Ever shop at The Gap? Please read this. [View All]

[AlCzervik]

Marjie Lundstrom: Irony abounds as Gap heir opposes public preschool initiative
By Marjie Lundstrom -- Bee Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Saturday, January 21, 2006
Story appeared on Page A3 of The Bee

For years, the Gap stores have made money on kids, on coaxing parents (especially first-timers) to drop big bucks on trendy little outfits with matching hats and socks and shoes and other perky accessories.
So it's interesting, to say the least, that the son of Gap Inc. founder and chairman emeritus Donald Fisher - whose family fortune was built on outfitting young people - is opposing the new Preschool for All initiative.


San Francisco billionaire John J. Fisher, Gap heir and co-owner of the Oakland A's, recently made a $25,000 contribution to a group opposing the June 6 ballot initiative, according to campaign finance records. Around the same time last month, at least three business associates of Fisher's contributed another $60,000 to Californians to Stop Higher Taxes, a coalition of business and taxpayer organizations opposing the measure.

The initiative, which qualified last week for the primary ballot, isn't about blue jeans. It's about the welfare of California's children. It's about giving kids the right start in school and in life.

It's also about taxes, as it would raise the state income tax rate on the richest 1 percent of Californians - married couples earning over $800,000 or individuals over $400,000.

Put the Fisher family in the elite category of the über-wealthy.

Last year, John J. Fisher was No. 258 on the Forbes 400 Richest Americans list with a net worth of $1.3 billion; the source is listed as inherited from the Gap clothing chain. He is an executive of Pisces Inc., the Fisher family's investment and management company.

more at link
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/14098539p-14928384c.html