Bergman EDMC research

Tom Casperson
1 hr https://www.facebook.com/tom.casperson.5/?fref=ts
If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything - Mark
Twain
Jack Bergman constantly claims two things: That he is an outsider and
that he is a straight talking Marine.
Hes a lot of things, but he certainly isnt one of us. The only difference
between Michigans 1st Congressional District and the other 434 in the
country to Bergman, is that this seat was open and he thought he
could win it. To Bergman its no different than Minnesota or Iowa where
arguably he has spent more time.
Although he spent years in Washington as a lobbyist , it is true Jack
Bergman is an outsider in one sense: He is from outside the District!
Upon retirement in 2009, Bergman told his hometown Louisiana
paper :
"We quite honestly fell in love with New Orleans and Louisiana, "
Bergman said. "Pure and simple. It's not any more complicated than
that. We feel this is a community and a state (New Orleans and
Louisiana) that we want to be part of. And it doesn't hurt that we don't
get 10 feet of snow here in the winter."
Bergman said he and his wife, Cindy, know that most of their days in
retirement will be spent in Louisiana. They have a home in St.
Francisville, far south of their native states of Minnesota and Iowa.
Bergmans love for Louisiana and his desire to be part of that State led
him to accept an appointment from Governor Bobby Jindal in March of
2013 to the Louisianas Military Advisory Council.
And then, in 2015, mere months before announcing he was running for
Congress in Michigan, Bergman accepted re-appointment by the
Louisiana Governor to the Council for a term that expires in March of
2019!
Despite those realities, Bergman, without nearly any other insight on
his upbringing or background, claims on his campaign website (and
recent campaign stops ) that In 1998 he settled in Watersmeet. He
and his wife Cindy call Michigans Upper Peninsula home, which is a
claim inconsistent what he told the Detroit News in February 2016,
when he began circulating Petitions for Congress, when he said, we
have been living there (Watersmeet) a majority of the time for the last
six years since retiring from the Marines.
Jack Bergman may not like snow, but his claim that he is a outsider
and a straight talking marine is simply a snow job! Youd think for a
straight talking marine hed get his story straight!
All sources are attached.
http://www.tomcasperson.com/images/files/Bergman%20Truth.pdf

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The results of last nights Republican primary mark the beginning of

the general election race for Michigans 1st Congressional District. The
three Republican candidates have been embroiled in a nasty, costly,
and debilitating primary battle that has left Louisianan-at-heart Jack
Bergman at a major disadvantage heading into the general election.
Although Bergman portrayed himself as an outsider, he has
been forced to defend allegations that he was a Washington lobbyist
who violated the trust of veterans.
Bergman will also have to explain to voters why despite seeking
elected office to represent the people of Michigan he is planning on
retiring to Louisiana because he and his wife quite honestly fell in love
with New Orleans, plain and simple, and feel this is a community and
state that we want to be a part of.
Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Lon Johnson has been hitting the
road, getting to know voters, and raising the resources he needs to
communicate his message to the 1st District throughout the summer
and fall. Lon Johnson will continue fighting for the workers and families
of the U.P. and Northern Michigan working to make Congress work
just as hard as the people it represents, and to make Michigans
1st District a place where families can stay and succeed.
AN OUTSIDER FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS
Jack Bergman has portrayed himself as an outsider who will stand up to
the establishment in Washington. It does appear that Bergman is a
Michigan outsider but not for the reasons hed like voters to believe.
Rather, it seems that Bergman is planning on spending his retirement
in Louisiana, not in Michigan. As he explained to the Times-Picayune,
he and his wife feel this is a community and state that we want to be
a part of.
Bergmans love of Louisiana even led him to accept
an appointment from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal to his Military
Council in 2013. Michigan voters will no doubt want to understand why
someone seeking office to represent them would plan to spend most of
his time out of the state.

