Duane Tron re: All Children Matter....& so do campaign contributions!

From Duane Tron, April 13, 2008

Subject: Re: All Children Matter....& so do campaign contributions!

Yes! I am thankful the Ohio Election Commission took a strong stand on this issue. It's about time those who are leading our state start stepping up and dealing with those who try and operate outside the law. Conservative or liberal, it's time to start equally applying the law to groups and person's who think they can do what they please to promote their personal agendas. We have encountered groups and individuals in recent years who think because they possess great wealth they can do what they want, when they want, and where they want. This mindset has been at the very root of the problems we are facing across this country. Review the arrogance and condescending behavior of members of Congress and those running for our highest office and you will see a mirror image to which I am referring. We have people who think they are above the law! We have seen them emerge in some federal law enforcement agencies. elected public office, and in the corporate sector. They believe that because of their power, wealth, and or both, they possess the belief that they are above the Constitution and other laws. They are not!

The Devoses made their fortune through creation of a company called, "Amway." Let's talk briefly about Amway. My wife and I were approached 30 years ago and asked to sell Amway and become distributors for the company. We attended meetings that guaranteed a "get rich" quick scheme. They told us that we should go out and recruit family and friends and convince them to become distributors with the idea they would recruit more family and friends. The more we could recruit the more money we would make. The idea was as we recruited more and more people the less we would have to do and the more money we would make! As they put it "you can sit back and just enjoy the continuous flow of money into your bank account as more people are recruited by each new contact. As we got higher up the ladder we wouldn't have to sell the products because we would have a whole host of people beneath us selling for us. My brother and I attended meetings and even attempted to sell the product and recruit others. I looked at my brother one evening and said, "you realize this is nothing more than a sleazy pyramid scheme?" He replied, "Yes," and I said Mary and I are getting out because we don't want to do this. Somewhere in the midst of all of this some people are going to get hurt badly! The people who can't recruit large numbers aren't going to make anything. They will just become the mules who help others make a lot of money and at their expense." My brother agreed and he dropped out as did we!

Ah! And this is how the Devoses made a huge fortune! Did they work hard? Yes! Are they highly motivated people? Yes! Could they become successful in most enterprises? Yes! But they chose to make their fortune operating a "pyramid" scheme and to this end I find them to be disgusting because they made their fortune off of the backs of a lot of people who just wanted to have a better life and most never got there. Was the scheme they used illegal? No! On the other hand in my opinion it was very immoral. I view all "get rich quick" schemes as immoral and dishonest. I look at a guy named Oreck down in Mississippi. He sold vacuum cleaners door to door for years and he decided to design and sell his own brand of vacuum cleaners and he did. He set up a business, stopped selling door to door, built a factory, hired employees, and marketed his product. He has become a successful and respected businessman, building an American product, using American labor, and selling his product for a fair and reasonable price. He didn't build his business on a pyramid scheme of getting rich quick. He did it the old fashioned way by selling a quality product, at a fair price, and with honesty and integrity.

The Devoses think they are above the law! They operate the PAC's the same way they operate their Amway business. After all . . . .all is fair in love and business! Right? This is why they tried to circumvent campaign finance laws. They truly believe that since they have a lot of money they make the rules and play the way they want. I commend the Ohio Election Commission for slapping them down and hitting them right in a place they understand, their pocketbook! I hope and pray the judges in the courts uphold the Ohio Election Commission and send a very strong message to those who abuse the system. It is long past time to put certain people in their place! Being a lifelong Republican I can assure all of you that my comments are very non-partisan as you can determine from what I have written. What these people are doing is undermining and destroying public education in this country, a public education system that moved this country to the most powerful and greatest country in the world over a 150 year period of time. Because of the excessesses of people like the Devoses they are placing the prominence of this country in extreme jeopardy!

Duane

From John Curry, April 13, 2008
Subject: All Children Matter....& so do campaign contributions!

"The [Ohio] vote on the fine was 5-0, the votes coming from two Republicans, two Democrats and an independent."

"Acting chairman Martin Parks, a retired Republican judge, said politics had nothing to do with their decision."

Mlive.com (Grand Rapids, MI Press)

Record fine could present problems for DeVoses

Posted by tfettig April 12, 2008

[Photo: Dick DeVos]

It is a slogan few would argue: All Children Matter.

A national political action committee network under that name embodies founders Dick and Betsy DeVos' long-held passion for private school vouchers and charter schools.

But in the wake of a record $5.2 million fine levied April 3 by the Ohio Elections Commission, the issues pose a challenge to their stake in Michigan politics. It would not be the first time.

In 2000, the DeVoses poured nearly $5 million into a failed ballot measure in Michigan that would have offered vouchers for private schools.

Betsy DeVos resigned as state GOP chairwoman that year, due in part to clashes with Republican Gov. John Engler over the tactical wisdom of putting it on the ballot. Nearly 70 percent of voters rejected it.

Former Amway President Dick DeVos tried to put vouchers behind him in his 2006 GOP bid for governor, saying the people of Michigan "spoke clearly."

