The significance of Betsy DeVos appointing John Engler to the National Assessment Board
Last week it was reported by MLive, that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos had appointed several new people to the National Assessment Board, including former Michigan Governor John Engler.
The National Assessment Board’s mission is to:
The National Assessment Governing Board was created by Congress in 1988 as an independent, nonpartisan board to set policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as The Nation’s Report Card.
MLive includes a brief comment from DeVos about the appointment of Engler, where the Secretary of Education says, “He is a tireless advocate for all our nation’s students, and his strong leadership will be a substantial asset to the board.”
The MLive article also mentioned that Engler has been a supporter of Charter schools and, “as governor helped launch the sector in 1993 with an effort to overhaul school funding and the eventual passage of the Michigan Charter School Act of 1994.”
The MLive article didn’t say much more than what is cited above and the same was the case for the announcement in the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News.
Shortly after John Engler became Governor of Michigan, the issue of public education funding became an issue. Engler had proposed in the summer of 1993 to cuts property taxes by 20%. At the time, as a State Senator, Debbie Stabenow proposed a 100% cut to property taxes.
According to a story on Michigan Radio,
At the time, Stabenow’s move was widely interpreted as an attempt on her part to show how silly it was to cut taxes without specifying new revenues for the schools. If that was its purpose, it backfired. The Senate passed the amended bill the same day, the House followed a day later, and the governor immediately announced that he would sign the bill. With little debate the state had eliminated $6.5 billion in school taxes for the 1994-1995 school year. Absent further action, there would be no way to finance the public schools.
This decision to gut financing for public schools, eventually paved the way for charter schools to be introduced into Michigan.
I remember when this was all happening. Governor Engler came to Grand Rapids in the fall of 1993 to visit what was then called Henry School (now MLK School). There were parents and other activists waiting for the Governor’s motorcade. One parent held a sign that said, “Hey Engler, Remember what happened to Custer.” Engler’s motorcade did not stopped and parents were prevented from speaking with him while he visited the school.
The Michigan Radio piece then goes on to say, “Both Republicans and Democrats worked together to create school choice in Michigan – that issue was not put to voters. The question to voters was how to pay for it. Proposal A increased the state sales tax and tobacco tax to help pay for schools. It also put a cap on how much money local governments could raise to spend on schools.”
Since then the record on the performance of Charter Schools is not good, according to a recent story by The Bridge. And John Engler is certainly a part of that same legacy, a fact that seems to be missed by MLive and the other major dailies in Michigan.
For a listing of those who will join John Engler on the National Assessment Board, see the information that the Secretary of Education posted on each of the new appointees.
35 years later, American Made movie tells part of the story of US Drug Policy, the CIA and Barry Seal
This past weekend, the Hollywood version of what pilot and drug runner Barry Seal did for the CIA in the 1980s, opened in movie theaters across the country.
If you go see the film, there are some things you should keep in mind, as Hollywood is prone to sensationalize real-life events, especially when Tom Cruise is involved. Before we talk about the role of Barry Seal and his relationship to US government agencies, it is important to point out what the black community has been telling us for years, which was something like, we don’t have the planes and the boats to bring these drugs into the US, this was always done by white people, yet it has had devastating effects in the black community.
Barry Seal was an airplane pilot who started transporting drugs into the US in the mid-1970s. He first began by bringing in marijuana, but that eventually evolved to cocaine. Seal was eventually murdered in 1986, by what were believed to be hitmen hired by Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
It is important that we put the role that Barry Seal played as a drug smuggler for the CIA in solid historical context. Seal was engaged in the bulk of his drug smuggling work during the Reagan administration, which was eventually confronted by the Iran-Contra affair. This guns, for drugs, for hostages scandal underscores many of the same dynamics that Barry Seal was involved in. You can read details about the Iran-Contra scandal through the declassified documents that were put together by the National Security Archives.
Another important historical context to acknowledge is the fact that there was a major investigation by the US Senate, which produced a report released in 1989. This investigation and report admitted that various US agencies were either fully aware of or deeply involved in facilitating the drug trade during the 1980 in Latin America.
However, there are two independent books I wanted to talk about that also shed a great deal of light on this topic and the role that Barry Seal played in drug smuggling for the US government in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The first book is the scholarly work done by Peter Dale Scott and Johnathan Marshall, which produced the book, Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America. Barry Seal’s involvement with illegal drug smuggling and his relationship to the DEA and CIA is cited throughout the book, but we will reference one section that has the most details on pages 98 – 102.
“In March 1983, after a DEA investigation, Barry Seal was indicted in Fort Lauderdale for a shipment of 200,000 Quaaludes. Through 1983 and 1984 Seal attempted to beat the indictment by offering to become an informant for the DEA’s Miami Field Division. His offers were refused. Then, after his conviction in February 1984, Seal found a more sympathetic audience for his problem, who arranged for Seal to stay out of jail and in the cocaine business: in March 1984, while out of jail on an appeal bond, Seal flew his Lear jet to Washington and telephoned Vice President Bush’s office; and he spoke on the street to staff members of the vice president’s South Florida Task Force.