Furthermore, Bergman was forced to defend himself against attacks

from his opponents over his past work to lobby legislators for an
institution later found to be scamming students, including veterans.
Bergman was a government liaison for the Education Management
Corporation (EDMC), the second-largest for-profit education company
in the country, which was later forced to pay a $95.5 million settlement
for illegal recruitment techniques. Bergman claims never to have been
a lobbyist but has been notably silent on his role helping EDMC
defraud its students, including veterans and working parents all at
taxpayer expense. Bergman will have to give voters a better answer
before November.
LON JOHNSON HAS THE UPPER HAND
Bergman is at a severe cash disadvantage heading into the fall, having
only brought in just over $346,000 since March. Lon, on the other
hand, has outraised every other candidate in the race every quarter
since jumping in last year; Lons message has already begun airing on
television.
In January, Lon was endorsed by former Congressman Bart Stupak,
who represented Michigans 1st District for 18 years. He also has the
support of both U.S. Senators and the entire Democratic House
delegation. Last week, Lon received the endorsements of both
the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press, proclaiming that Lon
brings solid ideas and admirable energy to the race as well as
organizational prowess to his campaign.
MICHIGANS 1ST DISTRICT
Michigans 1st District is an open seat that was held by Democrat Bart
Stupak for nearly twenty years. President Obama won the district in
2008. In the last presidential election in 2012, Senator Stabenow won
the district and the Democratic House candidate lost by a narrow
margin. In a presidential year with a strong and energetic candidate
like Lon Johnson, Democrats are in a prime position to win this seat
come November.
CONCLUSION
This November, voters will have a clear choice between Louisianan-atheart Jack Bergman, an outsider for all the wrong reasons, and Lon
Johnson, whos running an energetic campaign to bring change to
Washington and make the U.P. and Northern Michigan a place where
families can stay and succeed.

1. Demand from Bergman what he did for EDMC. He'll say fix the
problem that EDMC had...however this all ties into the GI Bill loophole
and how Republicans have voted against Durbin's efforts to reform that
legislation. I suspect Bergman lobbied to keep it in place but assured
GOP legislators that he'll make sure EDMC doesn't take advantage of
it.
2. Get the DCCC to see who Bergman might have met with. A former
GOP governor had a financial stake in EDMC. He was married to
Senator Snow of Washington state who decided not to run because of
the EDMC payout in 2011.
3. Most important!!! Why would Bergman call for the abolishment of
the Dept of Education in his platform. The institution that oversees the
type of unscrupulous entity that he lobbied for and helped to continue
to keep the GI Bill loophole in place and continues to take advantage of
Veterans.

Bergman was hired by EDMC in 2012 after the consumer fraud

scandals had occurred from 2003 to 2011. From what I can tell,
Bergman was probably employed by EDMC probably to lobby Congress
and continue to recruit former military to these schools and keep the
GI Loophole in place for these FOR PROFIT schools.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/education-managementcorporation-edmc-welcomes-lieutenant-general-john-jack-w-bergmana-strong-advocate-for-student-veterans-educational-opportunities-andacademic-success-139295548.html
EDMC has been in the news quite a bit recently. It has laid off 400
employees while in the middle ofa massive stock repurchase
program, and a move by Congress, led by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, to
limit the amount that for-profit educators like EDMC can rake in off of
veterans via the G.I. Bill.
But the for-profit educator hasn't been siting idly by. In addition to
slugging it out in court, it has hired a highly decorated Marine Corp
veteran to lobby legislators on Durbin's legislation.
According to a release from EDMC, the company has hired Lt. General
Jack Bergman to "liaise with government leaders on ensuring that
student-veterans have every opportunity to make a smooth transition

