Outrage Over Army Corps' $4.7M PR Contract

(CBS)  CBS News Investigative Producer Pia Malbran wrote this story for CBSNews.com.

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A New Orleans citizens group is accusing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of inappropriately using much needed funding to spin a more positive image of the Corps in the media. The federal agency, however, disputes this change saying the money was allotted for necessary "public education."

The controversy was touched off this week after it was discovered that the small public relations firm, Outreach Process Partners (OPP), which has offices in Maryland and New Orleans, was hired to work with the Army Corps' New Orleans district in 2007. The company was awarded a three-year government contract worth a total of $4.75 million (having so far received $2.3 million of that money) and boasted on its Web site that it helped reduce negative news coverage that plagued the Corps following Hurricane Katrina.

"It's a punch in the stomach," said Sandy Rosenthal, a citizen advocate who founded the watchdog Web site Levees.Org. "We do not feel that is the best way to spend [millions] of dollars."

Rosenthal said she discovered the OPP contract Tuesday online. One of the things that caught her attention was a chart that OPP posted on its Web site showing how negative media stories had dramatically decreased after the company was hired. The Web site stated: "OPP's media support has been a fundamental part of the transition from typically negative news coverage to more neutral and positive news coverage." The Web site also listed several local and national news organizations that the company claims to have "facilitated" and to have provided "media support."

(Chart posted on OPP website)

"That sounds like spin," said Rosenthal who argues that the Corps' should in no way be spending precious taxpayer dollars trying to revamp its spotty public reputation but rather on trying to improve the levee system and protect New Orleans from another disaster.

The information about the media coverage was then removed from OPP's Web site Tuesday within hours of Rosenthal sending a mass email alerting individuals who are part of her Web site's listserve. (Click here to see what OPP's Web site looked like earlier this week, and click here to see what it looks like now.)

"I can see why people would be upset about that," said Ken Holder, the Corps' chief of public affairs for the New Orleans office. He told CBS News OPP was hired not to directly handle media inquires but to primarily develop "educational materials" and set up public meetings that the Corps is required by law to hold in order to get valuable feedback from residents about the Corps' projects. "It's for public education," he said.

Right now, the Army Corps is in the mist of a major lawsuit that claims the agency is responsible for the flooding that drowned New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

Click here to see the contract between Outreach Process Partners and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District.

In addition, it is managing the largest civil engineering project in U.S. history to repair the damage that occurred after the 2005 storm at a cost of about $14.6 billion. Because of the size of the project, Holder said, "we've got to get this right and the best way to do that is to hear from the public."

In a phone interview with CBS News, the president of OPP, Janice Roper-Graham, said she is proud of the work her company has done for the Corps and offered a different perspective on her company's relationship with the government agency from what had been posted on her company's Web site.

"We are in a support role in helping [the Corps] with public education," she said. "And, we don't want there to be any confusion about that."

Roper-Graham says the media information was listed on the company's internet page because she was "trying to reach out to other federal agencies, if they were having a hard time communicating" and she wanted to show "this measurable improvement" that her company could offer.

"We didn't think through the Levees.org's perspective on how our Web site would be viewed," she admitted. Furthermore, the information was removed from OPP's Web site after Rosenthal's email circulated because Roper-Graham said she "didn't want to give the impression that OPP was signally responsible" for the decrease in bad press. "We are proud of our contribution" she said but insisted her group was part of a team effort with big credit going to the Corps' desire to be more "open and transparent."

Roper-Graham said her company is in fact responsible for setting up public meetings for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Louisiana as well as other communications duties "behind the scenes." She also said her company was instrumental in overhauling the Corps Web site, making it more user-friendly. All of this is important, she added, because "communication is a key component to running a good project."

Late Thursday, Corps spokesman Holder had OPP remove all Army Corps references from its Web site until, he told CBS News, he has had a chance to review all the information.
By Pia Malbran

[inachu1]

What?!?!?!?!

The Army did not use the OSP for propganda spin control?
This would have been free if they used the OSP.

[nolastan]

Azulene,

If you would like to leave us a comment, you may do so on any article on our blog (http://levees.org/blog). You may also contact us directly by e-mail (http://levees.org/contact), Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/leveesorg), Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/LeveesOrg/10971099726), Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/leveesorg) or Flickr (http://flickr.com/photos/24669697@N05/).

If there is anything I can do to make it easier to reach us, please let me know. You can find my email address under "Webmaster" on the contact page.

Thank you for your feedback.

Stanford Rosenthal
Webmaster for Levees.org
twitter.com/nolastan

[ray55--2008]

I dare CBS News to look at the IP addresses of all the posts here and count how many of the Corps defending posts come from the same IP address as the New Orleans District US Army Corps of Engineers.

[ray55--2008]

Azulene said, "It's interesting that the Levees.org website does not allow comments!!!! LMAO I sincerely doubt that this woman is a qualified engineer of any sort."

