Betsy DeVos

Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington last week.

(Carolyn Kaster, AP)

Betsy DeVos, the schools-choice advocate and Michigan billionaire, has been nominated by President Donald Trump to be his secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. Gov. John Kasich recently urged her confirmation.

But some Democrats say she shouldn't be the nation's top education chief because she headed an Ohio scofflaw. In 2008, the Ohio Elections Commission fined a school-choice-advocacy organization that DeVos led for election law violations, but the group never paid up. With court judgments and penalties, those fines now total $5.3 million. Ohio is still waiting.

Opponents to her nomination also argue that DeVos has no experience working for public schools and say she sent her children to private schools.

Devos led All Children Matter, a charter schools and voucher advocacy group. The group ran afoul of Ohio law when it improperly funneled $870,000 in contributions from its Virginia PAC to its Ohio affiliate. Politico reports that DeVos was a director of All Children Matter until November, when Trump nominated her as education secretary, and that she paid some legal bills in the Ohio case, although she was not personally liable for the fines and penalties, per prior court rulings.

Philip Richter, executive director of the Ohio Elections Commission, said his staff had told All Children Matter that it could not send tens of thousands of dollars from its PAC in Virginia to Ohio, which has a $10,000 cap on individual gifts. But All Children Matter did so, anyway.

Kasich sent a letter this week to Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, urging DeVos' confirmation. She was a Kasich delegate during his recent presidential campaign and she and her family have contributed to his gubernatorial and presidential campaigns in recent years.

However, the unpaid fines rankled Ohio Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge and Sen. Sherrod Brown. Brown released a statement Wednesday saying that he won't vote for DeVos because of the unpaid fines and because she "has spent millions pushing the same style of for-profit education that's ripped off Ohio taxpayers and short-changed our students."

What do you think? Our editorial board roundtable weighs in below; we'd like you to do the same in the comments.

Sharon Broussard, chief editorial writer, cleveland.com:

It's bad form, to say the least, to want to be at the helm of the most powerful education department in the country, and yet allow an organization that you led to be a deadbeat in Ohio. But even worse is DeVos' obvious disdain for public education, which is likely to be the educational vehicle for many youngsters. DeVos seems to offer those schools very little and that should trouble conscientious U.S. senators a lot.

Ted Diadiun, editorial board member:

Few people seem to know how much, if anything, DeVos had to do with the fines her defunct organization were assessed, or the decisions that led to them. But if the situation doesn't bother Gov. Kasich, who is hardly a Trump sycophant and would speak up if he thought this was anything but a partisan bushwacking, that's good enough for me. She appears to be a woman of substantial character who has the best interests of public schoolchildren -- as opposed to the teachers' unions -- at heart, and ought to be confirmed.

Kevin O'Brien, deputy editorial page editor, The Plain Dealer:

In the eyes of the law, DeVos doesn't owe Ohio a dime. The defunct organization she headed might. Or, because of the Citizens United decision, it might not. If this derails her nomination, Trump should keep putting up opponents of the public school monopoly until the Senate confirms one.

Thomas Suddes, editorial writer:

Ms. DeVos isn't the most egregious appointment Mr. Trump has made. That's a point in her favor. And if she isn't personally liable for the Ohio fines and penalties -- well, she isn't liable. And (in this corner) school choice is a matter of parents' rights, and those things that help parents exercise their rights are good things. Still, Gov. John Kasich showed bad form in supporting Ms. DeVos' confirmation, given that an organization with which she was associated owes serious Ohio money -- and given that she'll be confirmed, come what may, anyway. Ohio should expect its campaign finance laws to be respected, not flouted. Is that the message the governor's endorsement sends?

Elizabeth Sullivan, opinion director, cleveland.com:

President Trump is free to nominate whomever he pleases for education secretary, but to my mind it's outrageous that Ohio Gov. John Kasich should promote this nomination, knowing that an organization Betsy DeVos headed owes $5.3 million to Ohio for election law violations while she was at its helm. Apparently, according to Kasich, it's OK to ignore both the law and the state penalties imposed for doing so. The courts' finding that DeVos was not personally liable does not negate the reality that she called the shots for this group while it flouted Ohio election requirements.

Ted Diadiun's comments were updated at 12:43 p.m. to more accurately reflect his opinion of Betsy Devos.

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