"Dribels" Scandal Trumps All, Enters Political Arena

It makes you feel bad seeing the announcements from the House education committee Republicans about their hearing tomorrow on colleges and Internet piracy (here) and trying to pay attention to the droning over at the NCLB Commission when, nearly simultaneously, ranking member Miller is making political and perhaps substantive hay by putting out calls for a Justice Department on the late-breaking Reading First scandal (aka "Dribels"?).

The Miller quote: "The Inspector General’s report raises serious questions about whether Education Department officials violated criminal law, and those questions must be pursued by the Justice Department....President Bush claims to believe that a taxpayer dollar should be ‘spent wisely or not at all,’ yet he has consistently failed to hold anyone in his administration accountable when they violate ethics rules, break the law, or waste taxpayer dollars.”

Last week, we read about how NCLB was a campaign issue in at least some places (NCLB As A Campaign Issue? Yes.). This call for a criminal inquiry is clearly political -- written just as much by the DCCC as Miller's office. What next, politicians arguing about DIBELS and PALs during debates? Now that would be a sight.

TUESDAY UPDATE: No time to explain it all now, but even beyond the upcoming elections Reading First may also have at least some effect -- probably not a constructive one -- on NCLB reauthorization and the national standards campaign.