Big money tries to ‘astroturf’ grassroots opposition to Betsy DeVos
Senate phone lines have been overwhelmed by callers demanding their representatives vote against the appointment of pyramid scheme billionaire and dilettante education "expert" Betsy DeVos to become Secretary of Education. Naturally, her big money supporters - many of whom stand to profit handsomely from school privatization - have resorted to slimy "astroturf" tactics, as detailed by Think Progress…
… such as paying people to support her. After DeVos’ confirmation hearing — during which she showed a deep lack of knowledge on major education policy issues — thousands of people called their senators’ offices, asking them not to support DeVos.
Teachers, students, and parents held hundreds of protests across the country opposing her nomination. Democratic senators have been particularly vocal in their opposition to DeVos — Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) explained her staunch opposition in the New York Times. And on Wednesday, two Republican senators, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), and Sen. Lisa Ann Murkowski (R-AK), said they would not vote for DeVos to become the next education secretary. Only one more Republican senator would need to vote against DeVos to break a tie, with the final Senate vote expected Tuesday.
Due to the overwhelming opposition to DeVos, someone is paying sites to pay people to go to SupportDeVos.com, a website that is run by American Federation for Children, which was formerly led by DeVos, and voice their support for her nomination, Jezebel’s The Slot reported. Jezebel spotted these requests on Swagbucks.com and Instagc.com, sites where people can earn money through filling out surveys or watching videos with advertisements.
When Jezebel made calls to American Federation for Children, Dean Petrone, CEO of GoBigMedia, who said he was handling media requests, said “these ads are not the property of AFC.” These requests for support disappeared soon after they received press attention.
The LIBRE Initiative, which calls itself non-partisan but is a pet project of the Koch brothers, is also trying to drum up support for DeVos. Its mission is to “empower the U.S. Hispanic community.”
The organization urged its followers on Twitter to call Sens. Collins and Murkowski and claimed Latino students would lose educational opportunities if DeVos is not confirmed.
And there's more - much more - at Think Progress.
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Copyright 2017 Liberaland
By: dave-dr-gonzo
David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.
* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.
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