The Task Force’s DEA liaison sent Seal to DEA’s Washington headquarters, which then found a supervisor, newly posted to the Miami Field Division, who reversed previous DEA policy and agreed to handle Seal as an informant. Less than a month later, on April 6, 1984, Seal flew to Colombia for a drug shipment that soon led to one of the White House’s bigger propaganda efforts against the Sandinistas: photographs allegedly linking them to the Medellin cocaine trafficker Pablo Escobar.
The CIA was certainly involved in the preparations for Seal’s trip to Nicaragua: it was the CIA that provided the cameras for Seal’s C-123K cargo plane in 1984. It was the CIA that provided the disputed description of Seal’s Nicaraguan contact, Frederico Vaughan, as an aide to Nicaraguan Interior Minister Borge. It was certainly Duane Clarridge, the CIA’s Latin American Division Chief in charge of the Contras, who was responsible for Oliver North’s learning, the very day of Seal’s return with the film, that the photos show Vaughan and Nicaraguan interior troops. General Gorman claimed three days later that the US now had firm proof of Sandinista drug trafficking; and DEA officials soon learned to their dismay that Clarridge and North had somehow obtained the Seal photos. Within weeks both the story and the photos had been made public, and the DEA had to break off the Seal flights to Nicaragua.
The second book worth referencing on Barry Seal’s role in the US/CIA/DEA drug operations in the 1980s was journalist Gary Webb’s Dark Alliance: The CIA, The Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.
While working for the San Jose Mercury News, Gary Webb had discovered the CIA/Contra connection in California in the mid-1990s, while investigating the crack cocaine epidemic within the Black community. He wrote a four-part series for the San Jose Mercury News, which eventually became the book, Dark Alliance. 
The wrecked C-123K in which those flight logs were found had a history of involvement with cocaine, the Medellin cartel, and the CIA. It was the same plane Louisiana drug dealer Barry Seal used in a joint CIA-DEA sting operation in 1984 against the Sandinistas. In that case the CIA had taken Seal’s plane – which he’d recently obtained through a complicated plane swap with the cartel – to Rickenbacker Air Force Base in Ohio and outfitted it with hidden cameras. Then Seal, who was working as a DEA informant, flew the aircraft to an airfield in Nicaragua and snapped pictures of men loading bags of cocaine into his plane.
One of Seal’s grainy, almost indistinguishable photos was later shown on national TV by President Ronald Reagan the night before a crucial vote in Congress on Contra Aid. “This picture, secretly taken at a military airfield outside Managua, shows Frederico Vaughan, a top aide to one of the nine commandantes who rule Nicaragua, loading an aircraft with illegal narcotics, bound for the United States,” Reagan announced. “No, there seems to be no crime to which the Sandinistas will not stoop – this is an outlaw regime.”
After the president’s remarks were uncritically spread across the country by the national media, both the DEA and the Justice Department admitted there was no evidence, other than Barry Seal’s claims, to support Reagan’s accusations.
A 1988 congressional investigation raised troubling questions about whether or not the Seal sting was even a real sting. It produced evidence suggesting that the whole episode had been stage-managed by Oliver North and the CIA as a domestic disinformation operation. Among other things, the House Judiciary Committee investigation revealed that the alleged Sandinista official named by Reagan, Frederico Vaughan, may have actually been working for the US government. Committee chairman William Hughes of New Jersey told reporters that “subcommittee staff recently called Vaughan’s number in Managua, Nicaragua and spoke to a domestic employee who said the house belonged to a US Embassy employee,” and that his investigators were told the house had been “continuously rented” by the United States since 1981.
Four DEA officials testified before Hughes’s committee that they’d received pressure from North and the CIA to leak the news of Vaughan’s involvement with drugs to the press. They also said North wanted to take $1.5 million in drug profits Seal had collected from the Medellin cartel and give it to the Contras. When the DEA refused to to either, the DEA officials testified, the story was leaked by the White House to the rightwing Washington Times, which was supporting the Contras both financially and editorially.
Therefore, don’t be misled by the sensationalized version of this story as depicted by Tom Cruise. In fact, if you wanted to watch a Hollywood film that more accurately tells the story of US drug policy in the 1980s and 90s, watch the 2014 film Kill the Messenger, which is about journalist Gary Webb and what he uncovered. One of the things that this film does, which is so important, is to link the crack-cocaine epidemic within the black community with the US government role in facilitating drugs coming into the US.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would award millions of dollars in contracts to fulfill President Donald Trump’s ominous promise to expand the wall at the Mexico/U.S. border. These contracts are going to Israeli companies, as was reported by the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.
The BDS campaign reported:
Israel Aerospace Industries subsidiary, Elta North America, has been awarded a contract worth up to $500,000 to build prototypes for the wall on the Mexico/U.S. border, while the U.S. subsidiary of the Israeli security and surveillance company Elbit Systems has received its third contract to build the U.S. border wall and to militarize the border area.
In 2014, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded Elbit Systems a $145 million contract to erect and maintain surveillance towers along the Arizona/Sonora (Mexico) border. Already in 2006, Elbit had been subcontracted by Boeing to provide cameras and radar systems for the DHS’s Strategic Border Initiative. Earlier this month, Elbit announced a contract to deliver even more radar and surveillance towers to militarize the Mexico-US border area, boasting it offers “field proven architecture” tested on Palestinians.
