–
Boston DNC Convention 2004 –
Anatomy of an inevitable taxpayer mugging
– Page 8 –
Introduction
Citizens'
inconvenience and business
loss will be only the beginning of this partisan political
boondoggle, the Democratic National Committee's 2004 convention.
Direct costs of outright taxpayer subsidies, indirect
costs imposed by public
employee unions pressure, and implied or perhaps explicit quid pro quo
benefits to corporate large donors are just as inevitable as "cost
overruns" were to the Big Dig -- as we predicted back in the
mid-80s.
This is, after all, Massachusetts. The DNC couldn't
have picked a better sucker.
In the end, Democrat organizers will turn to the state
for an expensive taxpayer bail-out. In this state dominated by Democrats,
so many with presidential aspirations (JFK in '60, Ted Kennedy '80,
Dukakis and his disastrous "Massachusetts Miracle" in '88, Paul
Tsongas in '92, and now John Kerry in '04), inevitably it's like a Boston
Celtics slam-dunk right there in the FleetCenter's hoop. When the time
comes -- despite "the worst fiscal crisis since the Great
Depression" -- we Massachusetts
taxpayers will bankroll an 11th-hour bail-out of the Democrat's
national convention.
That's a FleetCenter event you can bet on.
Here's an historical time-line, so that later there can
be no excuses but lame excuses.
And we will be here to again announce "we told you
so"!
Chip Ford – December 11, 2002
The Massachusetts senator told the Globe: "One thing I can tell you is that on Wednesday night, the [candidate for] vice president of the United States will be nominated and give a speech, and on Thursday night I will give my speech."
Asked if it would be a nomination acceptance or merely a party address, Kerry winked and leaned back in his seat as his campaign charter jet flew from Hanscom Field to Dulles International Airport outside the nation's capital.
At the same time, two prominent campaign finance watchdogs questioned whether it would be legal for the host committee to spend $15 million in federal funds to stage the Democratic National Convention if the event does not produce Kerry's nomination.
"I think there is a very strong case here that it would be illegal," said Fred Wertheimer, who runs a campaign finance organization called Democracy 21. "They received the money to conduct a nominating convention, and a nominating convention tends to include the concept of a nominee. At a minimum, they face real legal questions."
Representative Martin T. Meehan of Lowell, a fellow Democrat and coauthor of the country's new campaign finance law, agreed that the $15 million is at risk. "The question is whether it could be made up in private contributions," the congressman said....
Kerry dismissed Republican threats to ask for equal air time on television during the week of the Democratic convention if he decides to delay his nomination....
"Once again, the Republicans don't know history, and they don't know facts," he said. "The truth is that it used to be that the convention, after nomination, traveled to the home or the state of the nominee to inform them they've been nominated. Woodrow Wilson was at his house in Princeton, N.J.; Harry Truman was in Independence," Mo., he said....
The nominations of Wilson and Truman occurred in the days before public financing of presidential campaigns and federal election rules about campaign fund-raising....
Said he would help to close any convention budget shortfall, which by some estimates already tallies $5 million.
"I've already committed to help raise money, long ago, to raise the money. There will not be a financial problem. We'll do what has to be done. You know, people need to relax and realize that every convention -- go back to Los Angeles -- they were way further behind than we are today, by far." ...
Acknowledged there are a wide range of proposals under consideration for convention week, including ... perhaps, his walking from his Beacon Hill home to the FleetCenter on the night he addresses the delegates.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Kerry justifies idea of nomination delay
But critics say legality an issue
By Glen Justice and Michael Kranish, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON -- John F. Kerry yesterday defended the idea of leaving the Democratic National Convention in July without a formal nomination as his party's presidential candidate, saying that there is ample political precedent to support it and that Republicans are complaining about the move because "someone might have a way of neutralizing their advantage."
The Massachusetts senator told the Globe: "One thing I can tell you is that on Wednesday night, the [candidate for] vice president of the United States will be nominated and give a speech, and on Thursday night I will give my speech."
