From The Associated Press, 4/20/07:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6574458,00.html
Criminal Referral in Reading Program
By JESSE J. HOLLAND
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -
A federal investigator looking into allegations of conflict of
interest and mismanagement in a $1 billion-a-year Education Department
reading program said Friday he has made criminal referrals to the
Justice Department.
John Higgins, the Education Department's inspector general, refused to
specify for reporters what he has asked government prosecutors to look
at, but investigators have been highly critical of the department's
management of the Reading First program.
Reading First, created by President Bush's signature No Child Left
Behind law, offers intensive reading help for low-income children in
the early grades.
But investigators say that federal officials intervened to influence
state and local decisions about what programs to use, a potential
violation of the law.
Some of the people who were influencing those decisions had a
financial interest in the programs that were being pushed, officials
said.
``I think we're very close to a criminal enterprise here,'' House
Education and Labor Committee chairman George Miller, D-Calif., said
at an investigative hearing Friday.
``Have you made any criminal referrals, Mr. Higgins?''
``We have made referrals to the Department of Justice,'' Higgins said.
Miller said his committee may also make criminal referrals.
``I think when we put the evidence together we may join you in those
criminal referrals,'' Miller told Higgins.
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Another day another Republican scandal.
Harry
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