Teresa Kendall, a reader, says this about Mike Pence, the Vice-President-elect and head of the Trump transition team:
“Pence is far worse than Trump, because he truly believes he has the moral authority to impose his beliefs on others.
“Quick list of his dirty deeds, just as Governor of IN: did everything possible to keep Glenda Ritz, the one who took the head IN Ed spot from Tony Bennett, from doing her job by appointing a shadow Ed agency that had more power than she did; got the IN legislature to strip Ritz of her powers; shut down most Planned Parenthood clinics in rural areas resulting in an HIV epidemic in small rural counties; got the Religious Freedom (RFRA) law passed that allowed legal discrimination [against gays]; set up a “state -run news bureau” that was intended to filter all state news releases to make Pence look good; allowed companies such as Carrier to leave Indiana and put hundreds out of work after they received millions in state incentive money that he refused to claw back; let the roads deteriorate so badly that a major interstate road (65) had to be rerouted while the state had an emergency fix on a bridge that was about to collapse; expanded private school vouchers to the tune of 131 million for students that have never attended a public school and putting public schools in financial peril; presided over a serious teacher shortage due to the low pay and restrictive work environment; refused an 80 million dollar federal grant for Pre-school and then two years later when preparing for a re-election run decided to take it; and one of the best- presided over an 38th ranking in the US of per capita income.
“Indiana wasn’t doing well under the previous GOP governor Mitch Daniels, but Pence actually managed to make it worse. Pence makes Trump look good, and the sad thing is that I feel the GOP will do everything it can to let Trump get himself into a serious enough situation so that he will have to step down and let Pence take over. And that would truly be the worst thing that could happen to this country. No joking, no exaggerations, just fact. Pence is horrible.”
Gay activists are worried about Pence and for good reason. They fear that Pence will lead an all-out assault on their right to equal treatment under the law.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
He does scare me more than Trump. Brownback is cut from the same cloth.
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It was more than a little disconcerting for so very many of those of us who live in Indiana that the Trump/Pence ticket won in Indiana.
I guess another reason for being embarrassed by being a Hoosier.
WE of all people should know what he is.
He is a nice person in some ways but is totally ignorant,biased and how many other things which again, we of all people should have taken into consideration.
AGAIN
as so many have stated, we HAVE to keep on top of things, scream, make our voices heard. The ONLY way now we might have a chance to save Democracy and indeed the planet.
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Please keep “screaming.” So many of us are listening.
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As another VP from Indiana once fittingly said,
“I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy – but that could change.”
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Diane, I live in Indiana and can verify that everything you wrote is true. This state is a mess because of Pence’s actions.
I was happy to be rid of him as governor. We do not want the whole country to look like Indiana.
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Diane and many others here warned about Pence multiple times before the election. They raised the alarm just how toxic and regressive this man is. Now here we are with VP Pence. Phew! The working class people who voted for Trump/Pence are the ones who have the most to lose from such an administration. What’s next, Hoovervilles?
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Pence is comfortable imposing his moral authority on others, but he had no problem hitching his wagon to the Republican vulgarian candidate when many other GOP leaders refused to be associated with Trump. Trump and Pence are opportunistic birds of a feather with Trump being the more socially liberal of the two.
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AMEN!!!!
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“Pence is comfortable imposing his SELF-SUPPOSED moral authority on others. . . “
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So let me be sure I understand. This particular governor doesn’t support your various causes, therefore he is “vindictive, an idealogue, and committed dirty deeds”. Not everyone in Indiana agreed with Pence, but virtully everyone says he is a polite and dedicated public servant even though some disagree with him.
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Pence put through legislation in the Indiana Legislature that stripped an elected official of her powers, simply because she was of the opposing party. I would call that vindictive, dirty deeds by an idealogue.
http://www.wndu.com/home/headlines/Indiana-lawmakers-strip-Superintendent-Ritz-of-powers-302010811.html
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Polite, yes. But it has been his ideologue agenda that is such an anathema to so many. I think he really believes in what he puts forth but … There are many views as to what is right and proper but not all lead us to the promised land.
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The problem is, he does support causes that hurt people under the umbrella of conservatism and religion. It seems the current Republicans lurking around while Trump takes over have no problem letting people die and suffer in the name of free markets, and “fiscal responsibility”.
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Tom Brown,
Pence’s “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” gave business owners the right to refuse to serve gay customers. Indiana was a national laughing stock. Only when major corporations threatened to leave the state did he back down. If you think businesses should be allowed to discriminate, then he’s your guy
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Pence is a dangerous guy–in spite of his well-reported good manners: a midwestern Savonarola who believes in his own, smug, moral certainty. He makes Trump look like Voltaire.
He puts people like me in the awkward position–hoping for Trump’s continuing good health.
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Not quite like Voltaire….
Who would have thought there would be strong reasons to hope Trump stays healthy?
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I am a very passionate supporter of public education. I have a completely opposite view of Governor Pence than the view expressed by the reader in this article. I often think that it may be better for public education if support for public education was not so ardently mixed with support of so many other issues. It makes me feel like I should not be supporting public education even though I do and always will, unless I am also supporting the entire group of issues. I do appreciate the passion for public education of Diane Ravitch and the many others on this blog. I just think there are alot of people out there who could support public education, community public schools but who may not support the other issues.