Asked if it would be a nomination acceptance or merely a party address, Kerry winked and leaned back in his seat as his campaign charter jet flew from Hanscom Field to Dulles International Airport outside the nation's capital.
At the same time, two prominent campaign finance watchdogs questioned whether it would be legal for the host committee to spend $15 million in federal funds to stage the Democratic National Convention if the event does not produce Kerry's nomination.
"I think there is a very strong case here that it would be illegal," said Fred Wertheimer, who runs a campaign finance organization called Democracy 21. "They received the money to conduct a nominating convention, and a nominating convention tends to include the concept of a nominee. At a minimum, they face real legal questions."
Representative Martin T. Meehan of Lowell, a fellow Democrat and coauthor of the country's new campaign finance law, agreed that the $15 million is at risk. "The question is whether it could be made up in private contributions," the congressman said.
The Kerry campaign is considering delaying his formal nomination until around the time of the Republican National Convention, which begins Aug. 30. Both candidates in the general election are eligible for $75 million in public funding to run their campaigns. But to accept that money, they must cease any other fund-raising once nominated by the delegates at their national convention.
In Kerry's case, that would occur July 29. For President Bush, that would occur on Sept. 2. Since Kerry would have to make his cash last five weeks longer than Bush, his aides are investigating whether he could attend the convention but have delegates delay nomination until Sept. 1, so he and Bush would enter the final sprint to Election Day with equal funds.
In the interview, however, Kerry indicated he may not end up cash-poor even if he sticks with the scheduled nomination date in July. "Who said I have to spend it?" Kerry asked, referring to his $75 million allocation. "There's all kinds of variations. All I'm saying to you is we're looking at it. I have no specific comment about it at all."
The Kerry campaign is studying alternatives, including the use of a lesser-publicized option that would enable individuals to give as much as $57,500 to national and state parties for advertising that would independently boost Kerry's candidacy. While individuals are allowed to give no more than $2,000 to Kerry for the primary campaign, Wertheimer said they can give an additional $25,000 to the national party and $10,000 to state parties, with an overall two-year limit of $57,500.
Meanwhile, Kerry's staff is also trying to determing whether the national and state Democratic parties, given those limits, would be able to collect enough money to overcome the financial advantage that the Bush campaign would have otherwise.
Kerry dismissed Republican threats to ask for equal air time on television during the week of the Democratic convention if he decides to delay his nomination. Without a nomination, said Bush campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel, the Boston convention would be a political pep rally, and Bush-Cheney '04 "would certainly be interested in receiving network coverage for four days worth of Bush-Cheney '04 pep rallies."
The senator chuckled at the criticism.
"Once again, the Republicans don't know history, and they don't know facts," he said. "The truth is that it used to be that the convention, after nomination, traveled to the home or the state of the nominee to inform them they've been nominated. Woodrow Wilson was at his house in Princeton, N.J.; Harry Truman was in Independence," Mo., he said. "They're trying to make an issue out of something that they're surprised by, because ... they're very upset someone might have a way of neutralizing their advantage."
The nominations of Wilson and Truman occurred in the days before public financing of presidential campaigns and federal election rules about campaign fund-raising.
On other subjects in yesterday's interview, Kerry:
Said he was optimistic Boston would resolve ongoing contract negotiations with city labor unions, including police officers who are threatening to picket outside the FleetCenter when construction on the convention set begins June 8.
"I'm confident that smart people are involved," he said. "They're working hard at it, in good faith, and I'm confident they'll be resolved. Over 50 percent of them have already been resolved. I have every confidence that the mayor and the rest of the officials will provide the leadership that they always have in the past.... I think people are blowing this up too much."
Said he would help to close any convention budget shortfall, which by some estimates already tallies $5 million.
