[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 10, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H243-H245]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP'S CABINET
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for 5 minutes.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, in America, we expect no one to be above the
law. But, what happens if someone is super rich and breaks the law?
Today, I rise to place on the Record a demand that the President-
elect's Cabinet nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos of
Michigan, immediately pay fines she owes to the State of Ohio.
These obligations total $5.3 million, just as Congresswoman Joyce
Beatty stated in her opening statement, and also Congresswoman Marcia
Fudge, who will speak subsequent to my own remarks. This is an enormous
amount of money owed to the State of Ohio in unpaid fines and levied
late penalties for Ms. DeVos' political organization for campaign
finance violations in Ohio. They broke Ohio law. These are the largest
fines ever levied in Ohio history, dating back to 2008. Essentially,
the political organization Ms. DeVos led violated Ohio's election laws.
Betsy DeVos of Michigan was in charge of the political action
committee known as All Children Matter, based in Virginia. During her
chairwomanship, she broke Ohio's election laws which impose spending
donation limits of $10,000 per candidate. She, in fact, violated those
limits by funneling national PAC money, over $870,000 of it, to Ohio's
State candidates--incidentally, all Republican candidates.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record these names and the amounts of
money they received.
Ohio Candidates Who Received Direct Contributions From Betsy DeVos'
Federal PAC--All Children Matter
Blackwell, J. Kenneth & Raga, Thomas, $10,000; Husted, Jon
A, $10,000; Raussen, Jim, $7,500; Bacon, Kevin, $6,000;
Harris, Bill, $5,000; Montgomery, Betty, $5,000; Taylor,
Mary, $5,000; Bubp, Danny, $4,000; Coughlin, Kevin, $4,000;
Luther, Brant, $4,000.
Patton, Thomas F, $4,000; White, Dan, $4000; Adams, John W,
$3,000; Bowling, Marcus U, $2,500; Buehrer, Stephen, $2,500;
McGregor, Jim, $2,500; Brinkman, Thomas, $2,000; Cousineau,
Thomas, $2,000; Fink, Deborah Owens, $2,000; Mandel, Josh,
$2,000.
McLaurin, Donald K, $2,000; Farmer, Kyle J, $1,500;
Goodman, David, $1,500; Peterson, Jon M, $1,500; Seitz,
William J, $1,500; Setzer, Arlene J, $1,500; Batchelder III,
William G, $1,000; Dolan, Matthew J, $1,000; Faber, Keith
Lloyd, $1,000; Hite, Cliff, $1,000.
Jordan, Kris, $1,000; Niehaus, Tom, $1,000; Schindel,
Carol-Ann, $1,000; Wagoner, Mark, $1,000; Adams, Richard N,
$500; Jones, Shannon, $500; Ohio House Republican Campaign
Cmte, $500; Rankin, Tim, $500; Whiston, Tom, $500; Young,
Tom, $500.
Source: The Columbus Dispatch and FollowtheMoney.org
Ms. KAPTUR. All these candidates pledged to advocate for privatizing
public school education through vouchers once elected into office.
The Ohio Election Commission, comprised of an equal number of
Republicans and Democrats, swiftly and unanimously levied a record fine
against her organization in 2008. Their decision was subsequently
vetted and upheld by a Republican judge in a State court.
Yet, now nearly a decade later, neither Betsy DeVos nor All Children
Matter has paid their penalty of $5.3 million to the citizens of Ohio.
Indeed, the State of Ohio prior to her violations had even informed
Ms. DeVos by issuing a legal opinion that such contributions from her
national PAC would be illegal to State candidates, and she willfully
ignored them and that opinion. No one, no matter how wealthy, should be
above the law.
And who exactly were the State candidates that received a direct
campaign contribution from Betsy DeVos' political action committee All
Children Matter? You will notice a few candidates still serving in Ohio
office, including Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor, Secretary of State
Jon Husted, State Treasurer Josh Mandel, and Ohio Senate President
Keith Faber. Former Ohio gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell
also received a direct contribution. Mr. Blackwell now leads the
President-elect's domestic policy transition team.
In addition, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, Betsy
DeVos gave direct contributions to at least 20 current Members of the
United States Senate. These are the same Senators who will now confirm
her for her Secretary of Education position.
Talk about pay to play and a real need to drain the swamp, the
President-elect ought to start in his own backyard.
The $5.3 million fine that Betsy DeVos' political organization owes
to Ohio could pay for better education for Ohio's children. It is
outrageous that a candidate for Secretary of Education holds herself
above the law and fails to make good on outstanding fines imposed
nearly 10 years ago. Public records indicate she personally has a net
worth of over $5.1 billion.
The New York Times today has a front page story by Noam Scheiber that
includes a quote from a writer and scholar who observes about the life
of Ms. DeVos.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record this article as well.
