Joe Honick, GMA International Ltd (2/02): Where
are more people commenting on this case that should send chills up and down the
spines of a lot of people in the business? I would have thought there might be
a flood of commentary on this case now that Dowie has been cast to the wolves.
It is impossible to believe this man, difficult as he may be in some respects
according to reports, could be singled out across the industry for what seems
to be a precedent setting situation. Ron Levy, with whom I frequently disagree,
has stated the case very well. Aida
Mayo, president, MAYO Communications, Los Angeles (1/31): The bigger
they are the harder they fall. Dowie just got caught at what several huge agencies
do. It is life imitating art. Remember the film "The Firm" with Tom
Cruise? This happens in New York, Chicago and, yes, even in Los Angeles. Hey,
it could be the next reality TV show, starring....____________________? Throw
out the case (1/31): 42 months? After all this hoopla, damage to
Fleishman's rep, millions in fines and investigations? Sounds like politics more
than justice. Joe Honick, GMA International
Ltd (1/31): Mr Levy [below] is dead on correct. I do not know Mr
Dowie and never heard of him until the case. Dowie may not be a sweetheart of
a personality, but Levy has made very important points here that deserve further
review right up to the top of the corporation. Ron
Levy (1/31): This is a day to celebrate for those who believe that
juries are infallible--that OJ Simpson must have been innocent since a jury found
him not gulty, that John Gotti was innocent since three different juries found
him not guilty, and that Doug Dowie was surely guilty since a jury decided that
way after deliberations--and maybe after wanting badly to get the hell out of
that jury room and go home for a drink and a decent meal and perhaps some affection. The
first woman to get the electric chair in New York State--convicted of murdering
her own child--was later found to have been innocent. Hundreds of prisoners have
been freed after years of imprisonment after DNA evidence proved they couldn't
possibly have been guilty. The political party in power when Dowie's firm was
hired--that party lost the next election and prosecutors from the opposing party
prosecuted Dowie, hinting in the media (but not daring to charge in court) that
the political leaders who hired Dowie's firm may not have been so kosher. Did
Dowie send inflated bills? No, his employer sent the bills. Did Dowie collect
the money? No, his employer collected the money. Did the client lose money? No,
the amount at issue was $500,000, and the employer to settle paid the government
over $6,000,000! Did the billing result from Dowie being under pressure to make
numbers? No, you can see partly from the story above that lower-level employees
(some of whom had earlier been fired by Dowie and were bitter) had the pleasure
of getting even by telling the jury they had been bullied to make their numbers
--and that Dowie chose not to look. "Chose not to look"
is a different way of saying he chose to trust his people and their numbers--even
as most of us have trusted our employees and their numbers. When
you get a PR assignment, you may consider six or more different ways in which
you can present your case to the public, and defense lawyers may also consider
six or more different angles of presentation. If the approach you pick doesn't
work well, the client doesn't do well, and if the approach the defense lawyer
selects doesn't work well, Doug Dowie goes to jail. Doug Dowie, who
rose up to head a big office for one of mighty Omnicom's top PR firms, risked
his life and protected us by volunteering for the Marines.
He is protecting
us now by his case teaching us that if an employee at a client feels snubbed and
accuses us of overstating our hours worked--and if we can't PROVE hours worked--we
can keep protesting and protesting our innocence and yet be sent to jail for years. It's
much better than what happened to the woman electrocuted for murdering her child.
But unless you think each of us SHOULD be able to prove our hours, it isn't right.
Since Dowie's employer gave him a million for a defense lawyer, they can't help
him any more than the rest of us. The judge may be obligated to believe
in the jury system and to sentence to jail the guy who can't prove his hours.
But it isn't right. Doug risked him life to protect us, he rose up within a top
firm where only the great ones get promoted and where the average or below quickly
get kicked out, and his tragedy teaches each of us a lesson about what can happen
to us if we can't prove hours. We'll be in air-conditioned offices, great restaurants
and posh hotels while Dowie is in a prison mess hall and on a prison cot, this
ex-marine who was accused by prosecutors of the opposing party and by employees
he had fired. It really isn't right. What a damn shame! |