Industry Group Parties to Be Missing at Conventions
The fun and games of previous national political conventions hosted by the TV networks and telecom companies will be lacking next week at the Democratic gathering in Denver and the week after at the Republican get-together in St. Paul, Minnesota. Cited as the reason, besides the economy: Tough new congressional rules on accepting gifts. “We're not doing shit,” said a lobbyist for a Fortune 500 communications company when asked his organizations plans for both conventions. He said his company will send only two executives to each city.
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“There’s not near as much going on as in the past… and that’s not just for the networks and telecom companies,” a Washington lobbyist told us, citing the stricter Hill ethics rules. To make sure lobbyists were aware of the new environment, the Senate Ethics Committee recently sent a reminder: “Under the new rules, a [Senate] member may not participate in an event honoring that member if it is paid for directly by a lobbyist or private entity that retains or employs a lobbyist… This includes events where a specific member or members are identified by name or title, and events honoring a group composed solely of members.” The committee also warned lobbyists that senators may not accept any gift of value, including tickets to a party or sports events, from registered lobbyists or their employers.
“That rules out just about everything, except maybe T- shirts or something like that,” a broadcast lobbyist told us. “The senators, as well as us [other lobbyists] will really have to watch their p’s and q’s.” There will no set-asides of hotel tennis courts by the NAB, as there were in the past, for use only by broadcasters and members of Congress. No more leasing of specialized railroad cars or yachts. No lavish parties held by the TV networks. The big four plan only “skeleton crews” in Denver and St. Paul apart from their news people. No sit-down dinners with receptions from AT&T and other telecom and cable companies. But Fox TV Network will have a free booth where delegates can pretend to be TV anchors.
Entertainment is on hold, but cable, telecom and Internet firms are among dozens of businesses underwriting the conventions. Sponsorships begin at $5,280 and can reach $1 million, according to the Democratic Convention Host Committee website. Committee host sponsors include Qwest, Cisco, AT&T, Level 3, Microsoft Google, Comcast, Starz and Time Warner Telecom. GOP committee hosts include AT&T, Comcast, Microsoft, Qwest, Verizon Wireless and Cisco.
The Campaign Finance Institute tallies $112 million in private money covering 80 percent of the conventions’ costs, according to a study released this week. The study does not tabulate what each sponsor paid, but does cite what companies and their executives have given to candidates and political parties. Examining giving trends from 2005-08, the study said companies on average spent $1 million each.
AT&T was among the biggest givers at $7.3 million, 65 percent to Republicans and 35 percent to Democrats. Comcast gave $4.5 million, 55 percent to Democrats, 44 percent to Republicans. Along with AT&T, companies tilting Republican include Liberty Media/Starz, Qwest and Verizon. Firms giving more to Democratic candidates include EchoStar, Google, Level 3 and Time Warner Telecom.
The NAB will send President David Rehr, Executive Vice Presidents Dennis Wharton and Laurie Knight and other lobbyists to Denver. Most also will be in St. Paul. The NAB is co-sponsoring receptions in both cities with the Creative Coalition in a “Celebration of Free Speech,” Wharton said. In other official activities in Denver sponsored by industry groups mainly for delegates and by invitation: AT&T is hosting a Monday lunch and a Tuesday reception. Qwest is hosting 2 receptions on Monday. The Washington law firm Hogan & Hartson is hosting a reception each day. The Echostar PAC hosts a Monday reception. The Patton Boggs law firm has a reception Tuesday. RIAA/ONE holds a reception Wednesday. Google and Vanity Fair co-host a party Thursday. So does USTelecom.
The only nightly over-the-air gavel-to-gavel coverage will be provided by PBS in an expanded News Hour. On cable, MSNBC plans to air 20 hours daily from the Convention Center, the Denver Union Station and other sites. Other cable channels said they will be in and out of convention coverage nightly. The broadcast networks plan an hour of coverage starting at 10 p.m. nightly.
In preparation for greatly expanded traffic from and to Denver next week, Verizon Wireless has expanded its transmission facilities. Verizon said it expects to handle more than 5 million calls and data transmissions to and from Denver during the Democratic convention. It has installed special signal boosters and repeaters throughout the city and will fully staff a 24-hour emergency-operations center throughout the convention.