Elbit Systems has a connection to West Michigan. First, the former Chairman of Elbit Systems, Joseph Parini, is on the advisory board for the Michigan Israel Business Bridge. Another advisory board member for the Michigan Israel Business Bridge is Birgit Klohs, who is the President and CEO of the Right Place Inc. here in Grand Rapids. Klohs has aggressively sought to bring Israeli companies to West Michigan and has already brought Plasan North American to Walker, Michigan.
The other interesting connection between Elbit Systems (which has new contracts for the US/Mexican border wall) and West Michigan, is the current CEO of Elbit Systems, Raanan Horowitz. According to the Elbit Systems website, Horowitz, “received a Master of Business Administration from the Seidman School of Business at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan.”
Some communities are organizing actions on November 9, for a World Without Walls. This day of action is to make the connection between the illegal Israel wall on Palestinian land and the US wall that will be expanded along the US/Mexican border. It would seem that Grand Rapids might want to join is this global day of action, considering the connections between the Israeli companies contracted to be involved in the US/Mexican border wall and the ties that one of those companies has to West Michigan.
Grand Rapids, ArtPrize and Whiteness
Recently, I was driving back into Michigan on highway 94 and saw a billboard just after re-entering the state that read, Cool City – Hot Art. The billboard was created by Experience GR and also included the words food, beer and music.
This billboard, in many ways, is reflective of the economic, political and cultural climate that exists in Grand Rapids. If we were to more honestly depict in words what the reality is for Grand Rapids, this is what the billboard would actually look like.
Grand Rapids is such an overtly White City. The whiteness permeates everything about the city, from the hyper-religious reality to the heavy handed entrepreneur/free market/philanthropy crap that is constantly shoved down our throats. This is also the case with the litany of non-profits that exist, with their emphasis on practicing white savior politics. Then there is the cultural climate in Grand Rapids, where every organization claims to celebrate diversity, but more often than not engages in cultural appropriation or is patronizing to the populations they “serve.” Most organizations, whether it is city government, the Chamber of Commerce or culture-focused say they love black and brown people, but only if they remain loyal to whiteness. If people of color dare to challenge the whiteness that permeates Grand Rapids, they will be further marginalized and punished.
When I say whiteness, I am not just talking about white people, I am talking about a way of being in the world that centers and privileges white reality and white values. Now ask yourself who has economic and political power in this city? Who has power to impose their will on other people or whole communities? What entities spend a great deal of time celebrating Grand Rapids and all of the lists that the city has been included in over the past 5 years? Who in this city makes it a point to say that Grand Rapids is a great place to raise a family? The answer is always white people. Whether we are talking about the DeVos family, the Meijer family, Secchia, Jandernoa, Rockford Construction, the Right Place Inc., the Art Museum, the Christian Reformed Church, the commercial news media, Experience GR, Mel Trotter Ministries or ArtPrize.
Notice in the altered billboard above that the words, beer, art and music are crossed off and replaced by poverty, racism and gentrification. While the dominant culture in Grand Rapids likes to think of beer, art and music, a disproportionate amount of those in communities of color experience, racism, poverty and gentrification. Whiteness says we need to celebrate the good things in our city, and that is because they “good” things disproportionately happen to white people.
For communities of color, the reality is quite different. Think about this. Why are there a disproportionate amount of black and brown folks living in poverty in Grand Rapids? Why are there a disproportionate amount of Black and brown folks in the Kent County Jail or facing probation in this city? Why are the public schools predominantly made up of black and brown students? Why are the neighborhoods that are experiencing gentrification disproportionately made up of black and brown folk? Why are black and brown neighborhoods disproportionate targeted by the GRPD? If Grand Rapids is so welcoming, why the hell are so many people in the immigrant and undocumented community living in constant fear? I mean, if Grand Rapids is such a cool city and the best place to raise a family, then why the hell are so many people from communities of color struggling to survive or wanting to get the hell out?
ArtPrize and Whiteness
We are in year nine of ArtPrize and that means that for a few weeks thousands of people will descend upon Grand Rapids, look at art, stay in hotels, eat in downtown restaurants and park their cars in every possible space imaginable. In addition, the city always tries to keep all these visitors from having to deal with those on the street asking for money or sleeping in storefront entryways.
Then there is the experience of many artists of color who are either outright being censored for their work or are marginalized by the lack of exposure or the intentional omission of art venues that feature works by artists of color (Cultura Collective). This is in part because ArtPrize is primarily about downtown Grand Rapids and that it has to offer whiteness. There are hotels, restaurants, bars and music venues because those with power in this community has made sure that the downtown has been heavily invested in. When you think of the Grand Rapids Brewing Company, the BOB, the Amway Grand Plaza, the DeVos Convention Center, the Art Museum or the UICA, what kind of spaces do you think they represent? These are white spaces, plain and simple.
Then there is the very nature of ArtPrize, which is often billed as a free wheeling art exhibit where anything goes. However, apart from the fact that is is an event that is bankrolled and run by members of the DeVos family, the event is really just another way to promote and celebrate the the free market. Artprize awards a select few with cash prizes, some of which are chosen by handpicked jurors and the rest are voted on by the public. Those artists that with through the public vote shows just how democratic the event truly is, according to the ArtPrize founder Rick DeVos. So rich people funding an event that financially benefits them and their friends, while the public gets to vote is called democracy? Sound familiar. This is exactly what the DeVos Fanily does in the political arena, where they contribute millions of dollars to candidates to make sure that the legislation that gets passed protects and expands their wealth and the other values they want to impose on the rest of us.
There was a recent article in the New York Times about Artprize entitled, How a Quirky Art Prize tied to the DeVos Family Went Political. Like most stories about ArtPrize, the NYTs piece completely misses the point. ArtPrize doesn’t have to be heavy handed about the content of the art submitted. In fact, they could care less about the content. What Rick DeVos and his family care about are: the PR benefits of the event that gets people to say, “they’ve done so much for this city”; the amount of money they make from the annual event; and the hope that people will be less inclined to examine the power and influence their family has in West Michigan.
But there is also another aspect to the spectacle that is ArtPrize, which brings us back to the notion that Grand Rapids is a White City. The racism/white supremacy, poverty and gentrification that plagues thousands of people in this city will still plague people in this city after ArtPrize is over. Those who have political, economic and cultural power in this city, will still have that power after ArtPrize. ArtPrize does not and will not change the realities of racism/white supremacy, poverty and gentrification. ArtPrize does maintain the status quo and business as usual, despite its appearance. In a word, ArtPrize maintains whiteness in Grand Rapids.
So, to those of us who are descendants of Europeans and Euro-Americans, we have to come to terms with the reality that Grand Rapids is a White City. What some people call West Michigan Nice, is essentially whiteness. West Michigan nice is not wanting to upset anyone, it’s avoiding conflict and it is not wanting to confront the ugly reality of our history or the present.
At this point, maybe readers will expect some sort of plan or suggestion on how Grand Rapids can stop being a White City. However, as I have learned over the years from those in communities of color, we all need to figure this shit out and stop wanting people to provide us with a fucking blueprint on how to stop participating in white supremacy. We (us white folk) need to do the hard work, get over our fragility and start working on dismantling white supremacy in all its manifestations.
MLive, census data and the politics of class
Back on September 14, MLive ran a story entitled, “Michigan’s median income is up and poverty is down, new census data shows.” 
The headline is based on a comparison between the 2014-2015 data and the 2015-2016 data, which you can search by county, with the help of the cloud database embedded in the article.
However, the MLive headline is problematic on many levels. First, while poverty is only slightly down from the previous, it is still affecting 15% of the total Michigan population and in communities of color, those numbers are between 20 – 30% for Black, Latino and Native communities.
Second, the media household income is not a great way to make determinations about economics. For instance, there are a growing number of very wealthy people living in Kent County. The number of millionaires in Kent County increased from 407 in 2010, to 600 in 2014. We also know that there are numerous individuals and families in the area that are billionaires. Therefore, even though the wealth gap is rather significant, the median income will be higher based on the fact that there is a class of people that are disgustingly wealthy.
Third, according to a study done by the Economic Policy Institute last year, the wealthy gap in Michigan was most pronounced in Grand Rapids/Wyoming. Unfortunately, there is no attempt in the MLive article to assess the wealth gap. There was a follow up MLive article, based on the census data, which looked at the wealthiest communities in Michigan. This was also based on median income, which still doesn’t provide a truly accurate sense of the gap between those with tremendous wealth and the rest of the population.
Fifth, the federal government determination for those living below the poverty line is also highly problematic. There are too many factors, especially the rising cost of housing and medical expenses, which can make it difficult for a family of four that earns $50,000 a year to make ends meet.
In comparison, if you look at the data from DATA USA for Kent County, you have a somewhat better sense of the disparities in income. This chart below is a better indication of the amount of people who earn less than $50,000 a year, compared to those who make more than $50,000 a year. Clearly, over 50% of the population in Kent County makes less than $50,000 a year. What is interesting, is the spike in people making over $200,000. Unfortunately, it is hard to know how many of them are millionaires and billionaires.
Lastly, it is worth noting that the only person cited in the MLive articles on income and the most recent census data, is an economist for the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. The economist had this to say, “It’s been a hard slog, but the good news is that things are continuing to look better,” This statement doesn’t really tell us anything and we should also just ask ourselves the question, “things are continuing to look better for whom?”
It’s too bad we don’t have regular reporting on economic realities. What if working class people and those experiencing poverty were featured in the reporting on MLive? Oh, I forgot, then we wouldn’t have enough space left for print and electronic stories about ArtPrize.
$700 Billion US War Budget for 2018 gets Bipartisan support: Senators Stabenow and Peters get guarantees for Michigan weapons contractors
Language used by those in power is always instructive. The US Department of Defense used to be called the US Department of War, which is a more honest description, since there is little in the war budget for defense.
