Breaking All the Sprouls

Voter Outreach of America – a front group run by Republican operative
Nathan Sproul and financed with more than $600,000 from the RNC –
hired Tyrone Mrasek to register voters. The LA Times reports, Mrasek
"was given a written script to ask people whether they favored Bush or
Sen. John F. Kerry. To those favoring the Massachusetts senator,
Mrasek replied that he was just taking a poll and thanked them for
stopping." He was told to offer registrations to people who favored
Bush and tell them "George Bush really needs your help this election."
There was a backup plan for anyone who inadvertently signed up a
Democrat: outside Sproul's office Mrasek "found a stack of signed
registrations for Democratic voters in a trash can." Similar stories
of partisan dirty tricks by Sproul have been documented in Oregon,
West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

LEAVE NO REPUBLICAN OPERATIVE BEHIND: Nathan Sproul doesn't just
collect money from the RNC for running voter registration scams. As a
director for Voyager Expanded Learning, he receives buckets of cash
for selling the "Voyager reading curriculum" to schools attempting to
comply with the No Child Left Behind Act.

SPROUL'S COMPANY USES CONNECTION TO BUSH TO GET CONTRACTS: The Public
Advocate of the City of New York accused Voyager of using "politics to
gain contracts," including close ties to Bush and Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld. The Public Advocate notes, "as Texas Governor, George
W. Bush pushed a proposal giving $25 million in state money to after
school programs that would aid Voyager, which had contributed more
than $45,000 to Bush and over $20,000 to Bush's lieutenant governor
running mate."

SPROUL'S COMPANY MANIPULATES RESEARCH TO PUSH PRODUCT: There is
controversy on the effectiveness of the Voyager reading curriculum.
Most of the research that does exist has been conducted by people with
"connections to, or financial interest in, the company." The research
is described by university scholars who specialize in reading
curriculum as "flimsy and unscientific."

ED DEPARTMENT PRESSURES SCHOOLS TO HIRE SPROUL'S COMPANY: Many
education experts believe "the research used to justify Voyager's
claims to success were unscientific and produced very little results."
Nevertheless "the U.S Education Department led applicants for federal
reading funds to believe that approval of their application would be
speeded up if they indicated a preference for particular commercial
programs, including Voyager."