POGO LINUX

Tim Lee, CEO of Pogo Linux

Tech entrepreneur Tim Lee is making his first run for political office, announcing his campaign today for the Republican nomination to the 45th District seat in the state House.

Lee, founder and chief executive of computer server maker Pogo Linux, started the company in 1999 when he was still a student at UC Berkeley and moved the company to Redmond two years later. Now he hopes to win the seat occupied by Democratic incumbent Larry Springer.

Lee, who describes himself as socially moderate and fiscally conservative, said it was Sen. Bill Finkbeiner who first encouraged him to run for office earlier this year. In the business world, his Linux-based servers present competition for Microsoft's Windows platform. In the political world, he would represent Microsofties living on the Eastside and says solving traffic problems would be a high priority.

Good thing Lee's company is profitable -- in the past this race has proven to be expensive, but the job itself only pays about $34,000.