The US has military bases in over 150 countries, totally some 900 bases, with nuclear weapons in several of these countries. The US has been engaged in warfare, in some form or another – overt war, covert war, proxy war, drone war, the drug war, etc – ever since the country was founded. The US also spends more on war and militarism than the next top ten country military budgets, combined.
The budget for the US Department of War is no different this coming year, as Congress just passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018. The House of Representatives passed the near $700 Billion budget request by a margin of 344 to 81, while the Senate was near unanimous, passing the war budget by a margin of 89 – 8.
US militarism has always been a bi-partisan affair, but it is more than just an allocation for US militarism abroad, it is also a collective statement that says, Congress is will to spend money on war and militarism abroad, but not on housing, education and other social services at home. The US military budget always surpasses domestic spending and as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr once said:
A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.
Looking at some of the reasons why members of Congress would agree to spend $700 billion on war and militarism is also very instructive. Lets look at what both Michigan Senators had to say about why they voted for a $700 billion war budget.
Michigan Senator Gary Peters posted a statement on his website saying:
Our country faces constantly evolving threats, and it is vital that our brave men and women in uniform have the resources and support they need to safely conduct military operations and protect the homeland. I’m pleased the Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act with bipartisan support, and I was proud to work to include several critical provisions that will bolster Michigan’s role in our nation’s defense, promote better mental health care for service members and support small businesses that contract with the federal government.
So, does anyone really believe Peters when he says its about protecting the homeland? The other reason, making sure that Michigan businesses that make stuff for the US military are included, that seems like a credible reason. Nearly all of the “provisions” that Senator Peters included in the National Defense Authorization Act were to guarantee that Michigan-based businesses would profit from the taxpayer subsidy knows as the US military budget.
Senator Stabenow follows the same line of justification as Senator Peters, in her posted statement about why she voted for the $700 billion war budget.
“Today, we are making a strong investment in our men and women in uniform as well as Michigan’s defense industry, which supports over 100,000 jobs and plays an important role in our nation’s security. The defense bill includes one of my amendments to toughen up our Buy American law. It also protects over 1,500 jobs for Michigan workers and suppliers who help build the Littoral Combat Ships at Marinette Marine Shipyard, authorizes additional funding for critical ground vehicle research at TARDEC, and provides a well-earned pay raise for our troops. I strongly support these priorities and will continue leading the effort to protect Michigan’s defense assets and identify new opportunities that will create jobs.”
Both Michigan Senators would like us to believe that they are just looking out for Michigan workers by voting for the 2018 US war budget. However, the truth is that they voted for the $700 billion war budget because they believe in US exceptionalism and US imperialism – that the US has the right, indeed, the duty to control the resources of other countries and to make sure that other countries don’t interfere with US military and geo-political supremacy abroad.
Most State Legislators who voted for the new Super PAC bill, have received lots of money from the DeVos Family
Last week Governor Rick Snyder signed into law what is being referred to as the Super PAC Bill.
In some ways, this new bill mirrors the federal election funding trend of Citizen’s United. However, as the Michigan Campaign Finance Network (MCFN) has noted:
The bill goes further, specifically allowing candidates to solicit unlimited contributions to supposedly “independent” Super PACs. It also allows candidates and Super PACs to share certain vendors, like attorneys or other campaign consultants.
So while an individual donor can give up to $1,000 to a state House candidate’s campaign. The candidate could ask the same donor or a corporate entity to give a much larger check to a Super PAC that is going to support the candidate. Because Super PACs can accept corporate contributions, the original sources of their money are notoriously hard to trace.
What this all ends up meaning is that the wealthy capitalist class will have an even greater influence in both electing candidates and legislation that is put forth by the candidates that those with economic power have put in place.
In Michigan, according to the MCFN, the number one non-corporate entity to contribute to candidates for state government has been the DeVos Family. Therefore, we thought it would be useful to look at which members of the Michigan Senate and the House of Representations have received money from the DeVos Family and which of them voted for the Super PAC bill.
The Senate Bill 335 passed by a margin of 23 – 12. Of the 23 that voted for the bill, 18 of them have received substantial amounts of money from the DeVos Family during their time in office. Here is the list of those who voted for the Super PAC bill and have received money from the DeVos Family:
- Darwin Booher (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Jack Brandenburg (R) has received $14,000 from the DeVos Family
- Tom Casperson (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Pat Colbeck (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
- Mike Green (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
- Goeff Hansen (R) has received $16,000 from the DeVos Family
- David Hildenbrand (R) has received $21,000 from the DeVos Family
- Ken Horn (R) has received $3,000 from the DeVos Family
- Joe Hune (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Marty Knollenberg (R) has received $21,000 from the DeVos Family
- Mike Kowall (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
- Peter MacGregor (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
- Jim Marleau (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
- Arlan Meekhof (R) has received $54,000 from the DeVos Family
- John Proos (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- David Robertson (R) has received $7,000 from the DeVos Family
- Wayne Schmidt (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
- Tonya Schuitmaker (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
In the Michigan House the Super PAC bill passed by a margin of 62-45. Of the 62 that voted for the measure, 31 have also been recipients of DeVos Family money over the years. Here is that list:
- Chris Afendoulis (R) has received $4,500 from the DeVos Family
- Sue Allor (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Tom Barrett (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
- John Bizon (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
- Tommy Brann (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Edward Canfield (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Lee Chatfield (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Kathy Crawford (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
- Diana Farrington (R) has received $8,000 from the DeVos Family
- Ben Frederick (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Daniela Garcia (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
- Joe Graves (R) has received $17,200 from the DeVos Family
- Beth Griffin (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Roger Hauck (R) has received $7,000 from the DeVos Family
- Pamela Hornberger (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Gary Howell (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Holly Hughes (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
- Brandt Iden (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
- Larry Inman (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Bronna Kahle (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Klint Kesto (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
- Beau LaFave (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Jim Lilly (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- James Lower (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Steve Marino (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Jeff Noble (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Daire Rendon (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Jason Sheppard (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Curt VanderWall (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Rob Verheulen (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
- Jason Wentworth (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
In most of the cases where members of the Michigan Legislature didn’t receive money from the DeVos Family and did vote for the Super PAC bill, they did receive substantial amounts of money from Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the Michigan Farm Bureau, both of which lobbied for the legislation.
