Reading about growing opposition to Betsy DeVos made me want to post this reminder of some history this century fitting the thread title — that we won.
Background: George W. Bush, saved from many “worst ever” titles since last November, had avoided service in Vietnam by his father using his political position to get Bush a cushy spot in the Texas National Guard in an air unit which would see no combat. To do this, Bush contacted a family friend who contacted the Texas official who handled the ‘champagne unit’, as it was called, requests for sons of the well-connected and got them into the unit. Bush passed ahead of hundreds of people on the waiting list to get the spot.
That key official who arranged this was named Ben Barnes. That was the end of the story until Bush got interested in running for president, and really wanted to keep Barnes from revealing that history.
By that time Barnes had left government — I won’t call it government service he did — and become a lobbyist for a lottery company — one with a history and reputation for corruption.
Interesting situation. The head of the lottery had selected a company for the lottery already, and the only way to change it was for the lottery commissioner to remove him and force a change. That lottery commissioner was named Harriet Miers.
Bush persuaded Miers to do just that, giving the corrupt firm the contract for the Texas lottery, and Ben Barnes was awarded $25 million, IIRC, for the coup. That kept him quiet.
Miers, in turn, was then made a counselor to the president — nice cushy reward for her playing ball. Everyone was happy, if they were named Bush, Meier, Barnes or Karl Rove.
Eventually, Barnes spilled the beans anyway to a journalist who uncovered the story, after the damage had been done.
Nevermind that Republican activism had killed the entire 60 Minutes II television series and driven Dan Rather from the CBS anchor chair for having told the truth. Collateral damage.
Anyway, the punch line of all this is, that when a Supreme Court position needed to be filled, Bush nominated — to his shame for all time — none other than Harriet Miers.
This shocked the conscience even of the utterly corrupt Republican Party.
The reaction was so bad, from both Republicans and Democrats, that Bush finally had to withdraw her name — not that he didn’t appoint another disaster instead.
She did have some qualifications, just as DeVos has some experience in the education industry, though I don’t think they’re the reasons she was appointed. Wikipedia summarizes:
From 1972 until 2001 Miers worked for the Dallas law firm of Locke, Liddell & Sapp (and predecessor firms before mergers). She was the first female lawyer hired by the firm and later became its president. When the merger that created Locke, Liddell & Sapp took place in 1999, she became the co-managing partner of a legal business with more than 400 lawyers. In 2000 the firm settled a lawsuit for $22 million that accused the firm of having "aided a client in defrauding investors". According to the Class Action Reporter, Miers "said the firm denies liability in connection with its representation of Erxleben. 'Obviously, we evaluated that this was the right time to settle and to resolve this matter and that it was in the best interest of the firm to do so,' Miers said."...
In 1986, Miers became the first female president of the Dallas Bar Association. In 1992, Miers became the first woman to head the State Bar of Texas. She has served as chair of the Board of Editors for the American Bar Association Journal and as the chair of the ABA's Commission on Multi-Jurisdictional Practice...
In April 2007, Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell announced that Miers was returning to the firm. In her new role at the firm, Miers has registered with the United States Department of Justice as an agent for the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Embassy of Pakistan.
I mention this for two reasons. One is just for the story that this sort of hackery and violation of the public trust is not new with Betsy DeVos.
The other is for the morale boost to note that the resistance to the terrible appointment worked to defeat it. It can be done.