The law does not specify that any ads focus on preschool. It says the money should be used to "encourage proper childhood development"; good parenting; information about child care, health and social services; the prevention of tobacco and drug use by pregnant women; and information about the "detrimental effects of secondhand smoke on early childhood development."
First 5's lead public relations consultant is the Rogers Group of Los Angeles. The firm billed the Proposition 10 campaign $230,000. Its First 5 contracts extend to 2008 and will total $62 million. The company must distribute about $30 million of that amount as grants to community organizations.
The commission awarded Rogers an initial contract in 1999 without soliciting bids and two later ones in a competitive process. In its written bid for a new contract last year, Rogers noted that its president, Lynne Doll, was "a lead strategist on the communications efforts" for the Yes on 10 campaign.
Asked whether Rogers' work on Proposition 10 helped it secure commission work, Doll said, "I'm sure it didn't hurt."
She added that the company won its competitive contracts because its bids were lowest, its work has been effective and it has "experience in the anti-smoking world ... and in early childhood issues."
Rogers long has held the public relations contract for the state Department of Health Services' tobacco-control program.
The Reiner commission's ad firm is GMMB -- formerly Greer, Margolis, Mitchell & Burns. It has a 12-person office in Santa Monica and is a subsidiary of Fleishman-Hillard Inc., headquartered in St. Louis.
One of GMMB's partners, Roy Behr, was a key consultant to the Yes on 10 effort and led a successful statewide fight in 2000 against a ballot measure that would have overturned Proposition 10. GMMB billed the two political campaigns $3.2 million in 1998 and 2000. It has won $169.5 million in state contracts through 2007 from the First 5 commission.
The bulk of the money has been used to buy air time and ads in newspapers, including The Times. Some went to subcontractors.
Like other bidders seeking to do First 5's advertising in 2004, GMMB submitted a thick binder detailing its finances, subcontractors and vision for the ad campaign. Unlike its competitors, GMMB came highly recommended by the First 5 chairman.
