This Monday, Betsy DeVos is likely to be handed the Department of Education by those Republican Senators that she’s admitted to having bought off

I can’t say for certain whether or not the dollar amounts indicated on this chart, which was floating around the internet today, are absolutely accurate, but, from what I know about DeVos, and what she herself has said about spending money in order to get politicians to do what she wants, I don’t have much reason to doubt them. Regardless of the exact dollar amounts, we know that DeVos has used her $5.1 billion fortune to pay Republican legislators for their assistance in furthering her anti-public school agenda. As we’ve discussed before, she’s publicly admitted as much.

In a 1997 op-ed for the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, DeVos said, “My family is the biggest contributor of soft money to the Republican National Committee.” She then when on to add, “I have decided to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now I simply concede the point. They are right. We do expect something in return. We expect to foster a conservative governing philosophy consisting of limited government and respect for traditional American virtues. We expect a return on our investment.”

And it looks as though this significant investment of on the part of DeVos and her husband Dick, who we’ve heard on tape saying that their end goal is to “advance God’s kingdom” on earth by dismantling public schools so that churches can reclaim their position at the center of our communities, is about to pay off big time. When the men and women listed below cast their votes for DeVos on Monday, they’ll essentially be giving her carte blanche to do across America what she’s done in Michigan, removing all caps on for-profit charter schools, while, at the same time, guaranteeing virtually no oversight. This, my friends, is how you kill public education. And it’s happening right in front of our eyes.

If you don’t believe me, just look at what’s happened in Michigan, where, thanks to the efforts of DeVos, we’ve seen our school districts closing once vital neighborhood schools right and left due to the unchecked proliferation of charter schools and a “schools of choice” system that pits neighboring districts against one another, fighting over those “good” students who don’t require things like special education, which can be costly. [Here in Ypsilanti alone, if I’m not mistaken, six public schools have been forced to close over the past decade.] Just go on Google Street View and look at the ubiquitous billboards in our at-risk communities advertising fly-by-night virtual charters offering to educate our kids over the internet. [They give kids laptops and access to an online platform, and just collect the money from the state that would have otherwise been directed to a public school.]

They’ve been assuring us for the past 20 years that this unfettered competition will yield better opportunities for our students, but the results just don’t bear that out. I’d argue, however, that better schools were never the end goal. I think, from day one, the real objective has always been to kill the teachers unions, while, at the same time, funneling public money into the hands of private corporations, which, in turn, contribute to conservative causes and legislators. And, it’s working. While I don’t have current data, between 2012 and 2015 Michigan’s two teachers unions, the MEA and the AFT, lost almost 28,000 members. And, in large part that’s due to the overwhelming growth of the charter school industry, which, according to the Detroit Free Press, “Michigan taxpayers pour nearly $1 billion a year into.” More importantly, though, these programs pushed by DeVos and others, just aren’t working for kids.

A recent investigation by the Detroit Free Press, which looked at two decades of charter school records and data from across Michigan, found: “Wasteful spending and double-dipping. Board members, school founders and employees steering lucrative deals to themselves or insiders. Schools allowed to operate for years despite poor academic records. No state standards for who operates charter schools or how to oversee them. And a record number of charter schools run by for-profit companies that rake in taxpayer money and refuse to detail how they spend it, saying they’re private and not subject to disclosure laws. Michigan leads the nation in schools run by for-profits.” And much of the blame lies with DeVos, who not only led, but funded, the charge.

Here, from Chalkbeat, is a great example of DeVos in action: “When Michigan lawmakers this year were considering a measure that would have added oversight for charter schools in Detroit, members of the DeVos family poured $1.45 million into legislators’ campaign coffers — an average of $25,000 a day for seven weeks. Oversight was not included in the final legislation.”

