Betsy DeVos testified to the Senate committee at her confirmation hearing that she was not a director of her mother’s foundation, although tax returns for 13 years list her as vice-president the board. Her mother was a founder and generous funder of Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council, both of which are anti-LGBT groups. But Betsy knew nothing about it, had nothing to do with it. It was a “clerical error.”
During the time DeVos was listed as an officer, the Prince Foundation gave $5.1 million to Focus on the Family, an advocate of “conversion therapy” — counseling designed to make gay, lesbian, bisexual or queer people become straight. The same group has railed against anti-bullying programs that even mention homosexuality as a covert way to introduce sexual orientation to children.
The organization also poured $6.1 million into Family Research Council, a conservative think tank labeled as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for saying such things as homosexual men are more likely to engage in child sexual abuse than heterosexual men.
When the family manages so many billions of dollars and so many foundations, it is easy to confuse where the money went, I suppose, or which family foundation one belongs to. As Esquire magazine blogger Charles Pierce said on Twitter today, it is easy to misplace $100 million. Everyone has these problems.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
One tax return might be a mistake, thirteen add up to a lie. A big lie.
She’s obviously not qualified for the DOE because she, clearly, doesn’t know how to read, she only had to sign those tax returns.
The testimony of Betsy DeVos…
Brings to mind two versions of a [variously attributed] observation:
1), Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
2), Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence.
To quote Jon Awbrey in a thread under another posting on this blog today re Betsy DeVos:
“They are not mutually exclusive.”
And she has no one but herself to blame for such self-wounding remarks.
Apparently Dorothy Parker knew the type:
“If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.”
😎
OMG, a clerical error? How she lies.
Wouldn’t it be a felony to perjure yourself while under oath before Congress?
Lock her up?
It would be appropriate, no? She still owes Ohio $5.2 million for violating election laws
The testimony she gave to the committee was not under oath. You can watch the entire interview on Cspan.
Trump singled Devos out today at the start of a speech just after Melania spoke. He claimed the new cabinet has the highest IQ of any ever (?) then jumped into saying that “Betsy” did great and the job of Secretary of Ed is easiest job and they think differently about it and want kids educated then some figure about US being highest spender but only 18th ranked…blah blah….like he was peddling used cars. The film team then had to stop and leave due to being told they can’t stay. I don’t know what network it was but have since seen it posted by Raw Story with a Fox emblem on the screen. Her brother was written about an published in Huff Post regarding his engagement with Guliani to engage with Comey to generate the interference on the election. So…there may be more going on than her big bundles of money paying all the republicans. The coddling and shielding of the candidate and appearance of all the majority committee members being her brothers and sisters may go deeper than the humongous donations.
With DeVos (and most of his other nominees), trump isn’t just peddling used cars. He’s peddling dangerous clunkers.
Who/ what are we talking about…Betsy DeVos or the Family Research Counsel and Focus On The Family and how they feel about LGBTs . Let’s get back to the subject of educating children please. This woman’s qualifications are not that impressive.