. Doubling down on dogma is a core competency of the extreme right.
… and to be fair, complete incompetence is a specialty of the extreme left. For the silent majority of independent, scientific, thinking, moderate, deist voters — a Mac is for them.
man I miss the days when I was young enough to believe I was something special.
That is the only downside to maturity I feel – the realization that you are nothing more than another maggot in the pile. lol.
@ Really
to quote leonard cohen, you seem to have been, ‘digging in the tooth pile for grins.’
according to the Bible, ‘you are fearfully and wonderfully made… in God’s image.’ you can’t get more special than that.
… and atheists fit that “Biblical” description. Yet you talk about them like they are something other than “wonderful made”.
Wait … isn’t that part of the OT? Codified before Christ’s grandparents were born? So … it either referred to ALL, or just to Jews. Which do YOU think?
@Even the Muslims …
this reply may be coming too late after your post, you might not get to read it, sorry.
atheists are also wonderfully created by God, though they reject the very thought of God, preferring to believe they evolved from some primordial soup.
if i am not mistaken, this puts them into the same belief system as people like king Mel, for whom empiricism and faith are mutually exclusive.
j.eric, I am far more of a rationalist than an empiricist. Reason and logic are preeminent in my approach to life. I would also like to correct another of your assertions…I do not necessarily repudiate faith, although I do object to religious zealotry expressed in terms of laws or conflict. Also, it is KingMel, not king Mel.
I do not claim to be an atheist, although I do lean in that direction. I used to identify myself as an agnostic because I doubted the existence of God, but felt that atheism was a form of hubris from the viewpoint of rationalism. It really does not matter to me, one way or the other. I figure that I will find out when I die.
Belief in God, or lack thereof, is far less important to me than the worldly influences of organized religion. History is replete with atrocities backed by various religions, and I distrust anyone who claims to interpret the will of a deity and impose his/her belief system upon society. The morality inherent in Christianity and some other religions are generally acceptable to me, but the theistic trappings are not.
From the standpoint of an atheist, your second paragraph is utter nonsense. That makes it somewhat humorous.
just another progressive, billionaire widow with time on her hands trying to give meaning to her life by shaping the world into her own idealized image. supporting the human virus, harry reid? are you kidding me?
i seriously doubt jobs would be pleased!
435 members of the House, 100 Senators. $1.6M avg to get a Representative elected, $10.4M avg to get a Senator elected. You get a shot at all of the Representatives and 1/3 of the Senators every two years. Next election (435 X $1.6M) + (33 X $10.4M) = $1,039M. Costs her less than 10% of her net worth to clean up the mess, then a couple of $342M rounds to clean up the rest of the Senate. She just needs to buy the Government outright. She would only have to do it once. After everyone saw the benefit of an intelligent, well run government they’ll get reelected without a lot of spending. A couple of the right laws passed, outlawing anonymous political speech and de-gerrymandering the country and America will right itself once again.
Please Ms Powell Jobs, buy Washington!
The Belgistan video comes from Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network. That’s not going to get any credibility with me. It’s just another alarmist hook to rake in more money from the gullible.