Lamar Alexander is dragging Betsy DeVos across the finish line to become secretary of education

[DonViejo]

emphasis exists in the original article

By James Hohmann January 18 at 10:43 AM

THE BIG IDEA: No senator has done more to shield a Donald Trump cabinet pick from scrutiny and tough questions than Lamar Alexander has for Betsy DeVos.

After postponing the secretary of education nominee’s hearing for a week, the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (known as HELP) rescheduled it for last night at the very unusual time of 5 p.m. (It then started 15 minutes late.)

The obvious goal was to minimize how many people would watch. The late start meant that cable news could not cover the proceedings live unless TV executives preempted lucrative primetime programming (which they didn’t do), and it made it harder for print reporters to make early newspaper deadlines – which forced some outlets to run shorter stories than they might have otherwise.

Despite howls of protest from every Democrat on the committee, Alexander allowed each member to ask five minutes of questions. He permitted just one round of questioning, compared to the three rounds that Rex Tillerson and Jeff Sessions faced last week. Most committees also give members 10 minutes per round, not five.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/01/18/daily-202-lamar-alexander-is-dragging-betsy-devos-across-the-finish-line-to-become-secretary-of-education/587e5785e9b69b36fcfeafd7/?utm_term=.5359196cd7e0&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1

[Mc Mike]

1. Lamar and Education privateer "Chris" Whittle:

"...Also in 1987, he a wrote a never-cashed investment check for $10,000 to Christopher Whittle for shares in Whittle Communications that increased in value to $330,000. In 1991, Alexander's house just purchased for $570,000 was sold to Whittle for $977,500. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander,_Lamar