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California Department of Food and Agriculture spokesman Steve Lyle confirmed on Friday that a contract for almost $500,000 has been signed with public relations powerhouse Porter Novelli.
News of the hiring of political consultants to assist in the outreach efforts was discovered among reams of e-mailed correspondence obtained recently by The Herald under a public records request.
The correspondence to and from state Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura describes the Department of Food and Agriculture's own public outreach campaign that faltered from the start as officials apparently failed to grasp the extent of resistance Monterey County residents would mount against the spray campaign.
"Still much animosity to overcome," reads one e-mail by a CDFA staff member after facing community opposition in the Monterey Peninsula last fall.
Lyle said officials had not anticipated the Central Coast's level of opposition to a product he says "doesn't hurt anything, not even the light brown apple moth."
The pheromone spray, which was applied aerially over the Central Coast last fall, attracts and confuses the male moth, interrupting its mating cycle. It is the primary tool used
Since the program began on Sept. 9, several hundred people have complained of health problems they associate with the spray and several citizens' groups have mounted efforts to stop spraying plans that are expected to continue this spring or summer and may last several years.
"Our experience tells us there is trepidation when you tell people you'll be flying an airplane over them and spraying something," Lyle said. "We knew there would be concern, but we hoped there would be an acceptance of the product we've been using. It's not the widespread spraying of conventional pesticides."
As the e-mails show, such acceptance did not pour forth.
In late August, the department, as well as officials from the United States Department of Agriculture, appeared stunned by the scores of residents whose reactions ranged from concern to fury at community meetings in Seaside and Monterey.
"It got worse," Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner Eric Lauritzen wrote in an e-mail to a colleague who left one public meeting early.
Another message circulated among CDFA staff described a discussion among agriculture officials about outreach in Monterey County: "There was a good deal of venting on how frustrated (Lauritzen) is with the fact that things are not going smoothly. He did have some valid points to consider, especially since this is the first and possibly 'easiest' leg of the journey."
As the scheduled date for a second round of spraying approached, Lauritzen sent an e-mail to officials stating that while he was optimistic all would go well, "there remain many opposed to the treatment and I have no idea how that anger may manifest itself."
Courting environmental groups
By mid-September, the e-mails indicate Kawamura's office was intent on courting environmental groups in hopes of garnering endorsements. While some groups, such as California Certified Organic Farmers and The Otter Project signed on in support fairly early, others such as the Pesticide Action Network, asked the department for more information before offering an endorsement, the e-mails show.
One of the program's early supporters was Marilyn Dolan of the Alliance for Food and Farming, a Watsonville-based public relations group whose members include major commodity groups, farm organizations and individual grower-shippers. Among other activities, Dolan's group has advised growers on how to deal with the media when crises over food safety or pesticide-spraying accidents occur.
But behind the alliance's endorsement lay deeper concerns about the state's handling of public outreach as questions and opposition poured in.
In a sternly worded Sept. 26 e-mail to a Kawamura staff member, Dolan warned that the program was about to lose support from environmental groups.
"They are just not getting the answers they need to support this application and, to be honest, we are finding ourselves in agreement with most, if not all, of their requests. ... If public support is not something you feel you need, then the department should probably just proceed with the strategy expressed by Steve Lyle in today's Santa Cruz Sentinel when he said 'There is no vote.'"
Monterey debates legal action
Also in the opposition lineup were the city councils of several Monterey County cities, which were debating whether to support the spraying over their constituents' residences.
A CDFA staff member told Kawamura that "Sergio Sanchez, (Salinas) councilman, complained on local TV that he learned from media of the spray program. 'The moths aren't the only ones who are confused.'"
On Oct. 3, Kawamura sent this message to staff: "Did you see the news (Fox) that showed that the City Council of Marina voted to support the eradication project? Wow!"
But it turned out the city had only sent the department a letter describing the concern of Marina residents and there had been no resolution made in support of the spraying.
Meanwhile, some department staff members expressed concern that the city of Monterey was contemplating legal action.
"The Monterey Asst. Attorney Davi continues to route (sic) around for an angle to get at the program," reads a message sent among CDFA and USDA staff.
Time to bring in big guns
By late October, Kawamura press aide Nancy Lungren sent an e-mail to the secretary saying that Assemblyman John Laird's staff explained to her that the people expressing health and environmental concerns to the assemblyman were "more than fringe."
Kawamura responded, "We have to still believe that this is one of the best opportunities we will have to expand the support for the fight on invasives. That has to be the tone of our outreach — not just a fight against activists with a misdirected cause!"
It was at that point that Lungren suggested bringing in the big guns.
She told Kawamura she would ask for a proposal from Donna Lucas, former deputy chief of staff for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and chief of staff to first lady Maria Shriver. Lucas had previously served as a deputy press secretary for Gov. George Deukmejian, and was California press secretary for President George H. W. Bush.
