President Trump has been vocal about his business-like goals for the direction of the executive branch. It’s time to question if this method is sound, even by his own intentions.

In nominating Betsy DeVos to run the Department of Education, he has nominated a billionaire Republican donor with no experience in education. DeVos and her children have never attended public school, let alone been involved in any meaningful way with public education. She has profited from charter schools in her native Michigan, which often undermine public schools by draining money from tax bases. Is this running the federal government like a business? Would Apple hire a computer novice to direct their marketing department? Would any hospital hire tobacco industry executives to manage their lung cancer awareness campaign?

Republican Sen. Pat Toomey has been notably absent. His office voice mailboxes in Pennsylvania and Washington have been full for much of the past week. Pennsylvanians value our teachers; this wave of opposition shows such. The 2014 electoral defeat of Tom Corbett — who cut $1 billion from education statewide — in the gubernatorial race is further proof.

Toomey has expressed his concerns dating back to when Trump became the Republican nominee for president. I encourage him to listen to his many voicemails urging him to vote no on DeVos’s confirmation. If Toomey’s concerns have all — miraculously — been satisfied, that puts him at odds with his Pennsylvania constituents. Feel free to leave a message yourself, if the voicemail ever gets emptied.

Charlie Hopta
Easton

Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.