Tag Archives: buying politicians

Maybe now would be a good time for us to surround a local school, join hands, and let it be known that we intend to fight to preserve public education

By Mark | February 7, 2017

We got beat today. We just needed one vote to keep Betsy DeVos away from the Department of Education, and we couldn’t manage it. We waged one hell of an assault… occupying the offices of our Senators, jamming their phone lines, going after them with unprecedented enthusiasm them on social media… but it just didn’t […]

Posted in Education, Uncategorized | Also tagged Al Franken, Betsy DeVos, buying influence, Department of Education, education reform, for-profit charter schools, guns in schools, Holmes Elementary, public education, Secretary of Education, Senate, threats to public education, YCS, Ypsilanti Community Schools | 27 Comments

This is the galvanizing moment we’ve been waiting for… Democratic Senators are filibustering, teachers are outside the Capital protesting, and we’re effectively shutting down the offices of those who haven’t yet come out against Betsy DeVos

By Mark | February 6, 2017

[above: Photo by Evan Sutton from today’s protest in D.C. against embattled Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos.] The 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 […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Betsy DeVos, buying influence, charter schools, confirmation hearings, Dean Heller, Deb Fischer, Debbie Stabenow, Department of Education, dismantling of public education, education reform, filibustering, for-profit charter schools, get the money out of Washington, John Hoeven, Pat Toomey, Patty Murray, protests, public education, Secretary of Education, Senate, threats to public education | 20 Comments

Buying Senator Pat Toomey’s vote… DeVos can do it, but we can’t

By Mark | February 4, 2017

I just tweeted at Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey [@SenToomey], asking what we should make of the fact that, in spite of her unpopularity among his constituents, he’s said he would be voting for Betsy DeVos, a woman who both publicly admitted to “buying influence” and gave him over $60,000 in contributions, to head the Department […]

Posted in Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged anti-immigrant, Ben Wideman, Betsy DeVos, Buy Pat Toomey’s Vote, buying influence, buying votes, conflict of interest, crowd funding, immigration, Katherine Fritz, Katie McGinty, Pat Toomey, threats to public education | 8 Comments

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

By Mark | February 4, 2017

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 […]

Posted in Education, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Betsy DeVos, buying influence, charter schools, confirmation hearings, Department of Education, Dick DeVos, dismantling of public education, for-profit charter schools, get the money out of Washington, money as free speech, money in politics, schools of choice, threats to Democracy, threats to public education, virtual charters | 24 Comments

Glen Ford discusses the origins of the corporate assault on public education, and the role of black political leaders

By Mark | May 23, 2012

A few weeks ago, in post about the complete dismantling of public education as we know it in Philadelphia, I quoted a publication called the Black Agenda Report. The article that I’d excerpted, as you may recall, dealt primarily with the curious silence of black civil rights leaders. Here, for those of you who might […]