In addition, there were also numerous cases where legislators who did not receive funding from the DeVos Family, but did receive funds from other families who are part of the West Michigan Power Structure; such as the Meijer Family, Peter Secchia, Michael Jandernoa and John Kennedy.
However, it seems clear that the DeVos Family, a family who stands to benefit from the new legislation, which will allow for more individual campaign contributions and PAC money to be raised for candidates, will be one of the real winners of the new bill signed last week by Gov. Rick Snyder.
Lastly, so as not to forget Governor Snyder’s relationship to the DeVos Family, he has received $142,830 from them since he first ran as Governor for Michigan.
Boycott Artprize
(The following article was written by Russell Gorton and is reposted with his permission.)
Artprize is dumb and harmful to art and artists.
1. The premise of artprize binds art to money. This rewards spectacle, which is not the same as art.
Like capitalism, artprize does not reward bad luck. Artists become casino gamblers, feeding their dollars and their work into a machine with worse-than-random odds. Viewing art, learning about art, discussing the merits of art, building a public audience engaged with art — none of these things are made better with a hokey lottery attached.
Judging the best cuisine by public vote, results in McDonalds and Applebees. Similarly, artprize does not allow consideration of smaller pieces conceived without the intent to provoke a broad public response. Repeatedly, the artprize public has chosen meticulous production, imposing scale, systemic and repetitive techniques. 
Art is often not regarded as valuable and profound in its own time. Tchaikovsky died thinking his most famous ballet was a failure. But artprize presupposes that good art must immediately impress a broad audience. The Mona Lisa is not a very big painting. It would look fairly small sitting in the fountains at a convention center or presidential museum, next to towering elephants.
Not every human effort must have a monetary value assigned to it. Good, interesting art need not be huge, complicated, or time-consuming. Artists know this, but perhaps this is a tough sell in “my kid could do that!” country.
2. The winning art sucks. I mean, It’s really, really terrible. The public winners reinforce our image as red state rubes.
25% of winners are gigantic quilts by the same lady. The treacly military boosterism has ranged from open white supremacy nostalgia (cavalry drawing) to mawkish sentimentality (warrior dogs – which recalled CIA torture of muslim prisoners – a literal dog-whistle lolol). The bizarre crucifixion piece overwhelmed, all garish color and size, like a shiny Cadillac limo with gold trim and fur seats once owned by Elvis.
West Michigan sure likes to trumpet its “work-proud” mentality. That art took a lot of time to make. That artist must have worked really hard. Really makes you think about sacrifice and honor, and the northwoods, and Jesus. Must be worthwhile. My kid couldn’t do that.
3. The family’s politics are nightmarish and simply cannot be supported in a modern humanist cultural conversation.
“I don’t get into that stuff.” – Rick DeVos, when asked about his family’s politics. and “I just want to see crazy crap all over downtown.” – Rick DeVos, when asked about the validity of the art, in relation to its cultural merits or ultimate purpose. Implicit in this statement is the acknowledgement that spectacle is the goal.
These are facile, unserious, and childlike avoidances of some serious issues, which someone in his position of wealth, and the influence it buys, would do well to address.
The family who founded ArtPrize® despises gays and spends profligately to harm them politically and socially. A long-time board member and financial backer of artprize has been in the news recently, you may have heard of her! She was appointed to lead a federal agency she apparently thinks shouldn’t exist. This family is intimately and thoroughly involved in a Calvinist/pre-destinationist Christian sect that (like most) claims to have the keenest grasp on The Correct Moral Principles Of Mankind. Yet the family stays silent regarding the monster in their midst. They apparently love Christ but ignore the most notorious mercenary commander of our time, a man unwelcome in his homeland, a man who directs a private army of murderers at the behest of the top dollar.
So they want us to enjoy their “radically” “disruptive” little boardwalk picture show without so much of a word about this? There will be no reckoning, no shame for these people?
