Thursday, November 02, 2006

Before you vote check out the Amway Dick background

From:DeVos is a Dick Would you hire this guy? DESIRED POSITION: Governor of Michigan EDUCATION: High school (1973) Activity: Grand Rapids Forest Hills 2nd string Quarterback of football team Quit in senior year- team was purportedly progressing faster than him COLLEGE: Calvin College (1973) Quit after one semester Northwood Institute, Midland, MI (1981) Received business degree Attended night classes Harvard Business School. Quit without completing program Wharton Executive Study Program Quit without completing program EMPLOYMENT: 1974-1989 Amway Corp., Ada, MI Company involved with the sale and distribution of household products. Founded and managed by his father Richard DeVos, Sr. and his partner Jay Van Andel in 1959 Some refer to company as giant pyramid scheme where average distributor makes $124. per month Held various positions with company rising to VP of International Operations Quit to start own company 1989-1992 Founder and CEO of Windquest Group. Closet organizer and storage container business. Quit to return to Amway 1991-1993 President of Orlando Magic, professional basketball team. Father purchased team in 1991 Quit to return to Amway 1993-2002 Amway CEO Managed business to it's greatest losses in history then downsized number of Michigan employees from 5,300 to 3,900 Invested $200 Million in China Now Company is 80% Asian company Quit to return to Windquest and pursue other interestsPUBLIC SERVICE: 1990 elected to State Board of Education. Quit after two years, missing ¼ of all meetings (the most of any Board member) 1996 appointed by Governor Engler to Board of Control, Grand Valley State University. Quit before term expired, last meeting attended July 2000 Missed 16 of 27 mtgs 2000 spearheaded Michigan ballot proposal to use public school funds for vouchers for private/charter schools. Personally spent millions to finance campaign Measure was soundly defeated by 69% of votes cast CHARITABLE GIVING: His wife and he and his foundation have generously given tens of millions of dollars to virtually every Republican, conservative and far-right group/cause "My family was the largest contributors to President Bush in 2000 and 2004" Wife Betsy has said they expect a return for their givingFAMILY: Married Wife Betsy DeVos in 1979 Formerly Betsy Prince, heir to the Prince auto parts fortune Betsy was Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman and finance chairwoman of National Republican Party Senatorial Committee They have four adult children HOBBIES/INTERESTS: Licensed pilot (Amway owns 14 aircraft, 10 of which are jets) Yachting (owns 41st largest yacht in USA) Accumulating great wealth (personal fortune estimated at $500 Million dollars, but won't release tax returns) Spending fortune on political interests (has spent more than $30 million of his own money in campaign for Governor. POLICY POSITIONS: Opposes abortion under any circumstances, other than to save life of Mother, even in cases of rape or incest. Does not support law to ban smoking in Restaurants and bars. Says Michigan citizens should have the right to CHOOSE. Opposes embryonic stem cell research even if existing and unused stem cells are discarded or thrown in trash, despite the huge promise and potential of stem cell research to save lives and benefit the public health. Supports Abolishing Michigan SBT by end of 2007. This will eliminate nearly two billion dollars of revenue to the state. Favors one-half of the revenue being replaced by a tax on business, but won't discuss other taxes considered to replace lost revenue or what cuts in services he would recommend. Supports eliminating business personal property taxes of 1.8 billion dollars but doesn't have plan to replace revenue lost by municipalities some of which depend upon this tax for 50-60% of their budgets. This loss would cause elimination of essential services (police, fire and schools). Supports Elimination of the estate tax. Is one of 80 families that has lobbied Congress (with millions of dollars) to eliminate Federal and State Estate taxes which would be a huge tax windfall to the wealthiest of the wealthy. Says best way to deal with medical insurance crisis in Michigan is for all Michigan Citizens to get a good job, even though fewer and fewer employers are providing affordable health insurance and the number of uninsured is increasing. Says Governor Granholm is not managing Michigan well, even though Michigan is rated the third best managed state in the country, the best and most citizen friendly internet site in the country, and is operating with the lowest number of State employees since 1974. Gee quitting is the general theme for Mr.DeVos.

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