ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM FINANCING QUESTIONED

State Money Was Given To Rock In Prevention Without The Normal Bidding Process

For years, a Des Moines-based charity relied on federal money to stage
high-energy rock 'n' roll shows that were designed to discourage kids from
using drugs.

But in 2001, federal officials dictated that Rock In Prevention Inc. didn't
meet its standards for effective drug-prevention programs and the
organization had to begin looking elsewhere for money.

That's where the Iowa Legislature stepped in.

During the past 14 months, lawmakers have agreed to give the private,
tax-exempt charity $600,000 in taxpayers' money. In doing so, they have
bypassed the normal bidding process for publicly funded work, and ignored
those who have questioned the group's effectiveness.

"If this is how programs are to be funded in the future, we all need to
rethink what we do," said Ardis Glace, the head of the Iowa Substance Abuse
Prevention Directors Association. "Why spend innumerable hours writing an
application for a $40,000 grant when someone else can get a direct
appropriation of state dollars?"

Pat McManus, Rock In Prevention's executive director, said he's confident
his 16-year-old program is keeping kids free of drugs, despite detractors
who he said want to see it fail.

"I want to help children," he said. "We're not giving up. We set out on
this journey to become the best program we can be . . . and we're not
stopping."

Public Money Distribution

McManus describes Rock In Prevention as a calling, saying it's "what God
was directing me to do." Even so, financial records show that more than a
third of the money spent by the taxpayer-supported charity goes directly to
McManus.

Last year, for example, Rock In Prevention collected $1.2 million in
revenue -about half of which was in the form of state and federal
government grants. Of the $1 million the charity spent in 2004, $387,720
went to McManus. About $112,000 of that money was in wages and benefits,
and $275,720 was payment for 93,424 compact discs of music written and
performed by McManus to be distributed to schoolchildren.

Over a three-year period beginning in July 2001, McManus collected $465,000
from the charity as payment for CDs and tapes of his music.

Board members say the charity pays McManus for his actual, out-of-pocket
expenses in reproducing the discs and tapes, plus 23 percent as
compensation for his creative and artistic talents. They say the charity
would have to pay several times that amount if it had to commission
independent songwriters and performers to create the sort of music McManus
provides.

However, Jeff Berger, the Iowa Department of Education's legislative
liaison, says he wishes legislators would not have bypassed the normal,
competitive grant-application process to give public money directly to
McManus' private organization.

"There's no end to that sort of a handout," he said. "Honestly, we want the
legislators to work more directly with us and have us help them figure out
what programs really work and what don't."

By all accounts, McManus and his Rock In Prevention program are enormously
popular with Iowa's elementary schoolchildren, who describe it as exciting
and fun. But questions have arisen as to how well the anti-drug message
resonates with children once they enter their teen years when drug use
becomes more widespread.

In 2001, when federal officials shut off money for the program, there was a
concern that the music-filled workshops staged at Iowa schools were
"one-shot" efforts that didn't have the lasting residual effect of other
anti-drug programs.

Claire Gause, a 14-year-old from Des Moines, seemed to echo that point. The
teen said she remembers the Rock In Prevention program she saw five years
ago as fun, but she doesn't recall much about the message.

Still, the program has been recognized with several awards, and McManus, a
songwriter and substance-abuse counselor, is a two-time nominee for the
National Governor's Award.

State Legislators Step In

With federal money cut off, McManus sought help last year from state Sen.
Jeff Lamberti, an Ankeny Republican whose father, Don, has contributed more
than $285,000 to the group and served as one of its honorary board members.
McManus also contacted state Sen. Matt McCoy, a Des Moines Democrat whom
McManus describes as a personal friend.

"Pat really didn't have the research to back up how his program makes a
difference in terms of being effective," McCoy said. "So I said, 'For
heaven's sake, let's get a portion of these proceeds to go into a study and
let's have the Department of Public Health help you.' "

However, in September 2003 - long before Rock In Prevention received its
first installment of state money -federal officials had already agreed to
pay for just such a study. They gave $298,000 to Iowa State University to
examine Rock In Prevention's programming and effectiveness, and the results
are due later this year.

Still, Lamberti and McCoy led the effort at the Legislature to secure
$400,000 for an unspecified drug-prevention mentoring program that uses
live music.

Lamberti and McCoy acknowledge that the wording of the bill was designed to
funnel the money to the one Iowa organization that operates that way: Rock
In Prevention, which they consider an important alternative to traditional
drug-prevention programs.

At first, the Iowa Department of Public Health attempted to let other
drug-prevention programs compete for the money. But that effort generated a
letter of protest from Lamberti and McCoy, who reminded department
officials that "it was the intent of the Legislature to fund a specific
program."

The senators 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.

By the time the issue was resolved, the 2004 legislative session was in
progress and lawmakers had clarified their intent by stipulating that the
$400,000 would be awarded through a "sole-source contract." In other words,
there would be no competition for the money.

Gov. Tom Vilsack approved the bill, but publicly stated his reservations.

"It is difficult to justify a sole-source contract when there are other
qualified organizations that would be denied any opportunity to bid on such
a large contract," Vilsack said at the time. "Furthermore, I expect this
program to demonstrate its effectiveness though an independent evaluation."

Is Money Well Spent Or Unfair?

During the recent legislative session, some lawmakers expressed concern
that Iowa taxpayers were subsidizing Rock In Prevention's work in other
states, such as Nebraska, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, South Dakota and
Texas. Others said Rock In Prevention had yet to document its effectiveness.

Still, they approved a reduced appropriation of $200,000.

McCoy said he believes the state money will be well spent.

"I know there has been controversy about this because it's taking a
specific program and carving out money for it ahead of all these other
programs that do equally positive things," he said. "But the key to the
decision for me in supporting this was that Pat had, by far, touched more
lives than anybody else. I think at one time he boasted that up to 1
million kids had been exposed to the program. So that was good enough for me."

Others who compete with Rock In Prevention for drug-abuse prevention money
say the process is unfair.

"This should not be a competition of who gets to the legislators first and
who speaks the loudest," said Carolyn Ross of the Center for Alcohol and
Drug Services in Davenport. "I don't have the money to hire a lobbyist to
fight these issues. For nonprofits, that's not something many of us have
access to."

Rock In Prevention hopes to receive an additional $800,000 in state money
over the next two years -again, with legislators bypassing the competitive
bidding process.

McManus says other nonprofits can follow suit by lobbying their legislators
for the same sort of funding.

"If they have a credible, cutting-edge project, go present it," he says. "I
challenge any group to do that."

Photo_By: ROBERT NANDELL/REGISTER FILE PHOTO: Reaching out: Pat McManus,
founder of the Rock In Prevention program, speaks at East High School in
Des Moines in 2002. Iowa State University is conducting a study to
determine the effectiveness of the program; the results are due this year.

Photo_By: LISA FERNANDEZ/REGISTER FILE PHOTO: Music program: Laura Svoboda,
18, left, and Enzo Ciccarelli-Asta, 5, center, dance to "What I Like About
You" during the Rock In Prevention performance at the "Early Out
Extravaganza" on May 11 at Lakeside Center in Ankeny.