A group led by Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s nominee for education secretary, was hit with $5.2 million in fines for blatant election law violations in Ohio in 2008. When All Children Matter didn’t pay that fine, late fees added another $91,000. Now, Democratic senators are pushing for her to pay before she takes charge of federal education policy:
“As secretary of education, Betsy DeVos would be responsible for overseeing the nation’s student loan program, including ensuring that students repay their loans, so it’s troubling that she has blatantly ignored her own PAC’s debt to the people of Ohio,” said Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.). “When a student borrower defaults, it has serious ramifications that haunt that student for years — yet when DeVos’s PAC defaulted on its fine for violating the law, they just walked away.”
Udall, along with Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), sent DeVos a letter this week requesting she pay the millions of dollars in fines and late fees ahead of her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
The details of the DeVos group’s violation are … special. They asked the Ohio Elections Commission if it was okay for the national All Children Matter PAC to give their state-level PAC more than the state contribution maximum of $10,000, and when the commission said no, they did it anyway—to the tune of $870,000.
“I’ve been with the commission since 1996 and I’ve never had anyone else ask for an advisory opinion and then proceed to not do what the opinion said,” said Philip Richter, executive director and staff attorney at the Ohio Elections Commission.
What a fine role model for America’s children, and a confidence-inspiring leader for public education. (Though DeVos wouldn’t mind not being a good leader for public education, since her mission is to kill it off entirely.)
[Source:-Daily Kos]