"I've already committed to help raise money, long ago, to raise the money. There will not be a financial problem. We'll do what has to be done. You know, people need to relax and realize that every convention -- go back to Los Angeles -- they were way further behind than we are today, by far."
Acknowledged there are a wide range of proposals under consideration for convention week, including an event at Fenway Park while the Red Sox are out of town and, perhaps, his walking from his Beacon Hill home to the FleetCenter on the night he addresses the delegates.
"There are a whole lot of ideas that have been put on the table," Kerry said. "I have not yet sat down and signed off on any final disposition with respect to the convention, and I will do that personally.... We have so many ideas on the table, so many great suggestions, that it's hard to pick through them."
John, take a deep breath. Relax for a minute. Don't worry, everyone else is going to breathe and relax at the same time, so you're not at any disadvantage. We need to have another talk.
You were doing so well for so long. Well, OK, you were doing well for a little while, then you were mediocre. But mediocre might be all it takes against this guy.
This idea of not accepting the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Boston -- genius, pure genius. I honestly don't know of anyone else who would have thought of that. You and George Bush should be given the exact same amount of money on the exact same day. When you think long and hard about it, it's only fair and right.
Now knock it off. Nobody's going to think that long and hard about it. The only thing they're going to be thinking about is this politician who's always trying to play every side of every issue, always looking for a way out. He'd be the kind of lawyer always trying to get his clients off on a technicality -- that's what they'll be saying.
Can you hear all the network anchors now? They'll be asking: When's a nominating convention not a nominating convention? Answer: When it's John Kerry's. Bostonians will be asking, if this isn't really a nominating convention, does that mean those roads aren't really closed? Does that mean I can get to my job?
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Knock it off, and accept
By Brian McGrory, Globe Columnist
John, take a deep breath. Relax for a minute. Don't worry, everyone else is going to breathe and relax at the same time, so you're not at any disadvantage. We need to have another talk.
You were doing so well for so long. Well, OK, you were doing well for a little while, then you were mediocre. But mediocre might be all it takes against this guy.
This idea of not accepting the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Boston -- genius, pure genius. I honestly don't know of anyone else who would have thought of that. You and George Bush should be given the exact same amount of money on the exact same day. When you think long and hard about it, it's only fair and right.
Now knock it off. Nobody's going to think that long and hard about it. The only thing they're going to be thinking about is this politician who's always trying to play every side of every issue, always looking for a way out. He'd be the kind of lawyer always trying to get his clients off on a technicality -- that's what they'll be saying.
Can you hear all the network anchors now? They'll be asking: When's a nominating convention not a nominating convention? Answer: When it's John Kerry's. Bostonians will be asking, if this isn't really a nominating convention, does that mean those roads aren't really closed? Does that mean I can get to my job?
Probably not, but that's beside the point. You've somehow managed to tick off half the free world -- the Democratic half. Look at Tom Menino. He heard about your plan by reading a wire service story at 3 o'clock Friday afternoon. Have a good weekend, mayor. He was running around town for the next two days grousing that he feels like a glorified "janitor."
Actually, I think he meant concierge. He's got politicos across America calling him for restaurant recommendations and hotel reservations, but neither of his home state senators bothered telling him that the nominating convention that he fought so hard to land may not actually include a nomination.
But let's look at the substance. You're afraid that you're going to be defenseless in August while Bush pummels you with ads funded by millions of dollars in private contributions. Think about that. It's August. People are on vacation. They're at the lake or the beach. They're not thinking about politics and the ads you may or may not be able to afford.
Besides, you're going to get a blitz of positive news in the inevitably warm afterglow of the convention. After that, the Olympics are on from Aug. 13 to 29. The GOP convention starts the next day. Then it's September, and everyone's even.
Let's think big, because that's how you're going to win this race. You're running against an incumbent president who has already spent $130 million, the vast bulk of that on television ads, and you're still even or ahead in the polls. Gas costs well over $2 a gallon. Iraq is more of a deadly mess with every passing day. The economy is stagnant. The world despises us. And Bush's force-fed, good-ol'-boy twang makes even those who like him, myself included, want to wring his neck.
