【2005 Archives】

005 Archivesopposition to Trump's education pick Betsy DeVos -- a billionaire who's rallied against the public school system in favor of privatized charter schools -- has been pretty fierce.

Backlash has come from Democratic senators, teachers' unions, and a number of everyday Americans. But one woman took disapproval to the next level -- with a "suspicious pizza," as security officials would later describe it.

On Monday afternoon, DeVos was crucially close to being voted in, with the Senate split 50-50 and Vice President Mike Pence expected to break the tie in her favor on Tuesday.

Julia Silge, a data scientist in Utah, was one of those Americans rallying against DeVos for the key position. She had already called Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch eight different times, asking that Hatch vote against DeVos, who would be charged with overseeing the nation's public school system, The Salt Lake Tribunereports.

But each time, her call was met with a full voicemail box and an abrupt hang-up.

Desperate, Silge did the only thing there was left to do: Order a Hawaiian pizza -- a "divisive, controversial choice ... much like Betsy DeVos," as she later described it. And have it delivered to Hatch's office.

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The $13 pizza with a less-than-universally-loved combination of ham and pineapple toppings was a last-ditch effort for Silge, who felt like she pretty much had no other options.

"It seemed as if all the avenues of communication were shut down or unavailable," she told The Tribune.

The order was made through GrubHub, with a $10 tip as added incentive and a simple message attached: "From a Salt Lake constituent in 84105: Please vote NO on Betsy DeVos. She is an inappropriate choice to lead our public schools."

However, sending pizza to your local politician's office might not actually be the best idea. A federal security officer called Silge a few hours later, saying, "I got a call about a suspicious pizza." Hatch's office not only rejected the pizza, they reported it to local police who then tracked down Silge after spotting her name and number on the receipt.

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"I definitely had a sinking feeling in my stomach," Silge told The Tribuneof the moment she got that damning call about the pizza. "At this point, I'm starting to realize this was maybe not my best thought-out plan."

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Still, her bold pizza tweet had already gotten quite a bit of attention at that point -- currently it has over 12,000 likes -- managing to land her on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show.It also did, finally, elicit the attention of Mr. Hatch.

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"We appreciate all creative efforts to reach Senator Hatch, particularly as we deal with a large volume of out-of-state callers that are preventing Utah constituents from reaching us," the senator's office said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, the pizza did not make it through security screening because the office had not ordered it."

After all was said and done, Hatch still voted for DeVos. But one thing's still clear: The people, and their pizza, have spoken.