Pubdate: Mon, 31 Jul 2006
Source: Des Moines Register (IA)
Copyright: 2006 The Des Moines Register.
Contact:  http://desmoinesregister.com/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/123
Author: Clark Kauffman

ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM IN LINE FOR $50,000 FEDERAL GRANT

Rock In Prevention's spending and effectiveness have been questioned.

Des Moines' controversial anti-drug program Rock In Prevention may 
soon receive an additional $50,000 in taxpayer money.

U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell, a Des Moines Democrat, acknowledged last 
week that he is responsible for a federal earmark that would route 
$50,000 in taxpayer money to Rock In Prevention Inc. The organization 
hopes to receive final approval for the money in the next few months.

Boswell's communications director, Susan McAvoy, issued a statement 
last week that said, "Over the years, Congressman Boswell has 
consistently supported efforts to keep kids away from drugs, and he 
is greatly disturbed and disappointed by recent reports concerning 
Rock In Prevention. Taxpayers have an expectation that public funds 
will be used in a legal and reasonable manner."

Rock In Prevention was the subject of Des Moines Register articles 
last summer and last week. Those stories detailed the manner in which 
the nonprofit, tax-exempt organization spends public and private 
money to combat drug use among schoolchildren. The organization uses 
rock music, delivered though live performances and compact discs, to 
persuade students not to use drugs, tobacco or alcohol.

In fiscal year 2005, the organization paid its executive director, 
Pat McManus, $315,732 -- an amount that represents 39 percent of the 
agency's total spending. More than $192,000 of that represents 
payments to Mission From God Records, a for-profit venture run 
exclusively by McManus. Those payments were for compact discs of 
McManus' inspirational music, which are distributed to children at 
Rock In Prevention rallies. The organization's board members say 23 
percent of the payments to Mission From God represent a "profit" for McManus.

Board member Jim Stafford said Friday that the organization has not 
yet received the $50,000 in federal money secured by Boswell, but is 
"hopeful of receiving formal approval on the grant within the near future."

In recent years, the government has been Rock In Prevention's single 
biggest contributor. The biggest private donor has been Don Lamberti, 
the father of Senate Republican Co-President Jeff Lamberti of Ankeny. 
The senior Lamberti is founder of Casey's General Stores and last 
year gave the charity $98,392 in Casey's common stock.

Like Boswell, Jeff Lamberti has been a supporter of Rock In 
Prevention. He is opposing Boswell in the congressman's 2006 bid for 
re-election as representative of Iowa's 3rd District.

In 2003, Lamberti was instrumental in winning approval for 
legislation that routed $400,000 of state money to Rock In Prevention 
through a sole-source, no-compete contract.

A few months later, when Iowa Department of Public Health workers 
tried to let other prevention agencies compete for the $400,000, 
Lamberti personally intervened.

He sent a fax to McManus at the Rock In Prevention offices, attaching 
a copy of a letter that he intended to send to the Department of 
Public Health and asking McManus to make any necessary revisions to 
the letter before it was sent out. Later that same day, Lamberti sent 
the department his letter, which was signed by himself and Sen. Matt 
McCoy, a Des Moines Democrat.

In that letter, Lamberti and McCoy told department officials that 
legislators clearly intended to "provide an opportunity for Rock In 
Prevention to access state funding," and they objected to a bidding 
process that they felt would prevent Rock In Prevention from 
collecting the $400,000. They also objected to the department's 
attempts to have applicants for the money backed by research, saying 
Rock In Prevention would be unable to meet that standard.

Department officials agreed to reverse course, and Rock In Prevention 
was awarded the $400,000.

Lamberti said last week that his intent was to help a program that 
was well-established and innovative and had the potential of 
addressing drug use by teens. At the time, Rock In Prevention was 
faced with a funding crisis: Federal officials had withdrawn some of 
their financial support for the agency, citing a lack of scientific 
evidence of success.

"They were in a real crunch, and there was a real question as to 
whether or not they were going to be able to continue," Lamberti 
said. "And so we did provide them with funding to allow them to move forward."

Lamberti said that his attitude changed last year after Rock In 
Prevention's effectiveness was questioned.

"Once those questions were raised, I made the decision that we were 
no longer going to provide any specific line-item (funding) and 
everybody was going to have to compete for those dollars," he said.

The comments from Bos-well's spokeswoman about Rock In Prevention are 
almost identical to comments the congressman made in an April news 
release regarding Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium.

In referring to CIETC, Boswell said then that he was "greatly 
disturbed and disappointed" by reports of a payroll scandal at CIETC. 
He added that "taxpayers have an expectation that public funds be 
spent in a legal and reasonable manner, and entrust their faith in 
people to act accordingly."
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