Kerry team helps boost funding for convention
Senator John F. Kerry's fund-raising team has helped open the spigot of private donations to the Democratic National Convention, bringing local event organizers within $1.7 million of fulfilling their cash commitment with 55 days to go.
In the past month, Boston 2004, the convention host committee, has brought in an additional $2.8 million in cash, as it works to raise a total of $39.5 million for the event. The lucrative month follows an extended period in which the pace was sluggish; April brought in just $650,000 in new cash commitments, and the year between November 2002 and November 2003 netted only $3 million in cash donations.
David A. Passafaro, the host committee's president, declined to say which donors Kerry had helped to land, and Kerry has not made fund-raising pitches for the convention personally. But Passafaro said Kerry fund-raisers have made many calls in the last few weeks to nudge large companies and individuals into giving to the convention.
"We are getting help, and the help's been great," Passafaro said. "As the days go by, we're doing more and more all the time.
"It is very good news" to be so close to the fund-raising goal, he said.
Fulfilling their commitment would eliminate a nagging headache for Mayor Thomas M. Menino and the convention host committee he leads. Under the terms of the host committee's contract with the Democratic National Convention, city taxpayers must cover the shortfall if the host committee brings in less than $39.5 million in private donations. The federal government is providing $25 million for security costs, bringing the total convention budget to $64.5 million.
Cost overruns beyond the $64.5 million budget would fall to the Democratic National Committee or the Kerry campaign to cover. Security costs have threatened to exceed $25 million, and construction could also surpass initial projections, depending on how elaborate an event Kerry wants to have in Boston. Kerry representatives are now finalizing their convention budget, in collaboration with convention and host committee officials.
According to the Kerry campaign, three top Kerry money men have lent their efforts to the convention of late: Lou Sussman, the campaign's national finance diretor; Bob Farmer, Kerry's national campaign treasurer; and Jack Corrigan, Kerry's top liaison to the convention.
"It's important for us to have a great convention in Boston, so Senator Kerry put three of his best people on it," said Michael Meehan, a spokesman for the Kerry campaign.
Many of the largest recent donors, including several that the Kerry team persuaded to contribute, have asked that their names not be disclosed until after the convention, host committee officials said. That is legal because Boston 2004 is officially a nonpartisan, not-for-profit entity, with looser public-reporting requirements than a political campaign.
Of new donors that are included as publicly identified convention sponsors, several are labor unions that are expecting to put their members to work in convention preparations. Menino has aggressively sought to extract donations from private-sector building and trade unions, even as he has struggled to settle contracts with public-sector unions that work for the city of Boston.
According to the host committee's official website, New England's regional carpenters' union has given more than $100,000 to Boston 2004, and local affiliates of the plumbers, roofers, and pipefitters unions have given less than $50,000 each. The host committee is hoping to close much of the rest of its fund-raising gap through private-sector unions and expects public-sector unions to give, as Menino's talks with those unions lead to more settlements.
Menino said that with Kerry's help, the fund-raising he and Senator Edward M. Kennedy have worked on for nearly two years will help the host committee fulfill its obligations without any trouble.
"As you get closer, people are ready to give," the mayor said. "They can see the actuality of the convention happening, and they're stepping forward."
Construction at the FleetCenter is slated to start next Tuesday, but convention planners have yet to sign a project labor agreement with the unions that will be involved in the build-out of the arena. That agreement will include a no-strike guarantee, but public-sector unions have held up the signing of that document because so many city unions are still without contracts.
Passafaro said he is hoping to finalize the agreement this week. The no-strike guarantee will take on greater importance because the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association is planning to set up a picket line outside the construction site, and will ask construction workers not to cross it.
Peggy Wilhide, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Convention Committee, said she is not concerned about the possibility of union protests delaying construction. The FleetCenter has to be transformed in less than seven weeks' time, so it can be ready during the convention July 26 to 29.
Rick Klein can be reached at rklein@globe.com. 