[From the New York Times, Jan. 9, 2017]
Betsy DeVos, Trump's Education Pick, Plays Hardball With Her Wealth
(By Noam Scheiber)
After Tom Casperson, a Republican state senator from
Michigan's Upper Peninsula, began running for Congress in
2016, he assumed the family of Betsy DeVos, President-elect
Donald J. Trump's nominee to be education secretary, would
not oppose him.
The DeVoses, a dominant force in Michigan politics for
decades with a fortune in the billions, had contributed to
one of Mr. Casperson's earlier campaigns. But a week before
his primary, family members sent $24,000 to one of his
opponents, then poured $125,000 into a ``super PAC,''
Concerned Taxpayers of America, that ran ads attacking him.
The reason, an intermediary told Mr. Casperson: his support
from organized labor.
``Deceitful, dishonest and cowardly,'' was how Mr.
Casperson's campaign described the ads, complaining that the
groups running them ``won't say who they are or where their
money is coming from.'' On Primary Day, Mr. Casperson went
down to defeat.
In announcing his intention to nominate Ms. DeVos, Mr.
Trump described her as ``a brilliant and passionate education
advocate.'' Even critics characterized her as a dedicated, if
misguided, activist for school reform. But that description
understates both the breadth of Ms. DeVos's political
interests and the influence she wields as part of her
powerful family. More than anyone else who has joined the
incoming Trump administration, she represents the combination
of wealth, free-market ideology and political hardball
associated with a better-known family of billionaires:
Charles and David Koch.
``They have this moralized sense of the free market that
leads to this total program to turn back the ideas of the New
Deal, the welfare state,'' Kim Phillips-Fein, a historian who
has written extensively about the conservative movement,
said, describing the DeVoses.
Ms. DeVos declined to be interviewed for this article.
Like the Kochs, the DeVoses are generous supporters of
think tanks that evangelize for unrestrained capitalism, like
Michigan's Acton Institute, and that rail against unions and
back privatizing public services, like the Mackinac Center.
They have also funded national groups dedicated to cutting
back the role of government, including the National Center
for Policy Analysis (which has pushed for Social Security
privatization and against environmental regulation) and the
Institute for Justice (which challenges regulations in court
and defends school vouchers). Both organizations have also
received money from the Koch family.
[[Page H244]]
Indeed, the DeVoses' education activism, which favors
alternatives to traditional public schools, appears to derive
from the same free-market views that inform their suspicion
of government. And perhaps more than other right-wing
billionaires, the DeVoses couple their seeding of ideological
causes with an aggressive brand of political spending. Half a
dozen or more extended family members frequently coordinate
contributions to maximize their impact.
In the 2016 cycle alone, according to the Michigan Campaign
Finance Network, the family spent roughly $14 million on
political contributions to state and national candidates,
parties, PACs and super PACs.
All of this would make Ms. DeVos--whose confirmation
hearing has been delayed until next week amid mounting
pressure that her government ethics review be completed
beforehand--very different from past education secretaries.
``She is the most emblematic kind of oligarchic figure you
can put in a cabinet position,'' said Jeffrey Winters, a
political scientist at Northwestern University who studies
economic elites. ``What she and the Kochs have in common is
the unbridled use of wealth power to achieve whatever
political goals they have.''
Birth of a Power Couple
Ms. DeVos, 59, grew up in Holland, Mich., the daughter of a
conservative auto parts magnate who was an early founder of
the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group.
When she married Dick DeVos in 1979, it was akin to a merger
between two royal houses of western Michigan.
Her husband's father, Richard Sr., co-founder of the
multilevel marketing company Amway, was an active member of
the Christian Reformed Church that preached a mix of social
conservatism and self-reliance. He once told the church's
official magazine that Chicago's poor dwelled in slums
because that was ``the way they choose to live,'' according
to a Washington Post story from the 1980s.
A fan of Rolls-Royces and pinkie rings, Richard Sr. wrote
books with titles like ``Ten Powerful Phrases for Positive
People.''
A similar air hung over his business. Amway sales
representatives, which the company calls ``independent
business owners,'' make money both by selling the company's
products--everything from perfume to toilet bowl cleaner--and
by recruiting other sales representatives.
The Federal Trade Commission once investigated the company
for running a pyramid scheme before concluding that it had
misled potential recruits about how much they could expect to
earn.
The flip side of the family's proselytizing for capitalism,
according to Professor Phillips-Fein, has been an effort to
dismantle much ``that would counterbalance the power of
economic elites.''
Amway funded a nationwide ad campaign in the early 1980s,
protesting high taxes and regulations. Not long after, the
company pleaded guilty to cheating the Canadian government
out of more than $20 million in revenue.
