Moth-spraying PR deal suspended amid questions

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AP Exclusive: Moth-spraying PR deal suspended amid

questionsBy AARON C. DAVIS Associated Press

Writer

Article Launched: 03/13/2008 01:46:32 AM PDT

SACRAMENTO­State officials struggling to convince critics about the

safety of aerial spraying to control an invasive moth awarded a $500,000

no-bid contract to a prominent public relations firm with ties to Gov.

Arnold Schwarzenegger.

E-mails obtained by the AP revealed a senior state contracting official

questioned the arrangement. He said it was difficult to justify a public

affairs campaign related to moth spraying as an emergency, which entitled

the deal to be exempted from normal contracting rules designed to limit

favoritism.

After The Associated Press published a story Wednesday detailing the

deal, Schwarzenegger press secretary Aaron McLear said the contract had

been suspended.

The $497,000 contract was awarded last November to Porter Novelli, a

leading international public relations firm with an office in the state

capital, after hundreds of residents complained about breathing problems

and other health effects from the spraying.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture invoked emergency

powers to award the contract without competition. Typically, the

government would advertise such contracts and allow firms to bid for the

job.

" I can see how spraying would be an emergency. But I am having some

difficulty with why CDFA could not get bids or go through (a national

competitive bidding) process for the public relations work being

undertaken by Porter (Novelli), " Henry D. Nanjo, a senior counsel

with the Department of General Services, wrote in an internal e-mail to a

state contracting analyst and an acquisition manager. " In addition,

I don't have anything by which I can judge the reasonableness of PN's

rate. "

Nanjo told the AP it was the first time he had been asked to approve a

no-bid contract for public affairs work.

McLear said the governor's office had asked Food and Agriculture

officials last Friday to conduct an independent review of the contract

because they were concerned about the price and effectiveness of the

arrangement. He produced an e-mail indicating the agency had taken steps

by Monday to suspend the contract.

That was after the AP had begun asking questions about the deal.

 

" The contract has been suspended, " McLear said. " For legal

considerations, it has not been rescinded yet. But it is over. "

 

McLear said $66,183 has been billed so far, while another $30,000 may be

owed for work already completed. The state expects federal reimbursement

for the cost.

The series of e-mails related to the contract were obtained through a

California Public Records Act request.

Under the deal, Jeff Randle, a frequent campaign and political adviser to

Schwarzenegger, was promised a share of the work. Mitch Zak, Randle's

partner, said the firm wanted to win the full contract but lost to Porter

Novelli. The firm later was contacted by Porter Novelli to do

subcontracting work, as state officials promised in internal e-mails.

 

Donna Lucas, former chief of staff to first lady Maria Shriver and a

member of Schwarzenegger's inner circle during his first years in office,

also was contacted to submit a proposal for a public relations campaign,

the e-mails show.

Her name originally appeared alongside Porter Novelli in a summary of the

contract but was scratched off.

Lucas also is affiliated with Porter Novelli, which lists her as counsel

for strategic communications. She said she declined offers to work on the

contract and does not know why her name appeared on the original

agreement. Lucas said she has not done any work on the apple moth

campaign.

Nanjo told the AP he could not remember many details of the contract he

began looking at in October but said he received an e-mail and a couple

phone calls from food and agriculture officials that ultimately satisfied

his concerns.

" I would not have approved it unless questions were answered to my

comfort level, " he said.

A Department of Food and Agriculture spokeswoman defended the contract

earlier Wednesday.

Nancy Lungren, the deputy secretary for public affairs who first

solicited proposals for the work from Randle and Lucas, said it was

necessary for the state to begin communicating quickly with the public

amid a growing wave of concern over the spraying.

" I am very familiar with Donna and her work, " Lungren said.

" It's all word-of-mouth when you're in PR. You know who the good

other people are. That's how it works. ... People probably think there's

some political thing here, but there's really not. "

She said the U.S. Department of Agriculture is reimbursing California for

much of the cost of the Porter Novelli contract but could not say how

much has been spent or how much the state has sought in reimbursement.

 

State agriculture officials ordered aerial chemical spraying last year to

combat the light brown apple moth, an unintended import from Australia

that state officials say threatens more than 2,000 varieties of

California plants and crops.

Opponents have called for a halt to the spraying while scientists study

whether it is harmful.

Community activists and some state lawmakers say more than 600 people

complained of health problems after a synthetic pheromone that disrupts

the moth's mating cycle was sprayed over Monterey and Santa Cruz counties

last year.

The state plans to expand the spraying this summer to Alameda, Contra

Costa, Los Angeles, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Luis

Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Solano counties.

A report released last week by scientists at the University of

California, Santa Cruz raised further concerns about whether the spraying

program is necessary. It said the moth likely can be kept in check by

natural predators, as it is in New Zealand, and may not pose a grave

threat to agriculture and native species.

The e-mails obtained by the AP showed Lungren solicited proposals from

Randle, Lucas and others for the work after residents complained to

officials in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, prompting local

governments to question the spraying.

In an e-mail to Nanjo justifying the contract, food and agriculture

officials said the department's own public affairs operation had been

handling the situation well until early last fall, when a " highly

organized environmental group " complained vociferously about the

spraying.

" Despite our efforts to educate and assuage their concerns and

fears, the small group of activists rallied against the plan to aerially

treat the county, " wrote Paula Lewis, a branch chief for the

department.

She also said newspaper and television reports had been mixed.

" The press has been generally fair, although at times biased, and

the editorials have been critical of our outreach efforts, but supportive

of the need to eradicate, " Lewis wrote to Nanjo.

She also invoked Asm. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, in the e-mail, saying

" our main critic " had encouraged CDFA to hire a consultant.

 

" I did suggest the public communications on this issue could be

dramatically improved, " Laird said Wednesday. " At no time did I

suggest anything about the bid process or which public relations firm do

the work ... in fact, I don't think it's particularly gotten

better. "

William Schreiber, general manager of Porter Novelli Sacramento, said he

could not comment on the state's rationale for awarding the contract on a

no-bid basis.

" It's straight-ahead public relations work, " he said. The firm

has done public relations on the moth in New Zealand, Lungren said.

 

The contract reveals a plan to create a highly coordinated public

relations push by the Department of Food and Agriculture.

It includes using focus groups to test potential public messages and

media ads, according to e-mails. The campaign is intended to counter the

concerns raised by local environmentalists and residents, who complained

of breathing problems and other ill health effects after the

spraying.

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