Does Cory Booker have a school choice problem?

[still_one]

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/02/cory-booker-has-a-school-choice-problem.html

"He might be able to explain away his reputation for being a reliable friend of Wall Street as a matter of virtual constituent services given the financial industry’s importance to New Jersey and to the city of Newark where he served as mayor for seven years. But a more concrete problem involves his long history of support for any and every kind of school choice, including not just the charter public schools the Clinton and Obama administrations supported, but the private-school vouchers that most Democrats stridently oppose. What makes this history a fresh concern is the fact that Booker was once a close ally of the DeVos family, the Michigan gazillionaires and education privatization champions who gave the world Donald Trump’s secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. Kara Voght has the story:
In 1999, when he was still a city councilman, Booker worked with a conservative financier and a New Jersey Republican mayor to co-found Excellent Education for Everyone, a group dedicated to establishing a school voucher program in the Garden State. The following year, Dick DeVos—the Republican megadonor, school choice evangelist, and husband to the nation’s 11th education secretary—invited the 31-year-old Newark councilman up to his home base of Grand Rapids, Michigan, to speak in defense of a ballot measure that would lift the state’s ban on school voucher programs …
"

[oldsoftie]

1. So Sunday is "Get Cory Booker" day I guess.

Wonder whose turn it is Monday

[still_one]

2. Actually, the two candidates that are getting most of the criticism are Biden and Sanders

here, and while there have been criticisms of the other candidates, for the most part they are being ignored.

The NY Times produced a series of tough questions for the Democratic candidates about a week ago:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/us/politics/2020-candidate-interviews.html

"1.
In an ideal world, would anyone own handguns?
2.
Would your focus be improving the Affordable Care Act or replacing it with single payer?
3.
Do you think it’s possible for the next president to stop climate change?
4.
Do you think Israel meets international standards of human rights?
5.
Who is your hero, and why?
6.
Would there be American troops in Afghanistan at the end of your first term?
7.
How many hours of sleep do you get a night?
8.
Do you think illegal immigration is a major problem in the United States?
9.
Where would you go on your first international trip as president?
10.
Describe the last time you were embarrassed. Why?
11.
Do you think President Trump has committed crimes in office?
12.
Do you support or oppose the death penalty?
13.
Should tech giants like Facebook, Amazon and Google be broken up?
14.
Are you open to expanding the size of the Supreme Court?
15.
When did your family first arrive in the United States, and how?
16.
What is your comfort food on the campaign trail?

What do you do to relax?
18.
Does anyone deserve to have a billion dollars?

Unfortunately, Joe Biden declined to participate in this survey

I don't subscribe to the NY Times, and they allow 10 free reads per month, so one can view the answers to those questions from the various candidates by selecting the question at the link to see the candidates positions, and if one doesn't subscribe to the NY Times, if they are in the 10 views they can see the various answers to the questions



Unfortunately, it

[oldsoftie]

3. I will read them. Even though some are pretty silly.

I'm sure there will be several who answer with typical politician answers

[still_one]

4. I think your assessment isn't to far off, though in my OP regarding his vote against importing

prescription drugs from Canada, there were a couple of responses that brought up persuasive arguments why his no vote on that made sense

I posted some controversial positions taken by Booker probably because of the multiple threads that have cropped up regarding the Booker/Biden feud, and it dawned on me most of the negative piling on threads seem to be concentrated on Biden and Sanders, with Biden getting the most piling on, while the other candidates seem to be getting very little criticism.

It will be interesting to see what happens after the first debate, though it may take a few debates before the dynamics move to other candidates