click image to view full sizeAbout Steve Kirsch and why I did the analysis

I founded the Internet search engine Infoseek. But I'm most proud of my role as a philanthropist in Silicon Valley. When the United Way in Silicon Valley faced an $11M shortfall, I was the first individual to step forward with a $1M donation to help out the 100 social service organizations that were left hanging. I’m a philanthropist because I care about people and I care about this country.  

I care about education. In the past few years, I’ve donated over $5M dollars through my charitable foundation to help educate our students [MIT1, MIT2, DeAnza]. It's an important investment in our future. 

As a CEO of four companies in Silicon Valley, I can tell you that our biggest problem is hiring exceptional people. It's the key to our future prosperity. And the key to that is education.

George W. Bush claims that he has improved education in Texas. Yet, from everything I know about Texas, that just didn't seem very credible. All the trusted third party achievement data I could find is consistent. It shows that from the time he was elected in 1994, scores have gone flat or in some cases, significantly declined. And the achievement gap has widened. Sure, miniorites in Texas score well on exams, but it's been like that for over a decade. It's deceptive to take credit for that as Bush has done on his web site. 

I read the RAND study when it came out on October 24. It made this all clear to me. Unfortunately, the Bush campaign was able to create doubt by citing an earlier RAND report and claiming a conflict. And they also brought up really phoney claims like "bad timing" and "missing data." That's bullshit. Now that really made me mad that they are fooling the American public.

I love mysteries! And this seemed pretty easy to figure out who was telling the truth. After all, all the external indicators like SAT scores, etc. say nothing is going on in Texas. I called RAND and they said both reports were right and told me to read the reports. So I did. And I discovered why there was no conflict. Now you know too. 

Here is a little bit more about me if you are wondering what my ulterior motives are in creating my political web site:

I have BS and MS engineering degrees from MIT. I’ve been the CEO of 4 successful high tech companies with a combined market capitalization of over $5B.  I’ve had the opportunity to observe and learn from some of the world’s leading CEOs, educators,  military leaders, and politicians, on a personal basis, including both presidential candidates. I’ve also hired hundreds of people in the 20 years since I started my first company, including a number of CEOs.

For more about me, see the Steve Kirsch Home Page (detailed version).

For more information about my charitable activities, please visit the Kirsch Foundation website.

If you are interested in attacking the RAND report, see the handy guide I've put together to help you attack the report and attack me. Please try to use a new technique that is not listed there as none of the listed techniques will work here. 

Steve Kirsch Political Home Page