CA: Timing of Preschool Ads at Issue (Meatheadgate)

Sacramento Bee ^ | March 21, 2006 | Laura Mecoy

[The Capitalist Avenger]

LOS ANGELES - The state agency under fire for using tax dollars to promote preschool as a preschool initiative was qualifying for the June ballot has a history of hitting the airwaves while voters are considering measures that could change its programs.

First 5 California Children and Families Commission launched its first ad campaign - a $14 million bilingual media buy - just six weeks before a March 7, 2000, vote on a ballot measure to repeal Proposition 10, the initiative that created the agency.

The ads said nothing about Proposition 28, the initiative seeking to repeal Proposition 10. But they did tell voters that Proposition 10 had paid for the messages about the virtues of early childhood education and the dangers of smoking.

The commission's staff had rushed to get those ads on the air, avoiding the lengthy state competitive bidding process to hire the public relations and advertising firms to carry out the campaign, according to transcripts of testimony in a 2000 lawsuit challenging Proposition 10.

Jane Henderson, the commission's executive director at the time, admitted in court that the ads would have aired after the election if the agency had sought competitive bids...

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