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No one can deny that Pence did the things in the list. Posting links here to back up everyone of those things would be tedious and irritating to sort through. Mike Pence is an “awe shucks” kind of guy that seems to get a lot of people to think he’s a nice guy. He is not. He comes across a harmless, but he is ruthless in his pursuit of social issues that fits his beliefs and to all be damned that do not follow his rule. If you are only worried about public education issues, then this guy should keep you awake at night.
But don’t take my word for it – here is an article from the very conservative Indianapolis Star.
http://www.indystar.com/story/opinion/columnists/matthew-tully/2015/03/31/tully-mike-pence-league-governor/70746540/
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I think it is perfectly fine to have different views in the public education arena. I support your voice. However, governors like Pence, Christie, and Kasich are not open to all views. They tend to favor religious schools and a certain, evangelical interpretation of Christianity, often resulting in the silencing of non-conforming voices.
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PTA Mom,
Pence does not support public schools.
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To be fair, we should hear the resident contrarian view that Tim Kaine is much worse, he would have caused WWIII and WWIV if he had become president and that he is a lying liar who is not to be trusted. Or am I demonstrating a lack of principles (cough, cough) for making such an assertion?
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This is one reason I hope Trump is successful – the idea of Pence in charge makes me physically ill.
As far as Pence is concerned, I’d like to hear The Donald say “You’re fired!”
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Trump is a fool and was played as a fool by the Bircher/alt-right/white-nationalist faction of politics. He’s a goat thrown now into a pool of gators. The uber-right has been taking over state governments, school boards, federal agencies, Congress, business. The coup is complete with Trump as the hapless puppet in way over his head. I’ve read speculation the Republicans are thinking impeachment. Through all this, the Trump supporters who wanted change in Washington will instead get a stronger, more unified Republican establishment they fought against. It is classic winning by losing.
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What is “alt-right”?
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Alt-right (alternative) is a new umbrella term for white supremacists, neo-nazis, white nationalists, anti-semites, etc.
The danger is that this term is something of a disguise. People don’t realize it’s their old friends from the KKK, it sounds like something new and less threatening.
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Thanks, Barbara. I’ve been seeing it a lot more in the recent days. I figured it was something to that effect. Another disguise/false front, eh!
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Trump may be the cornerstone of the patriarchy but Pence is the entire rest of the foundation. He is not in favor of equal pay for women and not for women in the military. Google Mulan and Pence for his op ed on how the Disney movie was too liberal because it put ideas in the mind of little girls that they could be powerful and join the military. I am pretty sure that when he wavered that weekend the “pussy grabbing” video was released that Trump put the part of his debate about appointing a special prosecutor to put Hillary on trial it was done to entice Pence to get back in the saddle as VP. There is no way he’d be able to resist being an insider when the most powerful American woman was put on trial. His aggression and disruption of the woman whose election pushed out his buddy Tony Bennet from Supt. of Public Instruction was epic. Any occupation which employs a high number of women such as teaching is a target for him. Women are NOT to have power in his dominionist theocratic alternate reality.
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And there is more…….I see some other commenters questioning if these perspective on Pence could really be due to his nice manners. He has amazing comportment, a pleasant voice, friendly body language and you will probably never hear any locker room talk from him or evidence of philandering. But the final straw for me in deciding he is an agent of evil was when the Catholic Church was relocating Syrian refugees. They had a home, sponsor and a family was vetted. Pence would not allow them to come to Indiana! Bishop Tobin (recently became a Cardinal) went down to the statehouse in downtown Indianapolis and met with him with film and media crews. He still said NO! This so called Christian kept a FAMILY from going to a home all ready for them through a charity program that is well run and has a long history. That was it for me. He is a disgusting man and fake as far as I am concerned. If you think this is not true google Pence Tobin Refugees. All the local news agencies were there. Photos taken.
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And I thought that was one of the darkest days in Indiana history. Little did I know…
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The organization took it to court and the right to bring the family was upheld. But they had been relocated to Connecticut by that time. There are funds available to cover expenses for refugees, he just didn’t want the Syrians because one of the Paris attackers had been a refugee from Syria. So, in the end the court told him what for. But he got his way in spite of his claim to be a holy man and in spite of the actual holy man coming to his office with entourage of reporters. He is not easily swayed to divert his actions. The whole city, even the newspaper went bonkers when he secretly signed the RFRA bill with a crowd of religious folks and the photo was leaked. The state legislature had to walk it back to calm everyone down. He is all about marginalizing the vulnerable. No way should he ever lead the nation.
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Pence is owned by the Koch Brothers. He “believes” what they tell him to believe and there is nothing “nice” about that behavior. He was inserted into the Trump ticket like a ticking time bomb. We all know the story of the Trojan Horse, once inside the city gates, well there it is.
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Pence has been a dues paying member of ALEC his entire political life. In fact, so successful was he with passing ALEC legislation in Indiana, Koch rewarded him with a position at Koch Industries. Koch Bros poured over $700-950 million into Republican down ticket state and federal races during the 2016 election. Now with Republican majorities in 33 states, and both chambers of US Congress, the Kochs have what they have coveted for decades. Make no mistake, Pence is exactly where the Kochs want him to be. and Trump is but a figurehead President. Pence will function much like Cheney did with W. Watch for many month long Trump vacations with Pence running the show.and corporate legislation coming fast and furious. This was not a Trump victory, it was a Koch victory and every in DC knows it.
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