So here's what to do. Call a press conference. Announce that yours is a campaign founded on ideas, not fat cat contributions, and that while some of your advisers have counseled you to level the playing field by stalling the nomination, you don't see any need to do it.
No, you're going to proudly accept the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in the city you love best, and then you're going to take your case directly to the people of this vast and great land. Let George Bush have his spending advantage. That's fine. You're not naive; you understand money is important. But in the end you truly believe that the presidency is more about the power of ideas and the character of the person proposing them than a few extra attack ads in the dog days of summer.
Lastly, I'd say be yourself, but I'm not sure that's the best advice. So be the guy that people believe you can become. Just make it quick, because time matters more than money right now.
We're happy to see that John Kerry is playing to win. But his latest proposed gambit -- postponing official acceptance of his party's nomination in order to maximize access to campaign cash -- smacks too much of gamesmanship to be worth the strategic gain. Kerry ought to stick to the script and accept his party's nomination at the Democratic National Convention in late July....
Boston has a special interest in whether Kerry's nomination party is fair or faux. The migraine of inconvenience residents will endure deserves some payoff. A convention about nothing is a Seinfeld episode, not the launch of a winning presidential campaign.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
A Boston Globe editorial
Too unconventional
We're happy to see that John Kerry is playing to win. But his latest proposed gambit -- postponing official acceptance of his party's nomination in order to maximize access to campaign cash -- smacks too much of gamesmanship to be worth the strategic gain. Kerry ought to stick to the script and accept his party's nomination at the Democratic National Convention in late July.
Kerry is considering a deferred acceptance to avoid a Federal Election Commission rule that would force him to switch from primary campaign fund-raising to the more restrictive general election fund-raising once he is the official nominee. Republicans, who will not nominate President Bush for reelection until early September, can continue raising and spending money for five extra weeks without having to tap the $75 million in federal matching funds provided to each campaign.
The Federal Election Commission needs to change the regulation and give each party access to the federal funds on the same day, and it should move fast enough to affect this campaign cycle. The rule gives unfair edge to the incumbent party, Democrat or Republican, which by tradition holds its convention later.
Still, the Democrats knew the field wouldn't be level when they chose their convention date. They had already received one break from the FEC when it decided not to challenge the so-called 527 committees that have rushed to fill the vacuum created by the McCain-Feingold soft money ban, raising cash that is now off-limits to the political parties. So far, the 527 groups have tended to favor Democrats.
Also, even though everyone knows that conventions have become staged events with little real drama, the nominee usually gets a lift in standing from a week of being bathed in favorable publicity. That may be worth more to Kerry than gold, and he could forfeit it if the convention is seen as an empty gesture.
Boston has a special interest in whether Kerry's nomination party is fair or faux. The migraine of inconvenience residents will endure deserves some payoff. A convention about nothing is a Seinfeld episode, not the launch of a winning presidential campaign.
‘Security
concerns’ mount
U.S. officials have obtained new intelligence deemed highly credible indicating al-Qaeda or other terrorists are in the United States and preparing to launch a major attack this summer, The Associated Press has learned....
Fox News reported counterterrorism and law enforcement officials are worried about possible attacks on "high value" targets such as the Democratic National Convention in Boston in July.
(Full report follows)
Associated Press
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
New terror alert in U.S.:
Al-Qaeda already here planning summer attack
WASHINGTON - U.S. officials have obtained new intelligence deemed highly credible indicating al-Qaeda or other terrorists are in the United States and preparing to launch a major attack this summer, The Associated Press has learned.
The intelligence does not include a time, place or method of attack but is among the most disturbing received by the government since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to a senior federal counterterrorism official who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity yesterday.
Fox News reported counterterrorism and law enforcement officials are worried about possible attacks on "high value" targets such as the Democratic National Convention in Boston in July.
