Editing Amway (section)

===Political contributions===
In the 1990s, the Amway organization was a major contributor to the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] (GOP) and to the election campaigns of various GOP candidates. Amway and its sales force contributed a substantial amount (up to half) of the total funds ($669,525) for the [[United States House of Representatives elections, 1994|1994 political campaign]] of Republican congresswoman and Amway distributor [[Sue Myrick]] (N.C.).<ref name=burstein>{{cite web |title=She Did it Amway |author=Rachel Burstein |magazine=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]] |date=September–October 1996 |url=http://motherjones.com/politics/1996/09/she-did-it-amway |access-date=May 11, 2011 |archive-date=February 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211054535/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/1996/09/she-did-it-amway/ |url-status=live }}</ref> According to two reports by ''[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]]'' magazine, Amway distributor Dexter Yager "used the company's extensive voice-mail system to rally hundreds of Amway distributors into giving a total of $295,871" to Myrick's campaign.<ref name=burstein/><ref name=zibrowski>{{cite web |title=Tough sell |author=John Zibrowski, Jenna Ziman |magazine=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]] |date=November–December 1998 |url=http://motherjones.com/politics/1998/11/tough-sell |access-date=May 11, 2011 |archive-date=February 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224060459/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/1998/11/tough-sell/ |url-status=live }}</ref> According to a campaign staffer quoted by the magazine, Myrick had appeared regularly on the Amway circuit, speaking at hundreds of rallies and selling $5 and $10 audiotapes.<ref name=burstein/> Following the 1994 election, Myrick maintained "close ties to Amway and Yager", and raised $100,000 from Amway sources, "most notably through fundraisers at the homes of big distributors", in the 1997–98 election cycle.<ref name=zibrowski/>

In October 1994, Amway gave the biggest corporate contribution recorded to that date to a political party for a single election, $2.5&nbsp;million to the [[Republican National Committee]] (RNC), and was the number one corporate political donor in the United States.<ref name=burstein/> In the 2004 election cycle, the organization contributed a total of $4 million to a conservative [[527 group]], [[Progress for America]].<ref>From opensecrets.org: [http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail.asp?ein=201170395&cycle=2004&format=&tname=Progress+for+America Progress for America – Top Contributors, 2004 Cycle] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060818110238/http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail.asp?ein=201170395&cycle=2004&format=&tname=Progress+for+America |date=August 18, 2006}}</ref>

In July 1996, Amway co-founder Richard DeVos was honored at a $3&nbsp;million fundraiser for the Republican Party, and a week later, it was reported that Amway had tried to donate $1.3&nbsp;million to pay for Republican "infomercials" and televising of the GOP convention on [[Pat Robertson]]'s [[History of Freeform (TV channel)#The Family Channel|Family Channel]], but backed off when Democrats criticized the donation as a ploy to avoid campaign-finance restrictions.<ref name=burstein/><ref name=vlasic>{{cite news |last=Vlasic |first=Bill |title=Amway II: The Kids Take Over |work=BusinessWeek |date=February 16, 1998 |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/1998-02-15/amway-ii-the-kids-take-over |access-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-date=December 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181230181029/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/1998-02-15/amway-ii-the-kids-take-over |url-status=live }}</ref>

In April 1997, Richard DeVos and his wife, Helen, gave $1&nbsp;million to the RNC,<ref name=zibrowski/><ref name=vlasic/> which, at the time, was the second-largest [[Campaign finance in the United States|soft-money]] donation ever, behind Amway's 1994 gift of $2.5&nbsp;million to the RNC.<ref name=zibrowski/> In July 1997, [[Senate Majority Leader]] [[Trent Lott]] and [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|House Speaker]] [[Newt Gingrich]] slipped a last-minute provision into a hotly contested compromise tax bill that granted Amway and four other companies a tax break on their Asian branches that totaled $19&nbsp;million.<ref name=zibrowski/>

In a column published in the ''[[Fort Worth Star-Telegram]]'' newspaper in August 1997,<ref name=Ivins>{{cite news|last=Ivins|first=Molly|title=Congress distributes a tax break to Amway|newspaper=[[Fort Worth Star-Telegram]]|date=August 7, 1997}}</ref> reporter [[Molly Ivins]] wrote that Amway had "its own [[Congressional caucus|caucus]] in Congress...Five Republican House members are also Amway distributors: Reps. Sue Myrick of North Carolina, [[Jon Lynn Christensen|Jon Christensen]] of Nebraska, [[Dick Chrysler]] of Michigan, [[Richard Pombo]] of California, and [[John Ensign]] of Nevada. Their informal caucus meets several times a year with Amway bigwigs to discuss policy matters affecting the company, including China's trade status."<ref name=MediaTransparency1>{{cite web|last=Berkowitz|first=Bill|title=Amway's GOPyramid Scheme|url=http://old.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110311210455/http://old.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=4|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 11, 2011|date=February 16, 1998|publisher=[[Media Transparency]]|access-date=May 17, 2011}}</ref>

A 1998 analysis of campaign contributions conducted by ''[[Businessweek]]'' found that Amway, along with the founding families and some top distributors, had donated at least $7&nbsp;million to GOP causes in the preceding decade.<ref name=vlasic/> Political candidates who received campaign funding from Amway in 1998 included Representatives [[Bill Redmond]] (R–N.M.), [[Heather Wilson]] (R–N.M.), and Jon Christensen (R–Neb).<ref name=zibrowski/>

According to a report by the [[Center for Public Integrity]], in the 2004 election cycle, members of the Van Andel and DeVos families were the second, third and fifth largest donors to the Republican party.<ref name=MediaTransparency2>{{cite web |last=Houle |first=Dana |title=Bush Authoritarianism: Blackwater+Amway=GOP, Pt. 3 |url=http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/10/21/400840/-Bush-Authoritarianism:-Blackwater+AmwayGOP,-Pt-3 |date=October 21, 2007 |publisher=[[Daily Kos]] |access-date=May 17, 2011 |archive-date=January 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170119042303/http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/10/21/400840/-Bush-Authoritarianism:-Blackwater+AmwayGOP,-Pt-3 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Dick DeVos]], son of Amway founder Richard DeVos and past president of the company, served as Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee,<ref name="Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation">{{cite web |url=http://old.mediatransparency.org/funderprofile.php?funderID=17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110311210315/http://old.mediatransparency.org/funderprofile.php?funderID=17 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 11, 2011 |title=Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation |publisher=Old.mediatransparency.org |access-date=July 9, 2011}}</ref> and his wife [[Betsy DeVos]] served as chair of the [[Michigan Republican Party]] from 1996 to 2000 and 2003 to 2005.<ref name=Scahill>{{cite book |last=[[Jeremy Scahill]] |title=Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army |year=2007 |publisher=Nation Books |isbn=978-1-56858-394-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/blackwater00scah/page/72 72] |title-link=Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army}}</ref>

In May 2005, Dick DeVos ran against incumbent Governor [[Jennifer Granholm]] in [[Michigan gubernatorial election, 2006|Michigan's 2006 gubernatorial election]]. DeVos was defeated by Granholm, who won 56% of the popular vote to his 42%.<ref name="Michigan Department of State">{{cite news |last=State of Michigan |first=Department of State |author2=Terry Lynn Land |author3=Secretary of State |title=2006 Michigan Gubernatorial General Election |work=Governor 4 Year Term (1) Position |date=May 10, 2007 |url=http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/election/results/06GEN/02000000.html |access-date=November 9, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071111144945/http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/election/results/06GEN/02000000.html |archive-date=November 11, 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In August 2012, gay rights activist [[Fred Karger]] began a movement to boycott Amway in protest of the contribution from a private foundation of Amway President [[Doug DeVos]] to the [[National Organization for Marriage]], a political organization which opposes legalization of [[same-sex marriage]] in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/02/amway-faces-boycott-over-donation-to-anti-gay-group/ |title=Amway faces boycott over donation to anti-gay group |access-date=August 3, 2012 |archive-date=November 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105211641/http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/02/amway-faces-boycott-over-donation-to-anti-gay-group/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Betsy DeVos was [[United States Secretary of Education]] from 2017 to 2021 under the [[First presidency of Donald Trump|first Trump administration]].<ref>{{cite news|title=How Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Will Be Remembered|last=Turner|first=Corey|work=NPR|date=November 19, 2020|accessdate=November 7, 2024|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/11/19/936225974/the-legacy-of-education-secretary-betsy-devos}}</ref>