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Doug Dowie is out as general manager of the Los Angeles office of public relations giant Fleishman-Hillard. But there are two spins swirling around the move announced today in the agency's downtown offices. The official version is it's a promotion to greater responsibility. The other take buzzing through political circles is that Dowie's recent high profile became too undesirable to continue unchanged.
The note from Curt Kundred, the California regional head for Fleishman, reads:
I am pleased to announce an important step in the growth of Fleishman-Hillard as a leader in public affairs consulting in California. Doug Dowie, who has successfully led the Los Angeles office since 1999, will assume leadership of FH’s California Public Affairs Practice and become co-chairman of our agency’s national public affairs practice. In this capacity, Doug's assignment will be to coordinate and lead a statewide public affairs consulting practice and manage our already strong growth in public affairs accounts in Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. In recent months, we have added new public affairs group leaders in San Francisco and Sacramento, and have begun coalescing our firm's resources, including the public affairs advertising firm GMMB, to win more business in this sector. I have great confidence that Doug will guide us into a position of statewide public affairs leadership. We will have further details about Doug’s promotion and the structure of FH’s California public affairs practice in the weeks ahead.As Doug begins his new assignment, I will serve as interim general manager for Los Angeles, as we begin a search for a candidate to fill this position permanently.
Curt
In the latest media story to center on Dowie, DA Steve Cooley told KNBC's Ana Garcia that Fleishman's billing practices under Dowie "create an appearance that maybe something is rotten in Denmark. Except this is not Denmark -- it's Los Angeles." The Channel 4 report, which aired Friday, looked at the billing used on Fleishman's lucrative contract with the city's Department of Water and Power.
Earlier: 'Cripes, it's the media'
These guys crave the attention. Far from undesirable, they want to bottle it for export.
They've been putting the pieces in place for months, at least since September when Dowie hired LA Deputy Mayor Matt Middlebrook and sent him to San Francisco. One of Middlebrook's first assignments was serving pro bono on new Mayor Gavin Newsome's transition team.
That's straight outta the L.A. playbook.
Posted by: Simon at February 20, 2004 10:00 AM
of LA Observed
Kevin, Two points on this story, from my perch as head of PA for the LA office since 2002.
Since years before my arrival, the idea of Doug Dowie becoming the head of statewide public affairs, integrating the Fleishman Hillard practices in Sacramento, San Francisco and LA has been on my firm's to-do list. The fact that it is finally a done deal now rather than two years ago is a reflection of the firm's sense that the timing is now optimal to take advantage of this opportunity, for a number of internal and market-driven reasons.
As far as LA is concerned, Doug's role will be the same tomorrow as it was yesterday. He will occupy precisely the same office (you've seen it!), and although he will spend a bit more time on the road, his political and professional profile in Los Angeles will remain just as high. He will still be my boss, overseeing our group's work for all the clients who have entrusted us with contracts.
Personally, I'm excited because the establishment of the California Public Affairs Practice allows Fleishman to better serve clients who need to reach audiences statewide. From a PA perspective, California is a single market. The decisions are made in Sacramento, but the bulk of the voters are in Southern California, and the corporations, foundations, associations, and, yes, public sector agencies who we aim to win as clients are headquartered everywhere from Silicon Valley to Imperial.
Posted by: John Stodder at February 19, 2004 05:51 PM