If you are going to throw your family’s money around to be the loudest voice in our cultural conversation each year, Rick, then you should probably admit that your family isn’t about the open sharing of culture at all. They aren’t about living by the received wisdom of Christ either. They’re about controlling the conversation and making money.
Artists, why are you paying $ to enter this silly contest that associates your work with Dominionists who are so clearly on the wrong side of history? Why not ask a restauranteur if she will display your art, without the bogus contest stuff? Hey maybe y’all could start a fringe festival and piggyback on the crowds coming to town for artprize? Or maybe organize some protest actions? Inject some more defiance into this stuff, please? Shoot for zero votes. Tell your friends to avoid the vote. Let’s see a juried prize winner get fewer than 100 public votes. That would be a statement — a sort of jury nullification. Hey, if we hate Betsy DeVos’s dumb policies enough to whine about it on Facebook, why not, you know, consider avoiding this fiasco she helped fund and sat on the board of until… last year.
Venues, why are you associating yourselves with this useless contest? Powerful people who seek to cripple public education; to restrict choice in love, for families, for health; to dictate their sad twisted patriarchal morality into legislation — Are these the “family values” that should dominate the art scene around here? Second-, third-, and fourth-generation nouveau riches, who have never scrounged to make rent and eat and get to work on time? Unlike, you know, artists who need exposure? It is unsound to be a politically progressive employer yet allow your dining room to be co-branded like this.
Serious Local Art Institutions, why are you allowing your season calendars to be cramped by this mess? Why are you allowing these people to continue dominating the cultural conversation in our city? Agree to display controversial art. Challenge audiences to spend time with smaller, more intimate pieces. Ideally, turn down artprize as a venue and allow yourselves the space to dictate your own early Fall exhibitions. Who knows? You guys are screwed one way or the other every year.
Anyway, it’s all pretty foolish and worthless. Whole thing is panning out as a failure, going into the ninth year.
I wish good luck
to the building-sized quilt
depicting police dogs
surrounding Jesus
as he aims his AR-15
at a gay Syrian couple
being turned away at the US border,
supertitled “PSALM 108:13”
and “9/11 NEVER FORGET”
in golden thread
hand-embroidered letters
20 feet tall.
That took a really long time.
Those ladies sure worked hard on that quilt.
Top 10 easily.
Too bad I can’t vote for it
more than once!
— Russell Gorton
Grand Rapids, Michigan
September 18, 2017
Update 9/20/17 — some responses and answers:
I received some comments defending the artists, pointing out that because of artprize, artists are able to have their work seen by throngs of people, build relationships with venues, maybe contribute to a sense of civic pride. I agree artprize has drawn an unusually large audience to see art, and that has intrinsic value. But the lure of the prize incentivizes a certain kind of public art, which usually tends to suck, while the rest of the sleeping-in-their-cars type artists are still paying $50+ to show their work in a restaurant booth or church lobby somewhere. Multiply that by the # of entries, and AP is earning a significant chunk of the prize money from the artists themselves.
I do not hate on any artists for showing in artprize. Artists should do what they do, when and where they want to do it. I felt that a critical analysis from a leftist perspective would contribute to the discussion around artprize. Now that it has had eight years to demonstrate what it is about, some conclusions may be drawn.
Can artists and venues attract crowds without big prize money attached? There are numerous other art fairs and shows throughout Michigan and the Midwest. My problem is with the prize money, where it comes from, and the assumptions it brings about human or social value being inextricably connected to financial wealth.
I was taken to task specifically over my derision regarding the quilts. I’m not belittling quilts, it’s a perfectly lovely form of art. I just point out the absurdity of the public voters picking not one, but two giant painstaking quilts as some notional “best” art. Nothing inherently wrong with the quilts; it’s the neopuritan ethos of them and their scale and subject matter, that appealed to the broad audience around here – is the idea I’m putting forward – that this desire to reward laborious craft and settler values for their own sake is a reflection of the reactionary white grievance tendencies of our region.
Like many white men learning to be allies, I have work to do but I in no way intended to belittle quilting as an art form or as “women’s work”. Feminism has benefitted me greatly and I am grateful daily for the women in my life who shape me.
Those attending the MSU ribbon-cutting ceremony were greeted by anti-Betsy DeVos protestors in Grand Rapids
Earlier today, MSU students organized a demonstration at the new MSU medical building on the corner of Monroe and Michigan in downtown Grand Rapids.
The reason for the protest, was due to the fact that MSU administrators had invited Betsy DeVos to speak at the grand opening of the new university facility.
An estimated 60 people showed up to protest DeVos, a protest that was organized by MSU students and faculty.
The MSU student-led protest included a petition to stop DeVos from speaking, which included these bullet points:
As Education Secretary, Secretary DeVos:
- Recommends a $9 billion cut in federal education funding, including cuts to higher education, training and after-school programs.
- Supports cutting financial aid to low-income college students making it easier for private loan servicer’s to prey on Michigan families. The MSU College of Human Medicine already has some of the highest per student debt in the nation.
- Rolled back regulations on for-profit colleges and has made it easier for low performing for-profit colleges to defraud students.
- Refuses to limit federal education funding for schools who actively discriminate against LGBTQ students.
