COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Gov. John Kasich is urging confirmation of President Donald Trump’s education secretary nominee without mentioning the significant unpaid fine owed to Ohio by a now-defunct political action committee she controlled.
The Republican governor and 2016 presidential contender didn’t support Trump, but he praised Betsy DeVos for her character, experience and philosophy of limited government in a Jan. 24 letter to Sen. Lamar Alexander, who chairs the committee that handled her confirmation.
Senators voted 52-48 to cut off debate in an early-morning session Friday, setting the stage for a final confirmation vote next week.
Kasich’s backing of DeVos came as Democratic senators, including Ohio’s Sherrod Brown, called for the $5.3 million in fines and penalties incurred by the former All Children Matter PAC in 2008 to be repaid before DeVos was confirmed.
DeVos spokesman Ed Patru called Democrats’ protest letter “a transparently political maneuver” seeking to revive a long-settled issue that derives from a lawsuit filed against the now-defunct PAC.