07.13.2006 Letter to the Editor: DeVos, Amway, and Vouchers

My letter to the editor about Dick DeVos appeared today in the Saginaw News. Here it is:

As a lifelong Michigan resident, I have some serious reservations about Dick DeVos' legitimacy as a gubernatorial candidate.

It is true that Michigan is hurting because of recent losses in the manufacturing sector. However, it is a little disingenuous to hail DeVos as Michigan's savior and expect him to solve all of our problems, as his ads imply.

As the former president of Amway, DeVos made similar promises to the people of Michigan. These promises turned out to be untrue. Despite the fact that 99 percent of Amway "distributors" (victims) never made a profit, Amway tantalized prospective participants with promises of early retirement and instant wealth.

Since there is virtually no demand for Amway products outside of already existing Amway distributors, the Amway business model closely resembles an illegal pyramid scheme. The reality of Amway is that most of the money is made by only a few individuals that sell "motivational" materials to the rest of the Amway distributors. Through Amway, Dick DeVos has already scammed countless Michiganders.

In fact, DeVos' regard for Michigan residents is so low that he continues to fund organizations pushing for school vouchers despite public opposition. Michigan voters recognized that school vouchers would cripple our public schools and overwhelmingly rejected this initiative in 2000. Afterward, DeVos still donated millions of dollars to organizations that aim to undermine public education and advocated using bullying and stealth to keep pushing for vouchers in a 2002 speech.

Dick DeVos has already spent over 7.1 million dollars trying to buy a better image for himself on TV. Given his history, DeVos' attempt to buy our votes is frightening and undermines the idea of a democratic process. This is why I won't be voting for DeVos in November.

Nirmal Mankani

(cross-posted on Michigan Liberal)

EDIT: Front paged! Thanks guys.