Are you implying that the USACE engineers that designed and built the New Orleans Outfall Canal floodwalls, which failed without even being overtopped were 'qualified engineers'?

Ms.Rosenthall is not and never claimed to be an engineer. She is a New Orleanian concerned about her city and its people and is fighting a very difficult fight to try to get reliable engineering built into the new flood control system. The USACE discredits critics (especially qualified ones) and gets them and their companies blacklisted from their industry. It is a shame so few Civil Engineers are brave enough to speak up about the desperate need for USACE reform.

We have no confidence in the Corp's abilities. They don't permit adequate oversight. A floodwall design safety factor of only 1.4 is being used by the Corps. We fear USACE will flood us again.

The Corps holds a sacred place in congress as an avenue from pork distribution. Whatchagonnado?

[ray55--2008]

"Perception is more important than the product?"

Corps management seems to believe in this philosophy when it comes to engineering structures. They demand and expect respect and trust regardless of performance. They discredit critics.

Why does the local New Orleans District of the Corps need a huge internal PR staff and a $1M+/yr. PR Contractor supplying six extra strategists?

This ain't at all about the money, but was this PR project "authorized" by Congress? -as the Corps likes to use as an excuse to do something they don't want to do?

Have you ever heard of another government agency's field office having a PR staff larger than 2 or 3? Do you think the USACE does not need reform? Do you think USACE's engineering can be trusted to competently rebuild New Orleans' flood control system? I'm paying my local cost share for the second time for flood 'risk reduction.'

Make no mistake. This is a typical by-the-book cover up. This is a blatent federal government conspiracy against New Orleanians. Albeit clumsy, it is working quite well.

[ray55--2008]

The Corps seeks to convince us they can be trusted to provide competent engineering, but they don't realize trust is earned. Trust is not earned through trickery, not twice anyway.

[ray55--2008]

people like sdemaggie are frequently Corps dependents and very likely posting their slander from a Corps computer on the government's clock. This is part of their standard operating procedures.

Did you know they even paid the president of the American Society of Civil Engineers to tour the country and give hundreds of presentations on the levee failures to engineering and civic groups where the presentations blame locals for the levee failuresand paint a picture of Corps competency bordering on heroic.

This really is a secret government conspiracy in an effort to cheat their victims. You don't have to believe it but it is true and there is a ton of evidence.

The Government did such an excellent job of slandering New Orleans that I bet CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, CNN and NPR could all run stories correcting Corps myths for a month straight and the public would still choose to believe the lies.

[ray55--2008]

"Are these the same outraged NO citizens that are sucking on the public teat" some stupid person said.

Sir, you are one of the believers of the PR slander by the feds against New Orleanians.

Did you know the Lower Ninth Ward is two square miles, but 140 square miles of New Orleans suffered flood damage from the levee and floodwall failures?

Did you know the floods did not discriminate (in death or damage) against any demographic other than age?

Did you know that about 2/3rds of New Orleanians had flood insurance?

Did you know the outfall canal floodwalls fell down like cheap movie props long before they were overtopped by storm surge waters? Did you know that all three levee & floodwall failure investigation reports, including the one by the US Army Corps of Engineers all indicate that the outfall canal floodwalls did not perform as required because of stupid engineering mistakes made by employees of the US Army Corps of Engineers?

You see, you think we are scum and do not deserve a recovery because of lies and myths spread by government conspirators whose goal is to minimize federal recovery spending at the expense of citizens damaged by the federal government. The slander is very disenfranchising.

This is why we are outraged about the PR contract. I wish we had a million dollars for PR to try to reverse the slander directed at US by this Federal agency.

The party responsible for our flooding is also responsible for much of the slander against New Orleans that attempts to cause outsiders to believe the floods were the fault of locals. The Corps claims immunity, but they won't even admit to themselves what they did and they won't even apologize to their victims.

The biggest reason for the PR firm is that Corps leadership ODES NOT WANT to reform as suggested in all of the three levee failure investigative reports. They are premeditated negligent homicide perpetrators.

[roghil]

The Corps only take on projects that are proposed by local authorities. Apparently, the folks of New Orleans didn't want to spend any money to repair the levees before Katrina, but they are plenty ready to now.

There is no problem with a PR firm contract. They happen all the time. These used to be Government employees, but those positions were eliminated to a great extent in favor of Contractors. There is a lot of work to do in order to get a Civil Works project approved and in place. PR people are the ones that set all that up.

It is a separate funding source from construction dollars, and at the value of this one, probably approved by Congress (Democratically controlled Congress). What's the problem?

[sdemaggie]

Are these the same outraged NO citizens that are sucking on the public teat for every cent they can get in the aftermath of Katrina, an act of God which We the people of the US are under no obligation at all to fund for the poor "victims " of NO? Are these the same outraged NO citizens sueing the Federal government (Corp of Engineers) for an act of God? A clear case of the pot calling the kettle black.