Boston favored to win convention bid
URL:http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/317/nation/Boston_favored_to_win_convention_bid+.shtml
Democrats to vote on 2004 site today
By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff, 11/13/2002
ASHINGTON - Boston stands on the cusp of being named host of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, pending a vote this morning by a site selection committee and, possibly, the signing of a contract drafted in anticipation of a deal, according to parties involved in the discussions.
It would be the first presidential nominating convention of a major party held in Boston, as well as the largest conference in the city's history. The gathering, which will span nearly a week in late July or early August 2004, is expected to draw 35,000 people and have an economic impact estimated by the city at $150 million.
Detroit, Miami, and New York also bid for the convention, with New York thought to be Boston's closest competitor. Over the weekend, Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe told both New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, that the city had undercut its bid by failing to get private cash pledges toward its convention budget, and by refusing to stop seeking the Republican National Convention if it was awarded the Democratic meeting, some of the parties said.
Boston has guaranteed such exclusivity, and has also obtained written commitments from area businesses pledging more than $20 million toward a $49.5 million budget. Democratic officials said the pledges in advance of a city winning the party's convention were unprecedented.
CHART
Comparing the bids
According to the parties involved in the discussions, Miami and Detroit failed to come up with similar cash pledges, commitments that McAuliffe found attractive after Los Angeles fell $14 million short of its budget just six weeks before it hosted the Democrats' 2000 convention. McAuliffe, President Clinton's chief fund-raiser, had to raise the money personally to close the gap.
None of the parties was willing to declare Boston the winner before the vote of the committee, whose 45 members traveled in smaller groups to the competing cities to review their applications. Today the panelists were to meet in Washington for the first time since their site visits last summer. The committee members planned to review DNC evaluations of each bid, discuss the findings, and then vote on a recommendation to McAuliffe. In the past week, some party officials discussed delaying a vote to allow the bad feelings from the Democrats' poor showing in the midterm elections to dissipate.
According to individuals representing different parties involved in the discussions, none of whom wanted to be identified by name or affiliation, there was some lingering sentiment on the committee in favor of Detroit. Not only is it a working-class city, but it is led by a black mayor and is in a state with a newly elected female governor, both important constituencies for a party that prides itself as the voice of minorities.
The DNC staff members who evaluated the bids, however, warned that in addition to lacking financial support, Detroit lacked hotel space and had deficiencies in its transportation and convention hall plans.
There was almost universal opinion among DNC staff that Miami had done little to support its bid since the site visit last summer, and the bid evaluators had the concerns about New York that McAuliffe relayed to Schumer in a phone conversation on Friday and again to Bloomberg over dinner in Washington Sunday.
The final decision on the convention date and site rests with McAuliffe, and several individuals said he told Bloomberg that Boston had won. They also said McAuliffe made a similar comment to Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, a close political ally, in a phone conversation in recent days. A Bloomberg spokeswoman would not discuss the mayor's private conversations, and Wellington's chief of staff did not respond to a call and an e-mail seeking comment. A McAuliffe representative disputed the reports.
''He has not told anyone what the decision is,'' said DNC spokeswoman Maria Cardona. ''He's had conversations with people about [what] some of the possibilities are, but he has certainly not told anyone it's a done deal, because it's not. I think he talks to them about possibilities and scenarios, and the fact that he's having these conversations leads people to speculate.''
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino plans a news conference at City Hall this afternoon, whatever the outcome, but privately his staff sounded confident that the city would prevail. The city's corporation counsel negotiated a proposed contract with DNC attorneys over the past week, Menino said during an interview. The negotiations were held to ensure there were no sticking points in the contract language.
Boston bid for the Democratic convention four years ago but lost amid questions about whether the Central Artery project would ensnarl conventioneers in traffic, and whether meeting in a Democratic bastion such as Massachusetts would help the party's presidential nominee. Almost since the time Los Angeles won the last meeting, Menino has worked to improve Boston's bid.
The key difference this time around, however, was the involvement of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who decided to lead Boston's effort.
Kennedy spearheaded efforts to raise the necessary private funding, and also spurred Menino to soothe racial and labor concerns that arose during the bidding process. For example, when some site committee members expressed concerns in June that they saw few minorities during their visit to Boston, Kennedy highlighted the city's pledge to hire a diversity officer for the convention staff if its bid won.
More recently, he and Menino garnered letters from local minority leaders to address any lingering concerns in the site selection committee. The letters were to be distributed to the members today.
''I think that my personal history of success is reflective of the city's growth in political sophistication and cultural competency,'' former Suffolk district attorney Ralph C. Martin II wrote. ''I am an African-American Republican who was raised in Brooklyn, New York; yet I served as the elected district attorney in Boston for almost 10 years.''
Wayne A. Budd, executive vice president and general counsel of John Hancock Financial Services, wrote: ''As an African-American who has lived and worked in this community for many years, I would like to stress the fact that our city is a diverse one, and particularly over the last decade it has made a strong and successful commitment for the inclusion of the various cultures as found throughout its neighborhoods.''
Several people involved in the convention discussions said that perhaps the strongest single element of the city's bid was its financial package. Of the $49.5 million proposed budget, Boston pledged to raise $20 million cash from local businesses. Another $12.5 million would come in the form of in-kind contributions, while the remaining $17 million would be split by state, local, and federal government sources.
The DNC deemed the upfront money vital for two reasons: the experience of Los Angeles, and concern that relying on public subsidies instead of private contributions could create problems for the party. New York, for example, faces a budget deficit of $1 billion, with projections it could balloon. Party officials are concerned that they could be blamed if a city had to cut budgets in one area to deliver on its cash commitment for the convention, one individual said.
Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com.
This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 11/13/2002.
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