And, that, my friends, is the kind of maneuvering on behalf of the for-profit charter industry that you can expect to see happening across the United States, assuming DeVos is confirmed on Monday as Trump’s Secretary of Education… I’m not sure, when you add it all up, how much she paid for the Cabinet post, but you can be damn sure she’s going to see a return on that investment.

Here are the Republican Senators that DeVos has paid-off though financial contributions. If you know anyone who lives in one of these states, I’d encourage you to reach out today and ask them to place a call to their Senator’s office and, after demanding that he or she not vote in favor of DeVos on Monday, ask whether or not these contributions influenced their decision… YOU CAN FIND PHONE NUMBERS FOR EVERY SENATOR HERE.

devosdonations

This, my friends, is how Democracy ends. And if you can’t see it, you’re blind. This is the clearest example there ever was. We have a billionaire who has proudly claimed in the past that it’s her intention to buy influence, paying those very Republican Senators who will be voting to give her a Cabinet seat that everyone knows she’s unqualified for. How this is legal, I have no idea. It would seem to me that every one of the men and women listed above would need to recuse themselves from this vote, but apparently that’s not the case… Of course, if you pick up the phone right now, we might still be able to stop it from happening. As I said above, we only need one more Republican vote. It’s in your hands.

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15 Comments

  1. Posted February 4, 2017 at 11:10 am | Permalink

    Dear Mark Maynard,

    This is so important.

    To share your blog, I have reblogged it under gondamorin.com, “Reblog: From Markmaynard.com on Betsy DeVos.”

    Thanks for your work on this, Gronda Morin

  2. Demetrius
    Posted February 4, 2017 at 12:01 pm | Permalink

    http://markmaynard.com/2010/11/bill-moyers-on-plutocracy/

    http://markmaynard.com/2010/04/plutocracy-in-america/

    http://markmaynard.com/2014/08/its-now-official-you-have-no-voice-you-have-no-power/

  3. Kat
    Posted February 4, 2017 at 3:38 pm | Permalink

    Coup without a shot fired.

  4. Tony
    Posted February 4, 2017 at 7:09 pm | Permalink

    Money in politics is what’s killing our democracy. Trump is just the cherry on top of the crap cake we’ve been baking. Citizens United is the oven for that cake.

  5. Erin O'Leary
    Posted February 4, 2017 at 7:11 pm | Permalink

    Have you seen the gofundme pages in PA and IN to raise money to try to “buy” these Senators votes?

  6. Erin O'Leary
    Posted February 4, 2017 at 7:12 pm | Permalink

    Whoa!! Looks like PA raised the money!!

    “She Raised More Than $60,000 to Buy Pat Toomey’s Vote on Betsy DeVos”

    http://www.phillymag.com/news/2017/02/04/buy-pat-toomeys-vote-betsy-devos/

  7. Anthony Gentile
    Posted February 4, 2017 at 7:16 pm | Permalink

    So Rand Paul isn’t even getting paid for his stupidity? Where are all our Paul fanatics recently? Seem really silent lately.

  8. Ian Fulcher
    Posted February 4, 2017 at 7:18 pm | Permalink

    Yeah, seems like there should be rules about this? Or something?

  9. Posted February 6, 2017 at 12:42 am | Permalink

    Here, for what it’s worth, is a note I just received from a friend…

    John McCain might be our last hope for avoiding the DeVos tragedy. Phoenix mailbox is full, but I was able to leave messages at his Prescott and D.C. offices, and spoke to a very friendly staffer at Tucson, who assured me that not only has he not made a public statement regarding her nomination, he is happy to accept input from anyone, regardless of whether you are an AZ resident!

    D.C. 202-224-2235
    Prescott 928-445-0833
    Tucson 520-670-6334

  10. M
    Posted February 6, 2017 at 10:11 am | Permalink

    I don’t like petitions, as I don’t think they accomplish much, but here’s one to consider.

    “Petition to the U.S. Senate: If you took money from Betsy DeVos, recuse yourself from her confirmation vote.”