The family had a more winning public face in Dick DeVos,
who combined the practiced empathy of a pitchman with the
entitlement of an heir, spending over $30 million on an
unsuccessful run for governor of Michigan in 2006. The
Detroit Free Press described him that year as the wealthiest
man to seek office in the state's modern history.
Betsy DeVos, who served as chairwoman of the Michigan
Republican Party for most of the decade between 1996 and
2005, has often played the role of strategist in the
relationship. She was a key adviser in her husband's run for
governor and publicly brooded that he had been too
gentlemanly in his first debate against the incumbent.
``He's very good with people, a retail politician who looks
you in the eye, shakes your hand, listens to what you say,''
said Randy Richardville, a former Republican leader of the
Michigan Senate, describing the couple's strengths. ``I would
never underestimate Betsy DeVos in a knife fight.''
Ms. DeVos has sometimes lacked her husband's finesse, once
famously blaming many of the state's economic woes on ``high
wages.'' She has won detractors, by their account, by
browbeating legislators into voting her way.
``Betsy DeVos was like my 4-year-old granddaughter at the
time,'' said Mike Pumford, a former Republican state
representative who once clashed with her. ``They were both
sweet ladies as long as they kept hearing the word `yes.'
They turned into spoiled little brats when they were told
`no.' ''
But Ms. DeVos has often made up for what she lacks in tact
through sheer force of will.
Mr. Richardville said he and Ms. DeVos disagreed over term
limits, which she supported as party chairwoman and he
opposed: ``I said, `I don't think you should be setting
policy. You should be supporting those of us who do make
policy.' But she never backed down.''
While Dick and Betsy DeVos appear to practice a more
tolerant form of Christianity than their parents--Ms. DeVos
has spoken out against anti-gay bigotry--as recently as the
early 2000s they funded some groups like Focus on the Family,
a large ministry that helps set the political agenda for
conservative evangelicals. They have also backed groups that
promote conservative values to students and Christian
education, including one with ties to the Christian Reformed
Church.
Their economic views are strikingly similar to the elder
Mr. DeVos's.
According to federal disclosures, Amway, which Dick DeVos
ran between 1993 and 2002, has lobbied frequently over the
last 20 years to reduce or repeal the estate tax. Only the
top 0.2 percent wealthiest estates paid the tax in 2015.
The company has also opposed crackdowns on tax shelters.
Ms. DeVos has been an outspoken defender of unlimited
contributions known as soft money, which she described in a
1997 editorial as ``hard-earned American dollars that Big
Brother has yet to find a way to control.''
After Congress later passed a major campaign finance reform
bill, a nonprofit that Ms. DeVos helped to create and fund
masterminded the strategy that produced Citizens United, the
2010 Supreme Court decision laying the groundwork for super
PACs funded by corporations, unions and individuals to raise
and spend unlimited amounts in elections.
And then there are the family's efforts to rein in the
labor movement.
Through their contributions to think tanks like the
Mackinac Center, as well as Mr. DeVos's direct prodding of
Republican legislators, the family played a key role in
helping pass Michigan's so-called right-to-work legislation
in 2012. The legislation largely ended the requirement that
workers pay fees to unions as a condition of employment.
Unions in the state bled members in 2014, the first full
year the measure was in effect.
Allies say the DeVoses fight for their beliefs. ``Betsy and
Dick see themselves as principled conservatives,'' said
Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute. ``It
kind of seems healthy and admirable to give resources to
folks who are going to fight for causes you believe in.''
But the fights can appear to be as much about consolidating
power as ideology. Unions were arguably the family's most
formidable political opponent in Michigan, one of labor's
traditional strongholds.
Changes in Michigan
The DeVos family's roots as education activists date back
at least to when Richard DeVos Sr. was running Amway and an
institute based at the company's headquarters trained
teachers to inject free-market principles into their
curriculum.
According to an interview Ms. DeVos gave to Philanthropy
magazine, she and her husband became interested in education
causes when they began visiting a Christian school that
served low-income children in Grand Rapids in the 1980s.
``If we could choose the right school for our kids''--by
which she appeared to mean primarily private schools--``it
only seemed fair that they could do the same for theirs,''
she told the magazine.
The family spent millions of dollars on a ballot proposal
in 2000 asking if Michigan should legalize vouchers, in which
students can use taxpayer money to attend private schools.
Many critics, like the education historian Diane Ravitch,
argue that the point of vouchers is to destroy public
education and teachers' unions. The group Americans United
for Separation of Church and State has documented how
conservative Christians have long supported vouchers, which
could fund religious schools.