But the same year, the All Children Matter PAC in Virginia funneled $870,000 to the All Children Matter PAC in Ohio.

Donors to the Virginia PAC frequently cut checks in 2006 for six figures -- or higher.

There was just one problem, according to the Ohio Elections Commission: The Virginia All Children Matter PAC was not registered in Ohio.

Acting on a complaint by the Ohio secretary of state, the bipartisan commission found the Virginia PAC could not legally transfer that money to the Ohio All Children Matter PAC.

Its fine -- the biggest anyone at the commission could recall -- could revive controversy over vouchers and big money should DeVos make good on hints he will run for governor in 2010.

Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer says you can count on it.

"This is just another example of a family that thinks they are above the law," Brewer said. "If you are going to insert yourself into the public debate, we are going to hold you accountable."

Lansing political analyst Bill Ballenger says it could be a potent argument if the fine is upheld.

"They could make a case that Dick DeVos is not only out of step with the sense of Michigan voters, but his wife is running a PAC trying to instill vouchers in other states and doing it illegally," Ballenger said.

Political motives?

William Todd, a Columbus lawyer who represents All Children Matter, says the politics already have commenced.

"They are getting tripped up by what looks like a very, very vicious attack on their philosophy," Todd said. "If this was a union group, no one would have done anything in Ohio," he said.

Todd asserts that, beyond politics, All Children Matter is victim to a campaign finance system so tangled it penalizes even those who try to follow the law.

Todd says groups such as All Children Matter encounter a maze of state campaign laws and ambiguous regulations as they try to move their agenda.

In Ohio, he maintains, the PAC ran afoul of an overzealous bureaucracy determined to stop its activities.

"I think the whole thing is unconstitutional, the way it is being interpreted by this agency," Todd said.

In his view, Ohio law allows unlimited transfer from out-of-state PACs to Ohio PACs as long as they are affiliated.

"Bureaucrats do not have the power to override statutes," he said.

Todd said All Children Matter will appeal, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.

John Truscott, spokesman for Dick DeVos, said he is no longer involved in the issue. "Dick has no involvement in this. He hasn't since 2005," Truscott said.

Neither DeVos responded to requests for comment.

Advocating school choice

Following the 2000 defeat of vouchers in Michigan, the GOP power couple set up All Children Matter in 2003 to promote vouchers in other states and to push tax credits for businesses that create scholarships for children to attend private schools.

It operates out of West Michigan with funds channeled through Virginia, then dispersed to campaigns around the country.

Dick DeVos was its initial chairman, passing on that role in 2005 to Betsy DeVos.

Since 1999, the couple and their immediate family have pumped more than $7 million into expanding school choice -- vouchers, tuition credits and charter schools -- and promoting candidates who back those causes.

Its Web site says its mission is "to work for the election of public officials who are committed to the enactment of meaningful reforms to ensure that all children in America -- without regard to race or family income -- have equal access to a quality education."

While it has numerous critics, All Children Matter is regarded as a key voice by advocates of school choice.

"There is no more effective advocate of meaningful school reform than All Children Matter," said Colorado state Sen. Bob Hagedorn, a maverick Democrat and a strong advocate of vouchers and school choice in that state.

Complaints and opinions

In Ohio, the PAC spent $856,559 in 2006, including $10,000 contributions to House Speaker Jon Husted, a Republican, and 2006 GOP gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell, both staunch charter-school supporters.

An additional $71,500 went directly to other candidates, records show.

The PAC also spent nearly $360,000 for campaign mailings on behalf of GOP candidates and nearly $287,500 in radio and cable TV advertising.

In Wisconsin, a complaint was filed in 2006 alleging All Children Matter laundered money and violated campaign rules by failing to register with the state and disclose its donors. The matter stands before the state's Government Accountability Board.

Philip Richter, executive director of the Ohio Elections Commission, said All Children Matter flouted a May 2006 advisory opinion issued by the commission.

The opinion stated that the Virginia All Children Matter PAC would have to file documentation to establish its existence in Ohio. It never did so.

But it proceeded to transfer hundreds of thousands to the Ohio All Children Matter PAC, triggering the secretary of state complaint. Ohio law at the time limited individual contributions to PACs to $10,000.

"One of the reasons for the issuance of the advisory opinion was to make sure there was no skirting of laws on where money came from and how it was received," Richter said.

The $5.2 million fine was split between the Virginia and Ohio PACs. The amount was determined by statute that calls for fines three times the amount spent.

The vote on the fine was 5-0, the votes coming from two Republicans, two Democrats and an independent.

Acting chairman Martin Parks, a retired Republican judge, said politics had nothing to do with their decision.

"I have been here for five years," Parks said. "We really haven't had a problem with partisan politics."

Rich Robinson, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, a nonprofit watchdog agency, finds it hard to believe All Children Matter was unaware what it was doing in Ohio.

"This whole thing is built on enormous contributions. This vehicle (All Children Matter) has been created to push what I view as the DeVos signature issue.

"If you are going to do this kind of stuff, you obviously have to know what the laws are today," he said.