Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 9, September 2003

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Local business owners have close encounter

of the presidential kind

By CLAYTON PARK

It's not every day you get a chance to meet the President of the United States.

A small contingent from North Seattle were among the several hundred who paid $2,000 each to do so by attending a fundraiser luncheon for the campaign to reelect President George W. Bush. The event was held Aug. 22 at the Eastside waterfront home of billionaire Craig McCaw.

While some got to shake the president's hand and have a photo taken with him, Fremont businesswoman Suzie Burke got an unexpected bonus.

When it came her turn in line to greet the president, Burke proudly showed him a "Bush 2000" button she was wearing that he gave her a few years ago when he visited as a presidential candidate.

Bush responded, "Well, this time I'll kiss you on the cheek," and then did so.

It was a thrilling moment for the ever-vocal Burke, but that didn't stop her from seizing the opportunity to urge the president to eliminate the "death tax," which allows the federal government to tax inheritances to the tune of 55 percent.

Burke who runs Fremont Dock Co., a business started by her late father said she would like to someday pass the business to her children, but fears they would be forced to sell it if the current inheritance tax is still in effect.

Bush told Burke: "If I just had two more senators (to support passage of a bill to repeal the tax), it would be done."

Burke wasn't the only North Seattleite to have a close encounter of the presidential kind that day. Her son, Mike Osterfeld, Fremont Dock's vice president, got to shake Bush's hand, not once, but three times. It helped that he was the only one in the mostly suit-and-tie crowd to wear a colorful Tommy Bahama short-sleeved shirt.

The president, upon seeing Osterfeld's shirt, commented: "I like that shirt. That's what I'M wearing tomorrow!"

Burke said her son told her afterwards that meeting Bush was "the most fun thing he's ever done," and that's saying a lot: Osterfeld, 33, is a former stage manager for the rock band Blind Melon who once toured with The Rolling Stones.

Faye Garneau, executive director of the Aurora Merchants Association, also attended the luncheon, having carpooled to the event with Osterfeld and Burke. She didn't get to shake Bush's hand, but said it was still worth the money to attend.

"To see the president in person and to be that close? Yes," said Garneau. "Whether you agree with his politics or not, he's just a really fine human being."