DRUG PROGRAM WOES SHOULDN'T SURPRISE LAMBERTI

It's shocking that another taxpayer-funded director would get caught
funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars into his wallet. But,
according to Clark Kauffman's July 23 article, "Anti-Drug Charity Gave
$315,732 to Its Boss," that's exactly what is happening. Rock In
Prevention (RIP), a taxpayer-funded, nonprofit organization, gave its
director, Pat McManus, more than $315,000, $123,000 of which was
salary; the remaining $192,000 McManus used to pay his own for-profit
company for CDs produced for RIP last year.

RIP would be worth every penny -- even the inflated salary -- if it
worked to keep kids off drugs. But a federal study more than five
years ago failed to find any scientific data to back up RIP's claims
and also resulted in the federal funding being pulled from the
organization.

Since then, the state has been the largest supporter of RIP. The
largest private donor to RIP has been Don Lamberti, founder of Casey's
General Stores and father of state Senate Republican co-president Jeff
Lamberti of Ankeny. It is no surprise that Lamberti pushed the state
Legislature to give $600,000 to RIP. It is his father's favorite charity.

Lamberti's actions allowed RIP to avoid the usual state
grant-application process -- which likely would have provided the state
with the information to make a more informed decision about its
investment. Thirty-nine percent of the entire annual budget of Rock In
Prevention was spent on one person. The Register knew this, why didn't
Lamberti?

Ben Foecke, Des Moines.