Boston police last night sought to allay any fears.
"All of us in law enforcement are at a very high alert for the possibility of a terrorist attack," police spokesman Lt. Kevin Foley said. "However, to this date, to this time, we have absolutely no credible information regarding a terrorist attack here in Boston."
Of most concern, the official who spoke with the AP said, is that terrorists may use a chemical, biological or radiological weapon that could cause much more damage and casualties than a conventional bomb.
"There is clearly a steady drumbeat of information that they are going to attack and hit us hard," said the official, who described the intelligence as highly credible.
The official declined to provide any specifics about the sources of the information but said there was an unusually high level of corroboration.
Despite that, the official said there was no immediate plan to raise the nation's terrorism threat level from yellow, or elevated, to orange, or high.
Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller plan a news conference today to outline an intensive effort by law enforcement, intelligence and Homeland Security officials to detect and disrupt any potential plots.
Beginning with Saturday's dedication of the World War II Memorial in Washington, the summer presents a number of high-profile targets in the United States. They include next month's G-8 summit in Georgia that will attract top officials from some of America's closest allies, July's Democratic Convention in Boston and the Republican National Convention in August in New York.
New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly last night said city officials have not been advised terrorists are plotting an attack there.
And Foley said nothing in the latest intelligence changes any of the planning already in place for the Democratic gathering at the FleetCenter.
"I think that we have planned very well the security around the DNC," he said.
With just 60 days to go before the Democratic National Convention, the state medical examiner's draft plan to deal with a potential mass disaster is a disaster in itself, emergency preparedness experts and a former pathologist in the office said.
"I wouldn't give it an F because at least it is written down, but I would probably give it a D," said Dr. Michael W. Warren, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Florida. Warren worked with the New York state medical examiner's office to identify human remains after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks....
Dr. Stanton Kessler, the longtime chief of staff for the Massachusetts ME's office who now runs the ME's office in Chattanooga, Tenn., said only the military or specialists with the Centers for Disease Control should handle such high-risk agents, not Evans or his staff.
"He'll wind up infecting the whole city," Kessler said.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
ME disaster plans are called DOA by experts:
DNC woes loom large
By Maggie Mulvihill
With just 60 days to go before the Democratic National Convention, the state medical examiner's draft plan to deal with a potential mass disaster is a disaster in itself, emergency preparedness experts and a former pathologist in the office said.
"I wouldn't give it an F because at least it is written down, but I would probably give it a D," said Dr. Michael W. Warren, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Florida. Warren worked with the New York state medical examiner's office to identify human remains after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Between 40,000 and 50,000 visitors are expected to stream into Boston for the four-day convention beginning at the FleetCenter on July 26.
Warren is one of several experts who reviewed the 100-plus page draft plan dated Jan. 19 and prepared by acting Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Richard Evans, a copy of which was obtained by the Herald.
The plan was finalized Feb. 27 and there were no major changes to the Jan. 19 draft, said Katie Ford, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Public Safety, which oversees the ME's office.
Warren is a member of the federal government's Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team - or DMORT - groups of emergency responders such as pathologists, fingerprint specialists and forensic dentists who are immediately dispatched to a disaster.
Boston needs to be fully prepared for any type of terrorist attack or some other disaster by July, he said.
"That could be a good place for them (terrorists) to make a statement," Warren said."There are a lot of landmarks up there that could be targeted."
Evans, through a spokeswoman, has declined several requests for an interview, and Ford said a list of questions submitted by the Herald last week would take at least a week and a half to answer.
Evans' role in any mass disaster is critical since the ME's office is legally responsible for determining the manner and cause of death and for identifying bodies.
Among the many flaws experts said they saw in the plan are:
No information about where the office, known as OCME, will work from if its antiquated workspace on Albany Street is destroyed or contaminated.
No indication that needed supplies, such as chemical resistant boots, leaded gloves and full face respirators, as well as more high-tech instruments such as handheld chemical agent detectors, are on hand.
