Two Republican Senators Who Have Not Yet Declared Their Vote on DeVos

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1. Dr. Paula E. Griffith says:

   February 5, 2017 at 1:08 pm

   Thad Cochran is an education supporter. He tirelessly supported The National Writing Project (California Bay Area) as well as its national affiliates. He uses reason and logic and is very pro-child in his thinking. It could do a lot of good to email and phone him to let him know the significance of this vote.

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2. Ellen Lubic says:

   February 5, 2017 at 1:39 pm

   I just called both and their mailboxes are full. Since their offices are closed today, I will call again early Monday morning. Thanks Diane for posting these Senators names and phone numbers.

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3. Patricia says:

   February 5, 2017 at 1:56 pm

   Posted and called. His voicemail was full. Lucky for me we’re from the same place. I called his neigbors.

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4. Robert Manley says:

   February 5, 2017 at 3:41 pm

   What about John McCain? He is a true patriot n should be a supporter of public schools n their communities?

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5. Wait , What? says:

   February 5, 2017 at 4:21 pm

   voice mails full
   write or call tv stations to tell them people are trying to reach their Senators and can’t

   KTWO Television (307) 237-3711 info@k2tv.com

   KGWN-TV 307-634-7755
   KSTF-TV 308-632-7535 Britney.Carter@kgwn.tv (producer)

   KCWY News 307.577.0013 News Department jehrhart@kcwy13.com

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6. John V. Knapp says:

   February 5, 2017 at 5:11 pm

   The mailboxes of all of these senators are full and have been for a few days now. Given how important these nominations are, one would assume that most Senators would put on extra staff to handle multiple calls. However, if not, “no available staff” is a great excuse to ignore the public. Sad to say, we can’t even threaten to withhold campaign funds, thanks to Citizens United, because such funds have now become the proverbial flood from shameless billionaires who want to buy even more shameless Senators and Congress-people, and (witness Toomey in PA), they’ve been quite successful so far. It’s a sad day for the Republic and will require some heroic efforts in get-out-the-vote come Nov 2018. JVK.

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7. Akademos says:

   February 5, 2017 at 6:19 pm

   BBC News: Why is Betsy DeVos so unpopular?

   https://www.google.com/amp/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/38875924?client=safari

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   • speduktr says:

     February 5, 2017 at 10:36 pm

     BBC needs a bit of education on charter schools especially the for profit charters that dominate Michigan and DeVos’ role in their proliferation.

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8. jleetilson says:

   February 5, 2017 at 8:24 pm

   I faxed a letter to the eight senators you identified earlier.
   http://tinyurl.com/LetterReDevosFeb5
   I used statistics (see sources below)
   [Public Schools have 50.3 million students, 13,588 school districts, and 98,817 schools. to make the following arguments.

   “The responsibilities of the Department of Education are staggering. The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) indicate that in 2015, 50.3 million students attended public schools in America. In 2011, NCES publications state that America’s public school system consisted of 98,817 schools and 13,588 school districts. That is approx. 50.3 million students attending approx. 98,817 schools in approx. 13,588 school districts.

   “Betsy Devos lacks the credentials to serve as the principal of one school. She is not qualified to be superintendent of one school district. You are being asked to confirm such an unqualified person to manage 98,817 public schools and 13,588 public school districts and be responsible for 50.3 million public school students. This is a bit of a contradiction.”

   ​​Sources of the statistics:

   https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d15/
   in 2015, # of public school students = 50.3 million

   https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d12/tables/dt12_098.asp
   in 2011, # of public school districts = 13588
   in 2011, # of public schools = 98,817

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   • Denise Duclos says:

     February 6, 2017 at 10:28 pm

     Can you post the fax numbers? Thanks

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     • jleetilson says:

       February 7, 2017 at 3:14 pm

       Sorry. I just saw this. I understand that the vote has already been held on Devos.

       I will share this spreadsheet anyway. I assume that some of us may be contacting Senators in the future.

       I set up this spreadsheet with all the contact information I could find, phone numbers, fax numbers, facebook pages, twitter accounts, Votesmart, GovTrac, OpenSecrets, Bioguide, etc.
       http://tinyurl.com/SenateContactInfoByLeeTilson

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9. jleetilson says:

   February 5, 2017 at 8:27 pm

   If their voicemails are full, you can send faxes (free faxes with http://faxzero.net) or express your opinions on Facebook or with twitter. The fax numbers, links to Facebook accts and Twitter accts can be found here

   http://tinyurl.com/SenateContactInfoByLeeTilson

   http://tinyurl.com/SenatorsToContactReDevos

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10. wdf1 says:

    February 5, 2017 at 10:25 pm

    I have to wonder. If Republicans would generally like a “choice” and privatization model, wouldn’t that mean that Muslim communities could get federal funding to start up religious private schools?

    I find that there is a certain kind of conservative fear of letting Muslims into our country because it is perceived that they won’t assimilate.

    While I can see that it will always be difficult for immigrating adults to assimilate, assimilation usually occurs with the children’s generation, and significantly because they will usually attend public schools, where they learn English, civics, history, etc.

    I think there is a very good narrative to make against DeVos on these grounds, DeVos who supports religious schools, little oversight, and little in the way of traditional community public schools.

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11. wgersen says:

    February 6, 2017 at 12:46 pm

    My brother in NC heard that Tillis is on the fence… I’m resigned to the fact that whoever Trump promotes for this position will be anti-public schools and pro-choice… but maybe the back-up candidate will not be anti-science and pro-intelligent design… and so far DeVos looks like the only nominee who might be defeated…

    Also, for NH readers, I got word from my State Senator that Joseph Kenney is on the fence regarding Frank Edelblut, the DeVos-like nominee for Commissioner of Education. Call or write ASAP… The phone # to call is (603) 271-3632… And Mr. Kenney’s email is Joseph.Kenney@nh.gov. We might prevail in Concord!

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    • wgersen says:

      February 6, 2017 at 12:57 pm

      Here’s an update from 21 minutes ago on Facebook:
      DeVos Update: North Carolina’s Thom Tillis’s office says he’s undecided and wants to hear from people. (202) 224-6342, (704) 509-9087, (919) 856-4630, (336) 885-0685, (252) 329-0371.
      Copy/paste to get the word out.

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12. joe prichard says:

    February 6, 2017 at 6:12 pm

    It is too late now……but John McCain should have been notified…in the most polite language anyone can think of….that his holier than thou bull manure does not mean much if he is not willing to protect the existence of public education.

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    • Patty Williams says:

      February 7, 2017 at 10:20 am

      Joe, It takes a minute to call folks. Who knows? Maybe these senators will “throw us a bone.” Here’s what I wrote to Senator McCain: Dear
      Senator McCain,

      I have the utmost respect for your years of service to our country. I would ask you to vote NO on Betsy DeVos’ nomination. Ms. DeVos showed the utmost DISRESPECT when she came ill prepared to her own hearing. Her responses showed her lack of understanding of the bedrock of our democracy, public education.

      Surely we can nominate someone who supports our public schools and is knowledgeable of them. Thank you.

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13. Patty Williams says:

    February 7, 2017 at 10:18 am

    I just called Thad Cochran’s office. They are not registering out of state feedback, but the staffer answering–without asking the reason for my call–said they were receiving many “don’t support DeVos” calls. I also left a message for Sen. Barasso.

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14. DEzerov says:

    February 7, 2017 at 11:39 am

    Anyone getting the following message when trying to go to the senate.gov web page:

    You don’t have permission to access “http://serve-403-www.senate.gov/” on this server.
    Reference #18.e44b9d0.1464119560.107a07e

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