As expected there were police everywhere, in cars, on bike and on foot, to make sure that the MSU ribbon cutting affair would go smoothly. The police put up tape and barricades to deter people opposed to Betsy DeVos from entering the north side of the property (see below), where the university had set up a large tent where DeVos spoke and attendees could schmooze and have refreshments.
Those who were protesting Betsy DeVos, brought signs and engaged in various chants with bullhorns. The signs covered a variety of messages that spoke to who Betsy DeVos is and what some of her positions as Secretary of Education have been so far.
One of the most consistent messages had to do with what the Secretary of Education is proposing to change about Title IX. I did a short interview with one of the protestors who talked about the Title IX issue and why it is so problematic.
In the early part of the demonstration there were numerous people who clearly were headed to the event with Betsy DeVos. They had to walk through the gauntlet of protestors as they made their way to the north side of the building, where the outdoor tent was. Some notable people who went to hear Betsy DeVos, were President of the Right Place Inc., Birgit Klohs and Grand Rapids City Commission Dave Shaffer. Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss also showed up and since there were members of the Grand Rapids Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), they let Bliss know that she was not welcome. In addition, the CEO of The Rapid, Peter Varga, also came to the event. He was also confronted by protestors, particularly ATU members, who unleashed a barrage of comments at Varga, who just received yet another raise, while bus drivers don’t have a contract. Varga had an exchange with one ATU member, then walked back to the corner of Monroe and Michigan and asked a cop to escort him (pictured on the right) down to the north side of the building.
The anti-DeVos demonstration lasted about two hours and certainly made it clear to those who attended the event and those driving by, that Betsy DeVos was not welcomed.
Lastly, there were about 15 pro-Trump/pro-DeVos people who also showed up, but they didn’t seem to be there for any other reason than to harass those in the anti-DeVos camp. They were not successful.
What will we do in Grand Rapids to fight against government repression that targets immigrants?
(Editor’s note: In the interest of being transparent, I am part of the Rapid Response to ICE effort.)
In the past two weeks we have been aware of the fact that at least a dozen families have been directly impacted because of ICE raids in the greater Grand Rapids area.
Last Friday, we received calls that ICE had been seen in the area of Alpine and Leonard and on Sunday, there were 5 or 6 people who had been picked up by Immigration, Customs and Enforcement officials.
In the past few days we have been contacted by several other members in the immigrant community who have either had a family member picked up by ICE or are facing deportation themselves.
This is the reality that thousands of people face every day in the West Michigan community. People live in fear and people are having their families torn apart. Children in these families don’t know if their parents will be home after school because of ICE and parents are afraid to go to the grocery store for fear of encountering ICE.
So what do people who are not facing these oppressive realities do? There are no easy answers and no simple blue prints to follow. However, there are concrete things that we can and should be doing.
The Rapid Response to ICE group has been hosting monthly trainings to involve people to; 1) prevent ICE from taking people who are undocumented, and 2) provide mutual aid/support to families impacted by having ice arrest, detain and possibly deport people. The next training is this Thursday, September 21 from 6 – 8pm, with details you can find at this link.
The mutual aid that people can provide often involves raising money for people to cover legal costs, but it also means donating money so that people can pay their rent, provide food for their children or cover medial expenses. Mutual aid is also about providing transportation to detention facilities or to court dates and then sitting with family members in the courtroom. 
Another important group to become involved in is the Cosecha Movement in Grand Rapids, which is a movement led by immigrants and the undocumented community. This movement believes in respect, dignity and permanent protection for immigrants, especially for those that are being targeted by ICE and anti-immigration policies. They meet on a weekly basis have been doing important organizing work.
But this still begs the question of what do people who are not faced with this kind of repression do? What do those of us with white privilege do knowing that the immigrant community is facing this kind of oppression on a daily basis?
Back in January, I participated in an all day gathering at Eastern Avenue church to talk about these dynamics and to see what those of us who carry a great deal of privilege could do. One of the main areas of focus on that day in January was to talk about faith communities offering sanctuary for those who are confronted with anti-immigration policies. The breakout session talked a bit about the history of sanctuary work in Grand Rapids and the more recent Sanctuary Movement that is growing across the country.
There were several faith-based communities that day that were considering offering sanctuary, whether that was in a very public manner by declaring themselves a sanctuary or a more underground manner, where sanctuary was being offered, but in a less-public way. The unfortunate reality is, that not one church or faith-based group has stepped up to offer sanctuary (at least not that we are aware of).
This fact is unacceptable. Grand Rapids and West Michigan as a whole, prides itself on being a very religious community, yet not one religious community has chosen to take a stand with the immigrant community that is being targeted with government repression. Sure, there are churches and faith-based non-profits that offer important resources – financial, legal and translation services – but offering individuals and families sanctuary would send a whole different message to the immigrant community. It would send the message that those of us who carry a great deal of privilege are willing to stand with the immigrant community and potentially suffer the same kind of government repression.
It is in these moments of history where people are confronted with what to do and have to face the question – what did we do while whole communities were experiencing repression? What did we do to make a difference? What did we do to make it clear to impacted communities that we stand in solidarity with them? What will we do?
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 