DWP Plan to Hire Media Consultant Sparks a Debate

Why do City Council members Richard Alarcon and Jackie Goldberg care if the Department of Water and Power hires a media and public relations firm?

The answer is a mixture of politics, loyalty and city policy.

Alarcon, who is in a heated campaign for a state Senate seat against former Assemblyman Richard Katz, says he was asked by a DWP union--whose members were targeted for layoffs--to pull the $3-million contract away from Fleishman Hillard Inc.

One of the firm’s principals, Senior Vice President Doug Dowie, is a former Katz deputy and close friend. But “that’s not the issue here,” Alarcon said. “The issue is the DWP employees. . . . How can we lay off thousands of employees, some in the public relations section of DWP, and then bring in a contract for $3 million?”

On to Goldberg, who recently has been locked in hand-to-hand political combat with the mayor’s office, and who most observers believe has never met a labor union she didn’t like.

“I just find it hard to spend $3 million on an outside contract and lay off people at the same time,” Goldberg said. “We have a charter provision that says wherever humanly possible, unless it’s economically unfeasible, we’re not supposed to contract out something that city employees could do.”

Still, Goldberg said she would like to hear more about the DWP’s need for the contract, saying that perhaps the utility is looking for a different type of marketing now that the department is moving from a monopoly to a more competitive business environment.

“Maybe there’s a good explanation,” Goldberg said. “I’m willing to hear it.”

In a concession to the union, DWP General Manager S. David Freeman offered Friday to keep the four public relations specialists who were targeted for layoffs as part of a bigger effort to streamline the utility and prepare it for the coming open energy market. He also said, however, that he still needs the outside help.

But while officials from the Architects and Engineers Assn. say they would certainly like to keep the public relations employees, they still don’t want the department to hire consultants.

“That’s a point of contention,” said one union official, who declined to be identified. “It’s ratcheting down the work force and then . . . hence a contract.”

Then there’s the other eyebrow-raising principal in the contract: Fleishman Hillard executive Steve Sugarman, a former deputy mayor.

Sugarman’s employment poses no legal conflict because the city’s Ethics Commission says he can work for the city under the terms of this contract but can’t lobby city officials until he has been out of civic service for a year.

Alarcon says he will ask the council at its meeting Tuesday to “take a look” at the contract.

Dowie, of Fleishman Hillard, said he believes the contract dispute has more to do with the department’s union than with personal politics.

“I have known both of them [Alarcon and Katz] for 15 years and I consider both of them friends,” Dowie said. “I think the dispute is between the City Council and the general manager of the DWP.”

These days, this sort of guerrilla warfare breaks out more frequently at City Hall, where the council recently has been asked to override decisions made by city commissions.

In this case, the Board of Water and Power Commissioners approved the Fleishman Hillard contract on April 7, at the recommendation of the DWP general manager.

“All you have to do is look at the television or the newspapers and see what kind of competition we’re up against,” Freeman said. “It’s pretty clear we need to have an ad campaign and we need some outside help on it.”

In another case, Goldberg has asked the council to review a much smaller contract for custodial services with the Harbor Department. That issue, which has been discussed at some length in Goldberg’s personnel committee, is expected to come before the council Wednesday.

The Harbor Commission has approved the contract. Goldberg, however, is concerned that the city’s own departments could handle the work themselves.