After voters objected by more than a two-to-one ratio, Dick
DeVos gave a speech at the Heritage Foundation saying such
efforts would have to shift to state legislatures, where
groups backed by deep-pocketed donors could offer ``a
political consequence for opposition, and political reward
for support of education reform issues.''
It is not unusual for the wealthy--who devote nearly 50
percent of their philanthropic dollars to education,
according to the group Wealth-X--to spend aggressively in the
political realm to impose their preferred reforms.
Even by these standards, however, the DeVoses stand out for
the amount of money they spend trying to advance their goals
through politics rather than philanthropy, such as research
into reforms or subsidizing schools.
As Sarah Reckhow, an expert on education philanthropy at
Michigan State University, put it: ``The DeVoses are like:
`No, we know what we want. We don't need to have all this
window dressing.' ''
Ms. DeVos has led two nonprofits that have spent millions
of dollars electing governors and legislators sympathetic to
school vouchers around the country.
Matt Frendewey, a spokesman for one of the groups, said the
efforts had frequently been bipartisan, and that the amount
of money they had spent has been dwarfed by contributions
from teachers' unions opposed to reform. Yet in Michigan, at
least, the family's political strategy has not been subtle.
After he defied Ms. DeVos on a key charter school vote, Mr.
Pumford, the former Republican legislator, survived an effort
by the Great Lakes Education Project, a nonprofit the DeVoses
bankrolled, to defeat him in his 2002 primary.
But shortly after, the House speaker told him the Education
Committee chairmanship he coveted would not be forthcoming.
``I said, `Why?' '' Mr. Pumford recalled. ``He said: `You
know why. The DeVoses will walk away from us.' '' Mr. Pumford
added: ``She told me that was going to happen.''
[[Page H245]]
(Rick Johnson, the House speaker, said he did not recall
the conversation but also that he had not promised Mr.
Pumford the chairmanship and would not have explained his
reasons for withholding it.)
Over time, the Great Lakes Education Project helped elect
Republican majorities sympathetic to the DeVoses' agenda. But
the DeVoses' lobbyists and operatives also discovered less
messy ways to advance legislation.
Late one night of their last workweek in 2015, the Michigan
House and Senate were about to approve some uncontroversial
changes to campaign finance law, when the bill abruptly grew
by more than 40 pages.
After the legislators discovered what they had voted for,
many said they were horrified.
Tucked away in the new pages was a provision that would
have made it much harder for local bodies like school boards
to raise money through property tax increases.
``Michigan schools will likely suffer the brunt of the
impact because the vast majority rely on periodic voter
approval of local operating levy renewals for property
taxes,'' the ratings agency Moody's wrote of the measure the
following month.
``I was fooled into voting for something I opposed,'' said
Dave Pagel, a Republican representative. ``I consider it the
worst vote I've made.''
The chief culprits, according to Mr. Pagel and others at
the state Capitol when the bill passed, were lobbyists
closely tied to the DeVoses.
Tony Daunt, a spokesman for the Michigan Freedom Fund, a
nonprofit headed by the DeVoses' longtime political aide, and
whose political spending arm they have funded generously,
said the group was ``part of the discussion process with
people in the legislature'' about the proposal and ``had
consistently expressed support for the policy.''
The law was later blocked by a federal judge, but the group
has vowed to try again.
Radical Suspicions
Ms. DeVos's advocates see in these fights the toughness to
take on entrenched opponents of expanding reforms like
charter schools and vouchers.
In promoting Ms. DeVos in The Washington Post, Mitt Romney,
the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nominee, emphasized
that her wealth gave her the independence to be ``someone who
isn't financially biased shaping education.'' He added,
``DeVos doesn't need the job now, nor will she be looking for
an education job later.''
But critics see someone with an unmistakable agenda. ``The
signs are there that she will do something radical,'' said
Jack Jennings, a former general counsel for the House
education committee. ``Trump wouldn't have appointed this
woman for this position if he didn't intend something
radical.''
Ms. KAPTUR. The article states: ``She is the most emblematic kind of
oligarchic figure you can put in a cabinet position. . . . What she and
the Kochs have in common is the unbridled use of wealth power to
achieve whatever political goals they have.''
If confirmed, Betsy DeVos would be responsible for administering our
Nation's student loan portfolio and would have to ensure borrowers
repay their loans in a timely manner. Yet, how can we believe she will
demonstrate sound judgment in her responsibilities or be a role model
when her own political organization has blatantly avoided paying
legally obligated fines for her violations of Ohio's election laws?
Mr. Speaker, Betsy DeVos' attempt to subvert the law and buy
influence are diametrically opposed to everything the President-elect
advised was wrong with America. He wants to drain the swamp. No one in
America should be above the law, and neither should Betsy DeVos be
above the law. She ought to pay the $5.3 million she owes the people of
Ohio.
____________________