Review blasts Bush reading program
Says Education Dept. ignored law, ethics
By Ben Feller, Associated Press | September 23, 2006 The Boston Globe

WASHINGTON -- A scorching internal review of the Bush administration's
billion-dollar-a-year reading program says the Education Department ignored
the law and ethical standards to steer money how it wanted.

Review blasts Bush reading program
Says Education Dept. ignored law, ethics
By Ben Feller, Associated Press | September 23, 2006 The Boston Globe

WASHINGTON -- A scorching internal review of the Bush administration's
billion-dollar-a-year reading program says the Education Department ignored
the law and ethical standards to steer money how it wanted.

The government audit is unsparing in its view that the Reading First program
has been beset by conflicts of interest and willful mismanagement. It
suggests the department broke the law by trying to dictate which curriculum
schools must use.
It also depicts a program in which review panels were stacked with people
who shared the director's views, and in which only favored publishers of
reading curriculums could get money.

In one e-mail, the director told a staff member to come down hard on a
company he did not support, according to the report released yesterday by
the department's inspector general.

``They are trying to crash our party and we need to beat the [expletive
deleted] out of them in front of all the other would-be party crashers who
are standing on the front lawn waiting to see how we welcome these
dirtbags," the program director wrote, the report says.

That official, Chris Doherty, is resigning in the coming days, department
spokeswoman Katherine McLane said yesterday. Asked if he was quitting in
response to the report, she said only that Doherty is returning to the
private sector after five years at the agency. Doherty declined comment.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings pledged to swiftly adopt all the
audit's recommendations. She also pledged a review of every Reading First
grant her agency has approved.

``When something undermines the credibility of this department, or the
standing of any program, I'm going to spring into action," Spellings said.

Reading First aims to help young children read through scientifically proven
programs, and the department considers it a jewel of No Child Left Behind,
Bush's education law. Just this week, a separate review found the effort is
helping schools raise achievement.

But from the start, the program has been dogged by accusations of
impropriety, leading to several ongoing audits. The new report from the
Office of Inspector General -- an independent arm of the Education
Department -- calls into question the program's credibility.

The ranking Democrat on the House education committee was furious.

``They should fire everyone who was involved in this," said Representative
George Miller, a California Democrat. ``This was not an accident, this was
not an oversight. This was an intentional effort to corrupt the process."

Spellings said the problems happened in the early days of the program, which
began in 2002, before she was secretary. She said those responsible have
left the agency or been reassigned.

About 1,500 school districts have received $4.8 billion in Reading First
grants.

The report does not name Doherty, referring to him as the Reading First
director.

It says he repeatedly used his influence to steer money toward states that
used a reading approach he favored, called direct instruction, or DI.

In one case, the report says, he was told a review panel was stacked with
people who backed that program.

``That's the funniest part -- yes!" he responded in e-mail dating to 2002.
``You know the line from Casablanca, `I am SHOCKED that there is gambling
going on in this establishment!' Well, `I am SHOCKED that there are pro-DI
people on this panel!' "

Spellings took issue with the use of such e-mails in the audit. She said
they could be used to draw unfair conclusions about a person's intentions.

The inspector general rejected that. It said the e-mails were written by
Doherty in his role as director, and there is no evidence they were
inaccurate or out of context.

``I'm doing everything I can at this point," Spellings said. ``I can't undo
what's been done."


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The guy who originally ran this program was a total
imbecile. Bush crooks don't seem to know the first
thing about computers.