Four years ago, Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick audited bills to the Department of Water and Power from the LA office of Fleishman-Hillard. She refused to pay. Yesterday, two former executives of the high-powered, national public relations agency were convicted of intentionally over-billing the DWP out of more than $300,000 during former Mayor Jim Hahn's administration. Doug Dowie and John Stodder face sentencing on multiple counts that could mean more than 200 years in prison. Will it make a difference in business as usual at City Hall? Warren Olney speaks with Chick and government watchdogs.
- Reporter's Notebook: Da Vinci Code Sparks Global Protests, Bad Reviews
Despite Christian protests all over the world, almost nobody has seen the film version of The Da Vinci Code. Last night, it finally was screened for New York critics and at the Cannes Film Festival. Peter Boyer of New Yorker magazine has more on critics' less than exuberant reaction and how Sony Pictures tried to anticipate a crisis over fiction and theology.
US Attorney on conviction on Dowie, Stodder
Fleishman-Hillard North America
California Fair Political Practices Commission
The Da Vinci Code
Da Vinci Dialogue
Boyer's article on Sony's marketing of The Da Vinci Code
