Hard lessons from DNC host cities

The sentiment is surely flattering. Steve Kerrigan, convention planner for the Democratic National Committee, sat coolly before an expectant crowd Tuesday at Central Piedmont Community College and said: "The story of Charlotte is the story we want to tell at this convention."

Flanked by Mayor Anthony Foxx, former Mayor Harvey Gantt, and Dan Murrey, executive director of the Charlotte in 2012 host committee, Kerrigan gushed over the Queen City's remarkable gift for reinvention and resilience and predicted that, during these rough economic times, the world will be inspired by our city's fortitude.

That's not hard to imagine. What's tougher is Kerrigan's prediction of a windfall between $200 and $300 million based on the previous two DNC conventions - Boston in 2004 and Denver in 2008. "The short and long-term benefit of hosting a convention is staggering," he told a standing-room only crowd, many of which were small business owners.

In Denver and Boston, there are some valuable lessons to be learned about sorting hype and hubris from reality. After Beantown's convention, for example, Suffolk University's Beacon Hill Institute released a study called "The Economic Impact of the Democratic National Convention
on the Boston Economy: The Final Tally".

Alas, the report characterized the much-ballyhooed event as having marginal economic impact on the city. While Mayor Thomas Menino predicted that the convention would rake in $154 million, the actual yield was substantially less, the study said.

Among the reasons: normal workday productivity was halted due to road closures, other revenue generating non-DNC events were canceled, and spending among delegates and non-delegates in Boston's restaurants and shops was less than projected as attendees gathered instead at corporate parties and receptions.

In fact, many local businesses wound up saddled with "extra inventory and empty seats and cash registers." In the end, the BHI survey of one hundred local businesses concluded that only 11% reported an expected increase in patronage.

Similarly, while Denver officials calculated that the DNC generated an regional economic benefit of $266 million in direct and indirect spending, and $133.5 million in direct spending in Denver, those estimates didn't fully account for lost or displaced business due to the convention, some business leaders have argued.

Harvey Gantt said it best when he warned the crowd: "Everybody might be excited. But we've got to manage the expectations, too. Some folks will be fortunate enough to get it (a DNC-induced payday), but some of you won't."

DNC's Donkey to Charlotte: "Time to Pony Up!"

It's taken a while, but city leaders are finally running out of superlatives to express their joy and pride in hosting a national political convention. The new obsession: money, or more specifically raising the $36 million the Democratic National Committee will need to pull off the September 2012 event.

Speaking at a breakfast gathering Wednesday morning at the Levine Museum of the New South, Mayor Anthony Foxx and Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers, who is spearheading the fund-raising efforts for the convention, traded a few memories of the long, nail-biting journey traveled to bring the convention to Charlotte - and civic and economic boost we'll get from it.

When it's all over, Foxx said, "it will be a transformational event", "...the world will know this is not just Anywhere, U.S.A." Chimed Rogers: "It will elevate us on a national and international stage. People will be saying, `We want to move to Charlotte.'"

Meanwhile, though, Foxx and Rogers also conceded that hitting the DNC's $36 million target will be quite a challenge. The reason: new rules that prohibit corporate cash and individual contributions over $100,000.

"It's not going to be easy," Rogers said. "There was a time when I could have just called 50 CEOs."

The $36.6 million to be raised by DNC host committee would, among other things, cover the millions in expenses for upfitting Time Warner Cable Arena, as well as other production costs and transportation for an expected 30,000 delegates and media members.

While Democratic leaders have said the measures put in place to ensure "a people's convention," the changes (a model that was, Foxx said, successfully deployed during President Obama's inauguration) represent a dramatic departure from the way other party conventions have been financed.

In 2008, for example, some companies gave $1 million or more to help Democrats and Republicans stage conventions in Denver and St. Paul.

"That was wholesale," Rogers quipped, "and now it's retail." He added: "Imagine trying to get 360 people to write a check for a $100,000."

To cushion against slower-than-normal fund-raising and potential cash flow problems, Fifth Third Bank has extended the host committee a $10 million line of credit.

Rogers said he expects many contributions will come from individual and organizations outside of Charlotte, and has begun meeting with wealthy party donors.