UPDATE: how Paul Allen affects UW Presidential search.
I have a proposal: why doesn’t Paul Allen just buy the UW and make it the NW version of Harvard? 
I do not know what tax rate Billionaire Paul Allen pays, but the typical rate in his bracket is 15%! On the Tom Hartmann show, see Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D, Il) propose a fair tax on millionaires and billionaires. Of course, Mr. Allen does contribute in other ways, including helping fund the opposition to a Washington State Initiative to tax ONLY the ultra rich. His spokesperson’s reason was fabulous, since we now have NO income tax, taxing ony the ultra rich would meant that Washington would ” have the fifth highest marginal tax… in the United States.”
I guess Paul Allen is doing his part. He has a LOT of toys … the the Seattle Seahawks, the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team, a 303-foot long yacht, more yachts, more houses, Jimi Hendrix’s guitar, several airplanes, a spaceship, and, oh yeh, he 
recently purchased a restored Russian MiG-29 fighter jet.
The AP writes of the purchase:
The jet had been restored by another Washington aviation enthusiast and is currently on display at Allen’s aviation museum at Paine Field in Everett. The 
manager of the Flying 
Heritage Collection says the jet is not expected to stay in Everett.
He also owns the Experience Music Museum, a testimony to a hirrid misuse of Frank Ghery’s work.
And then there is yacht collection .. including the “Octopus” .. at 416 feet, a toy SO BIG, that it carries its own helicopter pair of helicopters.
Of course when Paul lands on the Tattosh, she is not flying the US ensign, after all Allen can not afford to pay taxes.
Allen’s Flying Heritage Collection says of the MiG-29, “The two-seat Soviet-designed fighter served with Russia and the Ukrainian Air Force before coming to the U.S. for restoration.”
See a picture of the jet here, then check out photos of one of Allen’s mega-yachts, the Tatoosh.The (303.2-feet) Tatoosh has been put up for sale for $160,665,483 U.S.. There is enough room aboard for 20 guests and 30 crew, a motorboat and helipad, numerous tenders, and all the Microsoft products you will ever own. (www.heffernan-shipping.com)