Democratic Convention Watch: Denver in money push


Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Denver in money push

WE’VE MOVED! Democratic Convention Watch is now at http://www.DemocraticConventionWatch.com

The Denver 2008 Host Committee committed to have $7.5 million for the 2008 Democratic Convention in the bank by June 1, but they may not make it:

The Denver host committee’s Steven Farber, a powerful Denver lawyer and moneyman; Mayor John Hickenlooper; and Gov. Bill Ritter are working as many as 50 potential donors – about 20 of them in private meetings – during a conference of the International Council of Shopping Centers at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Farber said he hopes the Las Vegas trip and a trip next month to Los Angeles will secure the commitments for the more than $40 million in cash and $15 million in services needed to meet Democratic National Committee requirements. The hard work of getting actual deposits will remain.

At least $2.7 million is in.

Of the nearly 30 mostly local donors who pledged more than $21 million in cash and services when the DNC picked Denver to host the convention, seven are known to have actually sent in checks, totaling $2.7 million. The DNC contract calls for $7.5 million in the bank by June 1.

June 1 is the first of four milestones in a timeline that specifies $40.6 million in cash must be available by July 1, 2008.

Interviews with original donors who pledged $50,000 or more found that seven had sent in checks: Union Pacific has sent in $1 million; Xcel Energy, $1 million; Molson Coors, $250,000; TeleTech, $250,000; Chase, $100,000; Wells Fargo, $62,500; and CH2M Hill, $50,000.

That $2.7 million figure could be significantly higher, as two major donors didn’t respond to interview requests.

I doubt there’s any “penalty” for not meeting the deadline, but it will be interesting to see if they make it.

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, and things will improve in the future.

Denver in money push2007-05-29T23:06:00-04:00MattHost Committee|money|