Dick DeVos
Richard "Dick" DeVos, Jr. is an American businessman, politician, and a conservative Republican candidate for governor of the U.S. state of Michigan. He is a son of billionaire Amway founder Richard DeVos.
Dick is a graduate of the Forest Hills public schools and went on to receive a bachelor's degree in business administration from Northwood University. He later went on to attend both the Harvard Business School and the Wharton School's Executive Study Programs.
His wife, Betsy DeVos, is the former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party.
Betsy and Dick have four kids: Rick, Elissa, Andrea, and Ryan. Rick graduated from Calvin College, while Elissa is an undergraduate at Princeton University. Andrea and Ryan are in secondary school.
The family current resides in Ada, Michigan, near the west Michigan city of Grand Rapids. [1]
Until 2002, DeVos was the head of Alticor, where he pioneered the nearly $5 billion company’s expansion into dozens of markets around the world, a decision that has made Alticor a global powerhouse. In 2000, DeVos oversaw a corporate restructuring that created Alticor, the new parent company of predecessor Amway, Access Business Group, and Quixtar. Amway has been investigated and cleared by the Federal Trade Commission for suspicion of pyramid scheme violations.
DeVos currently sits on the board of directors of many orgainizations, including the Education Freedom Fund, where he was one of the founders. He is also the author of the New York Times best seller Rediscovering American Values.
2006 gubernatorial candidacy
On June 2, 2005, at Mackinac Island, DeVos announced he was a candidate for governor of Michigan. He is considered to be the richest man to run for statewide office [2] in Michigan history.
Since announcing his candidacy, he has been to all 83 Michigan counties, and started a week-long statewide "Get it Done" bus tour on May 1, 2006.
The campaign has so far focused on the economy, as Michigan has had one of the worst unemployment rates in the country. Opponents of Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm allege that every other state has gained jobs over the last year except Michigan, which has suffered due to close ties with automobile and other manufacturing industries. They further claim one job has been lost every 20 minutes during Granholm's term.
Critics of DeVos are quick to respond that this cannot be solely Granholm's fault, because the Republicans have control of both the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Senate.
They also claim that DeVos outsourced 1,400 jobs to China. However, the DeVos campaign has maintained that more than 300 high paying jobs were created in Michigan to support the expansion of Alticor into China, and no product produced in China is even shipped to the United States. DeVos also says that no American job went to a Chinese worker. This would show that Alticor has not directly outsourced jobs, but is growing into a global company. It is unclear whether the company considered exporting goods from Michigan to China.
Granholm has also been attacked for allegedly supporting Michigan's small business tax (SBT), something that no other state uses. However, Granholm has publicly stated that she does not support the SBT, but rather opposed plans by the Republican-controlled legislature to eliminate the tax without replacing the lost revenue.
On the SBT, DeVos said: "The SBT taxes job makers for providing jobs and benefits and investing in equipment. There is no other tax in the nation like it. The job-killing SBT is a 'stick out' tax that makes Michigan 'stick out' to job makers in a bad way. I had a chance to meet with Jim Kodis this week, a job maker at Regal Finishing in Coloma. Would you believe that over the last six years Jim has had to pay 77 percent of his profits to the SBT? Seventy-seven percent. That's over three-fourths of Regal's profits that could have gone to back to the business, creating jobs and providing benefits. But instead, the SBT ate most of the profits and forced Jim to do more with less. That means fewer jobs for people in Coloma and fewer jobs for people all over Michigan because of the SBT." [3]
DeVos complained on March 9, 2006 that a public service announcement telling residents who to contact if they cannot afford to pay their heating costs during Michigan's freezing winter, produced by DTE Energy Co. and given by Granholm is in his opinion a Granholm campaign commercial in disguise. [4] However, his complaint to Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land did not spark legal action.
Land is currently taking part in her own radio and billboard public service announcements in Michigan paid for by the Michigan Pharmacists Association. According to the MPA: "The campaign includes media presentations in key cities (Grand Rapids and Detroit), 20 billboards located throughout the entire state, radio public service announcements, newspaper columns, editorials, and press releases [5]."
Buoyed by two months of unchallenged television advertisements, DeVos leads Granholm 46 percent to 45 percent in a statewide EPIC/MRA poll taken May 11, 2006. [6]
2006 Republican primary
DeVos has no opponent in the primary election, which will be held August 8. [7]
He was originally facing two other Republicans; state Representative Jack Hoogendyk of Portage and state Senator Nancy Cassis of Novi, both dropped out by summer 2005.
A political unknown, Louis Boven tried to challenge him in the primary, but failed to meet Michigan election requirements to get on the ballot.
Lieutenant governor prospects
Some Republican insiders consider Hoogendyk, Cassis, and Michigan House of Representatives Speaker Craig DeRoche the top choices for lieutenant governor for DeVos. Cassis and DeRoche both come from the voter rich and economically wealthy Oakland County. As speaker of the house, DeRoche already has a name recognized throughout the state.
Tax statements for 2006 candidates
Granholm and her husband earned about $178,000 last year in gross income and paid $35,000 in state and federal taxes, according to published 2005 tax returns.[8]
DeVos has not disclosed his personal tax statements. Without releasing actual documents, it is unclear whether Devos will have any conflicts of interest as governor. A conflict did emerge between the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids of which DeVos is a partial owner, due to some conferences the state government has held there. [9]
Michigan Democratic Party chairman Mark Brewer and the Granholm campaign have criticized the DeVoses for not releasing his tax returns. DeVos campaign spokesman John Truscott said voters are more worried about the economy than what's being paid in taxes.[10]