Cheers, Ken Hanly
The Globe and Mail Wednesday, August 2, 2000 Corporate sponsors pay millions for delegates' parties and gifts 'The system's broken; we are addicted to soft money,' McCain says By Barrie McKenna Philadelphia -- Texas Governor George Bush and the Republicans would like the thousands of delegates assembled in Philadelphia to believe their four-day extravaganza is a gift from the party. But the truth is that a long list of corporate sponsors are picking up the record $70-million-plus (U.S.) tab for the national convention. Ten companies and organizations have coughed up more than $1-million apiece to buy into the convention. Among them are AT & T Corp., Motorola Inc., General Motors Corp., Bell Atlantic Corp. and Comcast Corp. Hundreds more have contributed smaller amounts. The corporate spending spree has produced an orgy of parties, golf tournaments, yacht rides and gifts, which even some Republicans find unseemly. "The system's broken; we are addicted to soft money," Arizona Senator John McCain complained to reporters yesterday as he returned to the reform theme he wielded repeatedly during his unsuccessful run for the Republican presidential nomination earlier this year. But Mr. McCain remarked that the Democrats are just as guilty of accepting the unregulated convention-related gifts. "The fact is it's a bipartisan issue," he said. With the Republicans ahead in the polls and confident of being able to recapture the White House from Democratic President Bill Clinton after eight years, there has been no shortage of willing donors here in Philadelphia. Conventions were once a forum for policy debates and grassroots politicking, but they have evolved into a venue for lobbyists to rub shoulders with political power brokers outside the confines of Washington, Sheila Krumholz, research director of the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, said. "This is the most brazen display of special-interest lobbying I've ever seen," Ms. Krumholz said of the Philadelphia convention, which ends tomorrow with Mr. Bush's confirmation as the Republican candidate for the presidency. "This is an exclusive event for political elites, to the exclusion of the vast majority of Americans." Adding to the donor frenzy at this year's conventions is the belief that control of the Senate, the House of Representatives and the White House are potentially up for grabs. The Republicans currently have a majority in both houses of Congress, while the Democrats rule the White House. Even some delegates acknowledge that the Philadelphia sponsorship activity has been blatant and unprecedented. "If you feel compelled to buy one drink you're a social outcast," said Mike Hellon, a delegate from Arizona who's been at every Republican convention since 1976. "That's just part of the American political culture that is inbred, and you're probably not going to change it." Often these events are used to solicit further contributions from big donors to help finance the fall elections. Free food and booze is just the start. And nothing, it seems, is too extravagant. Union Pacific has brought in 30 vintage rail cars, set out on nearly a kilometre of freshly laid track near the convention site. The cars are being used as private suites to wine and dine Republicans. "We are here to do some business," Union Pacific official Gary Shuster bluntly told The Philadelphia Inquirer this week. The company has even set aside a historic Pullman car for the exclusive use of House Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas. Union Pacific vigorously opposed Montreal-based Canadian National's aborted takeover of U.S.-based Burlington Northern Santa Fe earlier this year. The company is an active lobbyist on railway regulatory issues in Washington. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, already one of the most vocal lobbies in Washington, has rented a large yacht and moored it out on the nearby Delaware River. Then there has been a string of massive parties for members of Congress. Billed as tributes to people such as Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and Representative J. C. Watts, the parties were paid for entirely by corporate sponsors. The money doesn't always get sponsors everything they want. Cigarette maker Philip Morris Cos. Inc. coughed up $250,000 for the Philadelphia convention. But all that money hasn't bought it a smoking area in the First Union Center or any of the surrounding pavilions. Still, that doesn't seem to be hindering the company, which has been trying to promote all its non-tobacco products instead. Philip Morris has stuffed delegate "goody bags" with an array of its products, including Altoids mints, Toblerone chocolates, Maxwell House coffee, Miller beer and Philadelphia cream cheese, as well as specially made Kraft Dinner noodles in the shape of an elephant, the Republican mascot. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Globe and Mail Wednesday, August 2, 2000 Just some old-time debauchery in Philly By Jeffrey Simpson Philadelphia -- In this city of hoagies and pretzels, Republicans are holding a convention of shrimp and caviar. The lavish food spread through the salons of Philadelphia's hotels and restaurants typifies the marriage of corporate America to politics. Fat cat America loves George W. Bush and has showered more money on his campaign than on any other in the history of U.S. politics. The Republican presidential candidate will arrive today in Philadelphia with $93-million in the bank for his campaign, and millions more will undoubtedly be vacuumed from corporations and individuals this week. But corporate largesse extends beyond Mr. Bush. In hotels and watering holes across Philadelphia, corporate America brazenly and shamelessly is showing its appreciation for favours past and future from Republican legislators. Cocktail parties honouring congressmen. Dinners hailing senators. Lunches in praise of non-elected Republican worthies. All sponsored by corporations or trade associations to curry favour with Republicans in general and powerful Republicans in particular. Want to ride down the Delaware River with the Speaker of the House? Play golf with powerful congressional committee chairmen? Schmooze with party worthies at invitation-only receptions? Then Philadelphia is for you, at an admittedly hefty price. But then what's a couple of tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of dollars when a legislative change or a presidential order can make your company millions later on? The largesse extends to the door of the convention. Union Pacific has brought 30 spit-and-polished railway cars and parked them on special tracks outside the convention site. Inside the cars, Republicans entertain their corporate friends, or corporations use them to impress political bigwigs. Inside the First Union Center itself, the skyboxes are all reserved for corporations and wealthy contributors. Philadelphia is an orgy of political debauchery layered with helpings of hypocrisy, as politicians deny being influenced by all this attention and money. At least the corporations are more honest. The road builders love how Mr. Bush opposed any reduction in the gas tax dedicated for highway construction. The oil and gas industry admires the Republicans' indifferent interest in environmental regulation. The tobacco industry is over the moon at the party's reluctance to attack its product. The chemical manufacturers adore Mr. Bush's promise to go easy on them. And, of course, the wealthy and the comfortable just can't wait for the Republicans to cut their taxes. Earlier this year, insurgent Republican candidate John McCain castigated U.S. politics for its dependence on private money. The media and independent voters loved the message; Republicans hated it. The party, then as now, was awash in money, and when it looked as if Mr. McCain might be making some headway, the Bush campaign pumped in a few additional tens of millions of advertising dollars and sank Mr. McCain's chances. Mr. Bush, backed by a group of wealthy businessmen, had collected so much money before the primaries that he didn't need to abide by spending limits required of candidates who want matching public funds. He spent more than he had planned to squelch the McCain insurgency, but more money was easily forthcoming. The debauchery in Philadelphia -- to be repeated when the Democrats gather in Los Angeles in two weeks -- is the subject of much tut-tutting in circles wishing to see more disinterested politics in the United States. Various worthy groups have proposed a series of changes to diminish the influence of money on politics, but every recent attempt at serious financing reform has failed. Mr. McCain and a few hardy Republican souls aside, the party likes things pretty much as they are. And why not, with corporations and wealthy Americans so eager to fill the party's coffers? After all, say Republicans, look how much President Bill Clinton raised for his two campaigns. As for Vice-President Al Gore, he's proposed sweeping financing reform; but, with his track record as a Democratic vacuum cleaner for cash, few Americans take him seriously. Mr. Bush never stops talking about making the Republican Party more "inclusive" by reaching out to minorities and women. He's got a long way to go with both groups, but he's got most of America's plutocrats already included in the party. Both the plutocrats and the party are having a grand old time in Philly.
