Menino presses for DNC donations

Under pressure to close a fund-raising gap, Mayor Thomas M. Menino spent yesterday in Washington, D.C., to ask lobbyists and other potential donors to help fund this summer's Democratic National Convention in Boston. Convention organizers said last week that the Boston 2004 host committee remained $7.5 million shy of its $39.5 million fund-raising goal. Governor Mitt Romney has balked at having the state pick up any costs associated with the convention, leaving the City of Boston on the hook for a shortfall that could approach $10 million unless more private donors are tapped. Menino and host committee executive director Julie Burns traveled to Washington yesterday, though the mayor's office and Boston 2004 officials declined to say whom they met with on the fund-raising front. Host committee officials have said previously that they would reach out to lobbyists representing corporate interests, including banks, health care companies, and utilities.