GOP tiff: Rep. Doug Hart rips Betsy DeVos

State Rep. Doug Hart, who has made it a part of his legislative repertoire to stand up to Republican leaders, assailed state Republican Party Chairwoman Betsy DeVos for calling on the state superintendent of education to resign.

In an article in Sunday's Detroit News, DeVos derided Tom Watkins for his "highly compensated tenure," which she said has had a "total lack of results." She blamed Watkins for falling test scores each year since taking charge.

Hart said DeVos' criticisms were "cheap political shots" that have a "polarizing effect" at a time when the state needs to be finding common ground in improving education.

"I don't quite understand why the state party is so resolute in their attacks on Tom Watkins," Hart said. "It smacks of partisanship."

Hart noted DeVos was similarly partisan in the debate over pausing the income tax cut, at a time when the state needed a bipartisan solution, he said.

Did you ever have one of those days where everything just went right? Yesterday was that day for me. Dry roads, sunny skies, cheap smoke deal in Indiana, new Norah Jones waiting for me at work when I got back, hundreds of gay people getting married, and then my beloved paper features someone ripping into Betsy DeVos, finally calling her on her divisive attacks.

I must admit I have been remiss in the "Betsy Bash 2004" news lately; apparently she had some nasty things to say about Michael Moore when he was in town recently, and she pissed a lot of people off. The letters to the editor ran 10-1 against her, calling her out on this same shit.

She's turning into the Ann Coulter of Michigan.