Lungren also checked out the prominent political "lobby shops" Porter Novelli and Apco.
And, the e-mail said, she had spoken with Jeff Randle and had asked him for a consulting proposal.
A member of the governor's inner sanctum of political advisers, Randle was criticized during Schwarzenegger's first run for office for being part of the infamous "Quackenbush team" — a group of advisers who worked for Chuck Quackenbush, the state insurance commissioner who left office in disgrace for going easy on insurance firms that allegedly bilked homeowners after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
Before joining Schwarzenegger, Randle was a senior adviser to Gov. Pete Wilson.
Contract goes to Porter Novelli
With a reputation as a spin doctor extraordinaire, Randle worked with both Wilson and Schwarzenegger to engineer a last-minute defeat of Proposition 66, which aimed to overhaul the state's Three Strikes laws, reversing the ballot measure's overwhelming popularity among residents just weeks before the election.
He was among a group of Schwarzenegger advisers accused by Republican Party strategists of profiteering from the governor's 2005 special election, a charge Randle has denied. He earned more than $300,000 for working on that campaign.
"I don't do this for the money," he told the Sacramento Bee. "I do it for what I think is best for the governor. We work really hard for anything we are paid."
Randle did not respond to a telephone message left by The Herald.
In the end, CDFA spokesman Lyle said Friday, the contract went to a branch of the Washington-based lobby and public relations firm Porter Novelli.
Creators of food pyramid
Porter Novelli was founded in 1972 by two "advertising men who worked together to get President Richard M. Nixon re-elected," according to The New York Times.
The USDA was one if its first clients, and by 2005, the Times said, the firm had obtained nearly $60 million in federal contracts.
Porter Novelli today counts among its clients the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dow Chemical, Hewlett Packard, Procter & Gamble and Shire Pharmaceuticals.
The company invented the USDA's famous food pyramid graphic and later developed a new version of the pyramid plan for nearly $2.5 million, a contract criticized by public interest groups as a conflict of interest because the firm has promoted food industry groups from McDonald's to California almond growers.
Lyle said the firm will help with public education and outreach on California's campaign to eradicate the light brown apple moth.
"We want them to work with stakeholder groups and community groups and residents," he said Friday. "We have an infestation in a nine-county area of Central California. It's a large area. We needed additional resources to reach the people in those communities. There's a lot of work (ahead) to discuss the project."
The contract provides up to $497,500 in federal funds and is paid for by the USDA, he said.
While Porter Novelli will "help establish relationships," Lyle said, "we're going to continue being the face of the program. The faces at public meetings won't change."
No plans to halt spraying
This year, with several lawsuits filed and opposition still apparently firm among many Central Coast residents, plans to continue fighting the moth from the skies are moving ahead.
Although some media outlets reported last week that spraying plans had been halted, the CDFA insists there has been no such suspension or cancellation.
With more aerial applications planned for late spring or early summer, the agency likely will continue to face uphill battles in convincing members of the public they are safe.
As spokeswoman Lungren told Kawamura before one public meeting last fall, "(The) meeting, as I said, will not be easy. Still much animosity to overcome."
Julia Reynolds can be reached at jreynolds@montereyherald.com or 648-1187.
QUOTES:
Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura quotes:
"Santa Cruz is, as predicted, making us rethink our overall
eradication outreach component. It's been a learning process —
isn't it always?"
10.11.07 email to colleague in Santa
Cruz
"We still have to believe this is one of the best
opportunities we will have to expand the support for the fight
on invasives. That has to be the tone of our outreach — not
just a fight against activists with a misdirected cause!"
10.5.07 to press aide Nancy Lungren
"This has a predictable direction to it."
9.2.07 to
press aide Steve Lyle, on an email describing resident
concerns over possible spraying effects on monarch butterfly
migration.
=============================================================
CDFA press aide Nancy Lungren quotes:
"Yes, if we can get the main msg out and they hear, I'll be
amazed!"
10.5.07 to Sec. A.G. Kawamura
"The Laird letter will run next week, but Tuesday's
meeting, as I said, will not be easy. Still much animosity to
over come."
10.5.07 to Sec. A.G. Kawamura
"Laird's ppl tell me from emails and calls, it's more than
fringe."
10.5.07 to Sec. A.G. Kawamura
Apple moth timeline
Aug. 14 2007: State officials
announce they will spray pheromone mix over Monterey County in
early September
Aug. 20: First public outreach meeting
held in Seaside; local media report resident complaints
Aug. 21: Second public meeting draws hundreds in Monterey,
many protesting spray plans
Sept. 9: First round of
spraying begins on Peninsula, after which hundreds report
health complaints
October: Proposals from public relations
companies sought to help with outreach
January 2008: CDFA
begins work with mega-PR firm Porter Novelli under $500K
contract
