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Monday, October 29, 2018

Betsy DeVos’ Family Gives $2 Million to Far-Right Candidates | Diane Ravitch's blog

Betsy DeVos’ Family Gives $2 Million to Far-Right Candidates | Diane Ravitch's blog

Betsy DeVos’ Family Gives $2 Million to Far-Right Candidates




During her confirmation hearings, Betsy DeVos pledged not to make political contributions while she was Secretary of Education.
But, knowing her penchant for parsing words, we may now assume that she was not covering the political donations of her family, which continue.
This latest review of political donations by Ulrich Boser and Perpetual Baffour of the Center for American Progress shows that the DeVos family gave $2 Million to far-right candidates.
My hunch is that they gave far more than $2 million, through Dark Money PACs that do not disclose the names of their donors.

The report finds:
“Even by the loose standards of U.S. campaign finance laws—and President Donald Trump’s blatant corruption—the donations by the family members of a Cabinet official have been brazen. In February 2018, Richard DeVos, Secretary DeVos’ father-in-law, gave $1 million to the Freedom Partners Action Fund—a political action fund that has long been associated with far-right causes. Over the past year, the DeVos family has also given $350,000 to the Republican Congressional Leadership Fund and another $400,000 to the Republican National Committee.
“The DeVoses have also donated to specific candidates for federal and state office. Wisconsin’s far-right firebrand, Gov. Scott Walker (R), for example, has received more than $635,000 over the past decade from the DeVos family—including $30,000 in 2018. Bill Schuette, Michigan’s continue reading: Betsy DeVos’ Family Gives $2 Million to Far-Right Candidates | Diane Ravitch's blog