Denver mayor: No "access to sell" for Dem convention

Part of the challenge raising money for the Democratic National Convention is that fundraisers have no access to sell, Mayor John Hickenlooper said in a blunt assessment this week.

“What could (donors) ask that I could give?” said Hickenlooper, who has traveled around the country to solicit donations. “I kept saying, ‘Ask me for something,’ right? All's I can do is give them a better hotel room. For $250,000, you want to get three blocks closer? That's not the way the world works out there, right? I can't promise them that they're going to get to meet anybody.”

According to a June 3 report by The Campaign Finance Institute, “the Democrats are offering $250,000+ donors invitations to ‘private events’” with Hickenlooper and others, including Colo. Gov. Bill Ritter, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar and U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette.

“A special feature in Denver will be the ‘Symposia of the Rockies’ organized by Mayor Hickenlooper,” the report also notes. “This will consist of ten issue-oriented ‘conversations’ among six to twelve participants to be co-hosted by $100,000 to $500,000 donors.”

Yet, a tally in mid-June found the Denver Host Committee was $11 million short of the $40.6 million it needs to raise to host the four-day presidential nominating convention in late August.

Hickenlooper and other officials connected with convention fundraising effort are in a conundrum: if they don’t raise the money, they face criticism for overpromising and underdelivering; if they do raise the money, they face criticism for selling access.

Hickenlooper discussed his own frustrations in a three-minute exchange, which is on video and transcribed below. It came at the end of editorial board meeting at The Denver Post on July 1. Among those in attendance were Denver Post reporters Christopher N. Osher and Chuck Plunkett, as well as Dan Haley, editorial page editor.

OSHER: I want to touch on one quick question on this. Because Chuck [Plunkett] has written a lot about how these contributions to the convention no longer are regulated to the degree that they used to be. Do you think they should be?

HICKENLOOPER: If giving money to this convention is such a loophole of soft money, right, if it's providing access, right, how come no one wanted to give us any money? If this is such a great deal, how come everyone looked at me - when I went from place to place to place to place - and said, "Thanks. Thanks very much, we'll call you."

OSHER: You never had anybody asking for something in return?

HICKENLOOPER: What could they ask that I could give? I kept saying, "Ask me for something," right? All's I can do is give them a better hotel room. For $250,000, you want to get three blocks closer? That's not the way the world works out there, right? I can't promise them that they're going to get to meet anybody. They're all looking at...That's why it's been so hard. The convention really is more about showcasing Denver and it doesn't provide any...Most donors that are giving money to this convention are - I would say this is true of the lion's share - are doing it out of some noblesse oblige, some patriotic sense of obligation, that they want to support the democratic process and that they'll look good in doing that. That's kind of the limit, right. They're not getting...maybe they get to go to some special parties or if there's a concert at Red Rocks or whatever. But again, for a $250,000 check, or a $1 million check, most people are writing these checks because they think it's the right thing to do. And that's why it's been so hard. Trust me, if we had access to sell, we would have been able to...if we had something to sell, it wouldn't have been this hard.

PLUNKETT: I'd be remiss, though, if I didn't point out that a watchdog group, The Campaign Finance Institute, just released a study that found that the majority of people who have donated to both conventions are also engaged in heavy lobbying and/or are members of big PACs.

HICKENLOOPER: The majority, but not all. And not even the vast majority. I think it was what, 60 percent?

PLUNKETT: I can't remember exactly...

HICKENLOOPER: Something like that. So they generally are people in the realm of, they care about what government thinks or does. And they're going to support government. So that's corrupt? They're not getting anything special for it. They're just supporting government. Most of them are supporting both conventions, right? So, they're not getting special deals. Won't most taxpayers say: that's not a bad thing, that we don't have to come out of our pockets. As long as they're not getting special access or special favors, beyond, you know, a better hotel room or a couple parties.

PLUNKETT: Well, the follow-up question, though, is: Do you need to have conventions produced on this scale? Couldn't you just have them on some kind of smaller scale, with more modest lighting and more modest sound - and not be so dependent on this huge influx of private money?

HICKENLOOPER: I think that's a legitimate question, but not one I'm qualified to answer.

PLUNKETT: You're in a perfect place to answer.

HICKENLOOPER: I'm sold on the spectacle now. (Laughter) That was a joke. That was a joke.

HALEY: Thank you very much for your time. We appreciate you coming in.

HICKENLOOPER: Thank you all.

Bookmark/Search this post with: