Bill Schuette gets a lot of press coverage. From his loyalty to corporate donors like Betsy DeVos to his use of public resources to further his political career, his record has been widely covered in the media – after all, he’s been in elected office for over 30 years. But you might not know as much about his running mate, former state Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons. A look through her record shows us the truth about Lyons, and she and #ShadySchuette are truly birds of a feather.
Like many Michigan Republicans, Lyons has taken money from the DeVos family, who have encouraged lawmakers to prioritize corporate-run charter schools while cutting funding to our public education system, and she has consistently supported their agenda. She led the effort to expand the Education Achievement Authority – a Snyder-conceived scheme to take over Detroit’s public schools that has since seen substantial declines in enrollment for lack of regulation and student performance. In a debate about closing school districts, Lyons compared teachers losing their jobs to the slaughter of hogs, showing just how little respect she has for educators.
On voting rights, Lyons is just as bad. She supported legislation to make it more difficult for voters to reform our system through ballot initiatives and constitutional amendments. Instead of working to make voting accessible for everyone–which should be a priority for anyone who values democracy–she pushed for unnecessary barriers to the ballot box.
And when Right to Work was passed, she supported it, but tried to write in an exemption for her husband, showing even she knew the policy was bad for working people, but voted for it anyway. When budgets including tax cuts for the wealthy came to a vote, she voted yes–because her loyalties lie with corporate donors. When students across Michigan walked out of schools to speak out against gun violence, she said they should be silenced.
So who is Lisa Posthumus Lyons? She’s a perfect match for Bill Schuette. She has promoted policies that hurt working families, advocated for funding cuts to our already struggling public schools, and fought to disenfranchise Michigan’s voters–all in service of the wealthy donors who fund her campaigns. Like Schuette, she cannot be trusted.