Pubdate: Sun, 23 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 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) ANTI-DRUG CHARITY GAVE $315,732 TO ITS BOSS EXPENSES Taxpayer-Funded Rock In Prevention's Pat McManus Received Compensation For Making Cds, Plus A Salary A controversial, publicly financed Des Moines charity routed $315,732 to its executive director last year - an amount that represents almost 39 percent of the agency's total spending. The money was paid after state lawmakers agreed to directly finance Rock In Prevention Inc. with $600,000 in Iowa taxpayers' money. The Legislature's action enabled the charity to bypass the normal, grant-application process through which private organizations typically must compete for public money. Rock In Prevention is a nonprofit agency that stages high-energy music performances in schools to discourage children from using tobacco, alcohol and drugs. Newly disclosed federal tax records show that the agency spent a total of $804,000 in the 2004-05 fiscal year. Those tax records also show how the money was spent: Executive director Pat McManus was paid $123,309 in salary and benefits. McManus' for-profit venture, Mission From God Records, is a sole-proprietorship that collected $192,423 from the tax-exempt charity. Most of the payments represent compensation for compact discs of McManus' inspirational music, which are given away to children in public and private schools. Rock In Prevention officials say that 23 percent of the payments to Mission From God - which would amount to about $44,257 - represent a "profit" for McManus after the costs of writing, composing, arranging and producing the music are met. The charity collected more than $1.2 million in government grants, including direct appropriations from state lawmakers, between July 2001 and June 2005. During that same period, the charity paid $658,063 to Mission From God, and McManus' annual salary-and-benefits package rose from $92,000 to $123,309 - an increase of 34 percent. 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. McManus referred all questions about the agency to his sister, Lore Solo, who is a Rock In Prevention board member. Solo could not be reached for comment Friday. Rock In Prevention has existed for 17 years and is popular with Iowa children and parents who enjoy the live performances and CDs that are infused with a strong anti-drug message. But five years ago, a lack of scientific data to support the agency's claims of effectiveness prompted federal officials to withdraw financing from Rock In Prevention. That led to a taxpayer-financed study, conducted by Iowa State University, of the charity's efforts to keep kids off drugs. As The Des Moines Register reported last summer, the $298,000 study raised questions pertaining to conflicts of interest. Much of the money for the study was given to Rock In Prevention, which worked as a subcontractor on the study of its own effectiveness. For more than a year, the two lead researchers on the study worked for Rock In Prevention as unpaid staff members, offering advice on issues such as research, programming and grants. One of the two researchers also served as an honorary board member at Rock In Prevention. The other owned a company that was paid $3,700 by Rock In Prevention for construction work at the Rock In Prevention office. Also, one of the other people who worked on the study was a former paid employee of Rock In Prevention. Before the study was completed, lead researcher Jerry Stubben acknowledged last year that he was redesigning the program even as he was evaluating it. He said McManus was changing the program to conform to the redesign. "To be blunt, I can make Pat do whatever I want him to do because we are evaluating it," Stubben said. Stubben's study concluded that his redesigned Rock In Prevention - unlike other programs Stubben had publicly dismissed as "crap" - was effective. Those findings can now be used to clear the way for infusions of additional public money through government grants. Last year, after the Register published a series of articles about Rock In Prevention, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which paid for the ISU study, said it intended to review the manner in which the study was conducted. On Friday, SAMHSA officials said the review of the ISU study was conducted by the university itself, which then proposed "corrective action" that SAMHSA approved. The corrective action addresses three issues: the need for Stubben to resign as an honorary board member at Rock In Prevention; the need for new accounting controls within the university's research institute; and the need for additional training on matters related to conflicts of interest. Some issues, such as the study's reliance on a former Rock In Prevention employee to gather data, were deemed "minor violations" that weren't worthy of additional action, SAMHSA officials said. University officials were unable to provide information on the matter last week. Stubben said Friday that he has resigned from the charity's board but isn't aware of other actions that were recommended. "The only thing I ever got said, 'Everything's fine, let's move on,' " he said. "I did get a thing from (federal officials) that said everything was cool." Rock In Prevention board members emphasize that the organization relies heavily on private contributions that aren't tied to taxpayer money. Tax records show that in the 2004-05 fiscal year, the charity received private contributions from six entities: board chairman Dick Jacobson, the Jacobson Foundation, Don Lamberti, Iowa Broadcasters, Variety Club and Hy-Vee Food Stores. Those donations accounted for 34 percent of Rock In Prevention's total income. [Sidebar] About Rock In Prevention The anti-drug program Rock In Prevention is popular with Iowa schoolchildren. For more than 15 years, Pat McManus has traveled to schools around the state and used music to try to persuade students not to use drugs, tobacco or alcohol. "When kids learn through song and listen to the music over and over, it really reinforces what we are teaching," he told the Register in 2001. According to his Web site, www.rockinprevention.org, McManus is a national certified addictions counselor who graduated from Upper Iowa University with a bachelor's degree in business management and a minor in marketing. But some aspects of the Rock In Prevention program have generated controversy: The agency has received more than $1.2 million in public money, but more than a third of the money spent each year goes to the executive director and his for-profit venture, Mission From God Records. The executive director's family members have served as paid staff and board members. After federal officials cut off financing for Rock In Prevention due to questions over the program's effectiveness, state lawmakers stepped in and awarded the agency $600,000 in public money through a no-compete contract. Taxpayers were billed $298,000 for a recent evaluation of the agency's effectiveness. But that study was conducted by researchers who previously worked for Rock In Prevention. The lead researcher redesigned the program, then evaluated it and declared it a success. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman