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Louisiana senator Landrieu faces questions on earmark that benefited Dallas firm

From Staff and Wire Reports
Karen Ayres and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

NEW ORLEANS – Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu is facing questions over a $2 million education earmark she authored in 2001 that benefited a Texas company whose executives and associates gave her $30,000 in campaign contributions.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group, has asked the Department of Justice to investigate the relationship between the Democratic senator and Voyager Expanded Learning, a company founded by Dallas businessman Randy Best.

The Justice Department did not respond to an inquiry this week regarding the request.

The earmark was inserted by Ms. Landrieu in a spending bill for the District of Columbia and provided funds for use of the Voyager reading program in kindergarten and first-grade classes in the D.C. school district.

On Oct. 19, 2001, Mr. Best held a fundraiser for Ms. Landrieu. On or about Nov. 2 of that year, Ms. Landrieu received $30,000 from Mr. Best, company employees and their relatives, according to Federal Election Commission records.

At the time, Ms. Landrieu was the ranking Democrat and chairwoman of an appropriations subcommittee for the District of Columbia. By Oct. 15, 2001, she had included the $2 million earmark in a spending bill for the District of Columbia; that legislation was approved by the Senate on Nov. 6.

But her interest in seeing the Voyager program funded for D.C. schools dated to at least May 2001. On May 15, she wrote a letter to the D.C. appropriations subcommittee chairman, asking him to provide the school district with $3.5 million for the Voyager program.

In a recent interview with WWL-TV in New Orleans, Ms. Landrieu denied wrongdoing and said the company did not influence her. She added that she had "absolutely nothing to hide about" her relationship with Mr. Best.

Mr. Best said any suggestion that Voyager improperly influenced Ms. Landrieu is "absolutely incorrect."

"My goodness, we never did anything that was even slightly improper," he said.

He said the proximity in timing between the fundraiser and earmark was "totally coincidental."

In 2005, Mr. Best sold Voyager to Michigan-based ProQuest.

Mr. Best, who has owned more than 100 companies in his career, also founded the American College of Education (ACE), a for-profit school that is part of an attempt to launch a national college of education. The school's leaders include former Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Mike Moses and former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige.

School leaders stirred up controversy when they purchased a dying Catholic school in suburban Chicago called Barat College. ACE didn't use Barat's faculty or grounds, but it was able to use its accreditation with the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. ACE opened to master's degree students in October 2005.

Mr. Best also funded Whitney International University, a global chain of for-profit universities.




— Staff and Associated Press
Dallas Morning News
2008-01-11
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-landrieu_11tex.ART.State.Edition1.37cecbc.html

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