to civilian life," and to "assist enlisted military and veteran students

with meeting their educational goals in order to start the next phase of
their careers."
"Veterans expect and respect straight forward, imaginative, quality
education and training," General Bergman is quoted saying in the
release. "EDMC will continue to meet and exceed veterans'
expectations and I am very excited to play a role in that effort."
The statement also quotes Tony Guida, EDMC's senior vice president of
External Affairs, asserting, "We are pleased with General Bergman's
recognition of the importance of our programs' flexibility and
convenience in ensuring that we are delivering a quality education that
meets the needs of our country's men and women in uniform."
According to a release from Durbin's office, for-profit educators are
barred from receiving more than 90 percent of their revenue from
federal financial aid programs. But the G.I. Bill isn't currently counted
toward that limit -- something Durbin wants that to change.
In a statement, he called the GI exemption "an outrageous loophole"
and charged that "veterans and service members [are] being heavily
recruited for the amount of additional federal money they can bring
into the company. It's time the federal government started to better
oversee and regulate these heavily subsidized for-profit schools."
http://www.pghcitypaper.com/SlagHeap/archives/2012/02/29/ed
mc-fights-on-in-court-congress
A major settlement with the federal government doesnt necessarily
lead to a restriction in the flow of GI Bill dollars to a college, either. The
Justice Department accused EDMC, a large national chain that received
$156 million in GI Bill tuition and fees dollars in 2014, of running a
high pressure boiler room where admissions personnel were paid
based purely on the number of students they enrolled. In addition
to agreeing in November to pay the government $95.5 million, EDMC
said it would forgive the private loan debts of tens of thousands of
former students but admitted no wrongdoing.
Even though Attorney General Loretta Lynch said veterans were one of
the groups the government wanted to protect in the case, Coy said the
details of the settlement preclude the VA from taking further action
against EDMC.
But the VA should have acted against EDMC long before the
settlement, according to Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Durbin,
Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown. In a letter to VA Secretary Robert
McDonald in December, they expressed astonishment that VA did not

discover such illegal behavior through its compliance surveys and

subsequently restrict access to Post-9/11 GI Bill funding.
We urge VA to make any necessary reforms to ensure that the
[compliance surveys] represent an accurate indication of a programs
compliance with all GI Bill eligibility criteria, including the bans on
misleading recruiting and advertising and incentive compensation,
the senators said.
In an interview, Brown said VA officials need to make a change in their
mindset and begin to see their agency as a regulator and protector of
the GI Bill benefit. He said the VAs leadership instead takes the same
view it did in the post-World War II era, long before the rise of for-profit
chains.
The for-profits are a whole nother animal and the VAs never had the
history of this kind of oversight, Brown said. The VA doesnt seem to
be looking at evidence of malfeasance or of fraud or at other federal
agencies doing investigations. Coy defends the agencys work.
We try very hard to not say this school is a bad school and this school
is a good school, Coy said. What we try to say very hard is 'Heres
the information that we have on this school, its important for you to do
your own due diligence'.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/veterans-educationfor-profit-colleges-219758#ixzz4FjKurfDb
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook
(an example that the GI Bill loophole is still in effect)
Even with the stunning collapse of Corinthian that left taxpayers on the
hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in student debt forgiveness,
Republicans are standing firmly behind the for-profit industry. A
Republican spending plan released last week is seeking to prevent the
Obama administration from moving forward with new regulations
limiting the amount of debt students can carry in career-training
programs, a rule that largely impacts for-profit schools.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/25/for-profitcolleges-aggressively-target-veterans-for-enrollment-these-democratswant-it-to-stop/
Random links:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/three-areas-where-republicanscan-cut-government-waste-fraud-and-abuse/article/2591596
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/07/27/labor-issueheated-st-congressional-race/87622336/
http://www.pghcitypaper.com/SlagHeap/archives/2012/02/29/edmcfights-on-in-court-congress
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/03/gov_bobby_jindal_name
s_his_fir.html
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/news-ticker/2013/mar/04/forprofit-education-stocks-hit-on-legislation-fea/#
Interesting because Bergman calls for the abolishment of the Dept. of
Education which has oversight over these for profit entities...need a
local reporter to press him on what exactly he did. Not lobbying but
conducting grasstops style operations. Working with influencers to
ensure no regulation is passed and the GI Bill Loophole can stay in
effect.
Republicans claim they are watchdogs of the public purse but
look the other way when for-profit education companies pilfer
federal funds.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-paulus-38846937
http://www.redstate.com/diary/Martin_A_Knight/2016/05/29/johnbergman-president/
https://www.c-span.org/person/?jackbergman
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111hhrg50088/pdf/CHRG111hhrg50088.pdf
http://wnmufm.org/term/lieutenant-general-jack-bergman#stream/0
http://abc10up.com/bergmans-campaign-trail-pushes-toward-finishline/
http://nomma.net/board.html