    “Betsy DeVos and her family have given nearly $1 million to 21 senators who will vote on her confirmation.”

    http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/petition-senate-if-you-took-money-betsy-devos-recuse-yourself-her-confirmation-vote/?source=rs-kick&t=2&akid=5165.2413972.FZJOrI

  11. Tony
    Posted February 6, 2017 at 1:20 pm | Permalink

    was talking to my parents about DeVos and they said, “But we think vouchers are a good idea.” They had sent both my sister and I to private school and wanted their school tax dollars back to help pay for that. I asked them how they felt about Medicare and Social Security. “Those are good programs.” I told them that those programs redistribute wealth. Then I asked them if they really thought it made sense to take resources from public schools and put the money back into pockets of people who don’t really need the money. I flatly told them, “If you’re for Social Security, then you can’t be for school vouchers.” DOES NO ONE UNDERSTAND WHAT SHE WANTS TO REALLY DO? She wants the vouchers so you can send your kids to religious schools. Since you can’t have religion in public schools, she’s going to defund them and build little Christian soldier camps.

  12. site admin
    Posted February 6, 2017 at 2:09 pm | Permalink

    A fast and easy tool to help you make calls in opposition to Betsy DeVos.

    https://act.credoaction.com/call/Republicans_DeVos/?t=1&akid=21608.11461421.gaeTV8

  13. Doug Coombe
    Posted February 6, 2017 at 2:43 pm | Permalink

    The Art of Buying off the Government Prize goes to….

  14. Jean Henry
    Posted February 6, 2017 at 3:49 pm | Permalink

    Congressional Dems are debating the confirmation through the night. They are reading our letters and messages. I doubt it will kill the confirmation, but it will give pause to the next nominee who thought they could buy a cabinet position. It will let he know she has no mandate to dismantle public education.

    https://www.c-span.org/video/?423606-1/us-senate-debate-betsy-devos-nomination-night&live

  15. Tony
    Posted February 7, 2017 at 11:34 am | Permalink

    I am a big fan of fixing incentives. Even politicians who don’t want to be controlled by big money still have to spend 80% of their time begging for money. It is so far from electing people who have the best ideas and are willing to work hard. I personally believe we need a complete overhaul on campaign finance before almost anything else. Fix the problem at the root.

9 Trackbacks

  1. […] « This Monday, Betsy DeVos is likely to be handed the Department of Education by those Republi… […]

  2. […] Senate vote on Betsy DeVos, the pyramid scheme billionaire turned anti-public education crusader who’s attempting to buy her way into Trump’s Cabinet, was supposed to happen today. And, the way things looked this morning, she was going to get the […]

  3. […] Her appointment seems to have been motivated not by her knowledge but by her wallet—she donated generously to many of the GOP legislators who voted to confirm […]

  4. […] Her appointment seems to have been motivated not by her knowledge but by her wallet—she donated generously to many of the GOP legislators who voted to confirm […]

  5. […] and “expected a return on (her) investment” we might be able to appeal to some of those 21 Senators who had taken money from her family to at least consider backing away from her, for fear that, otherwise, they might be seen as the […]

  6. […] on earth?] So, I don’t think we can afford to take this lightly… not now that Betsy DeVos has essentially bought herself a seat on the President’s Cabinet as our Secretary …. No, all that stuff we’ve heard the Dick and Betsy DeVos say about how their goal is to […]

  7. […] female students. Here’s hoping, if DeVos did play a role, we find out soon, before she can do any more damage to public education in […]

  8. By Betsy DeVos v. Dwayne Wade on March 7, 2018 at 8:55 pm

    […] of this, though, I would argue that no one is worse that Betsy DeVos, who fought for the job, and bribed her way into it, with one objective in mind… to destroy American publican education in order to advance […]

  9. […] of reopening schools, here’s Michigan’s Betsy DeVos attempting to answer why she’s mandating that schools reopen in fall when no federal action […]

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