Betsy DeVos, the billionaire Republican donor and one of President Donald Trump’s most contentious picks for his cabinet, went through a disastrous Senate confirmation hearing after being tapped as Secretary of Education. She is one of the few of Trump’s picks with any amount of uncertainty regarding whether or not she will be confirmed, especially after two Republican senators stated they would not be voting for her confirmation.
In order to try to sway favor, someone is paying strangers to beg support for the confirmation of DeVos.
First reported by DailyKos user Dubnotdubya, and later expanded on by The Slot, a not-so-anonymous source is using the websites Swagbucks.com and Instagc.com to try to drum up support for DeVos. These sites pay users a few cents to complete a simple task. In this case, the user must go to SupportDeVos.com and send a form letter to the Senate, expressing their support for Trump’s education pick. Here is the screenshot from Swagbucks.com that Dubnotdubya posted on DailyKos:
Here is the text of the email that is sent to the Senate when people take the offer:
“Dear Official,
I am writing to ask and encourage you to confirm Betsy DeVos as our next Secretary of Education. Betsy DeVos is one of the most accomplished and dedicated advocates for children and education reform in America. Mrs. DeVos has nearly three decades of experience successfully improving our nation’s education system and ensuring all children have access to a quality school, especially the most disadvantaged children in our country.
Betsy DeVos believes the best education decisions are made at the state and local level and she will fight relentlessly on behalf of all families. Mrs. DeVos is an experienced, proven and dedicated leader who will empower parents, protect students and support teachers.”
However, users can apparently change the text of the email to whatever they like and still receive the payment.
The organization that runs SupportDeVos.com is a group called “The American Federation for Children.” DeVos herself was the chair of this organization until November 30th. She was succeeded by Bob Oburndorf, who once contributed half a million dollars to another Super PAC run by DeVos.
This expectation of favors for donations should not be surprising from the DeVos camp, considering she once told Roll Call:
“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 some things in return.”
DeVos has been a complete nightmare for the public school system in her home state of Michigan, she has zero experience outside of donating millions of dollars, and she lacks the basic knowledge of our education system. Watch her flub a basic question on education philosophy below, and keep calling your Senators and tell them to vote against Betsy DeVos as our Secretary of Education.
Featured Image via YouTube Screenshot