No clear explanation for how OCME staff will communicate with one another and other emergency responders during the chaos of a mass disaster.
Among the most glaring assertion in the plan is Evans' claim his staff will work with remains contaminated with biological, chemical or nuclear agents "according to procedures set forth in the OCME Policies and Procedures Manual" - which fired pathologist Dr. Abraham T. Philip said doesn't exist.
Those contaminants could range from yellow fever virus to ebola to smallpox - all highly contagious pathogens known as "BSL 3 or 4" agents, experts said.
Dr. Stanton Kessler, the longtime chief of staff for the Massachusetts ME's office who now runs the ME's office in Chattanooga, Tenn., said only the military or specialists with the Centers for Disease Control should handle such high-risk agents, not Evans or his staff.
"He'll wind up infecting the whole city," Kessler said.
As top Democrats - including Sen. Edward M. Kennedy - privately fumed over Sen. John F. Kerry's stunner that he may delay accepting the party's nomination, there are new concerns the move could downscale security efforts for the July convention in Boston.
Party officials yesterday warned that if Kerry delays accepting the nomination, it could jeopardize the Democratic convention's federal designation as a National Special Security Event.
Without that designation, the U.S. Secret Service role in directing and coordinating security for the four-day event could be diminished.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Security will drop with no nominee
By Andrew Miga
As top Democrats - including Sen. Edward M. Kennedy - privately fumed over Sen. John F. Kerry's stunner that he may delay accepting the party's nomination, there are new concerns the move could downscale security efforts for the July convention in Boston.
Party officials yesterday warned that if Kerry delays accepting the nomination, it could jeopardize the Democratic convention's federal designation as a National Special Security Event.
Without that designation, the U.S. Secret Service role in directing and coordinating security for the four-day event could be diminished.
Only four events have earned the designation this year: the upcoming G-8 economic summit, two party conventions and the State of the Union Address.
"If there's no nomination at the convention, that could make it like any other political event and Secret Service could pull back," one Democratic official warned. "That could be a problem."
Kerry is expected to decide by week's end whether to delay formally accepting his party's presidential nomination at the convention.
Kerry rankled many top party officials by failing to consult them before word leaked of his plan. Several close friends said Kennedy (D-Mass.), a prime mover in landing the convention for Boston, was peeved at the Kerry camp.
Kennedy privately mocked Kerry at a party fund-raising event this week for failing to consult him, pretending to take orders from the junior senator over the phone, sources said.
The senior senator, pretending to be on a telephone with Kerry, said, "Yes, John. Whatever you say, John," according to one eyewitness at the Massachusetts Democratic Party event.
"People are kicking the (expletive) out of Kerry over this," said one prominent Democratic lawmaker. "I can't find anybody who thinks this is a good idea."
One Democratic source said, "There's a lot of confusion internally, inside the campaign over this," and noted Kerry is still weighing alternatives such as a massive fund-raising blitz by state, local and national party groups to boost the senator's campaign.
As the political world knows by now, the presumptive Democratic nominee, John F. Kerry, might not speak those words at this year's Democratic convention in Boston. He is considering delaying his official nomination to raise more money this summer.
But to hear Democratic party officials from across the country tell it, delegates won't mind missing out on the traditional climax of the national political convention one little bit. Kerry must do whatever it takes to beat President George W. Bush, they say....
"We're all excited," said Derek Wooley, executive director of the Louisiana Democratic party. "We've known for a long time who the nominee is going to be, and the convention is a formality at this point.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Some are all ayes for a Kerry delay on an acceptance
By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff
It is the big payoff of every political convention, the moment that makes the years of backbreaking ward and precinct spadework worthwhile. The party's pick takes the stage and speaks the magic words: I accept your nomination for president. The crowd goes wild. The balloons drop. Triumphant fists pump the air.
As the political world knows by now, the presumptive Democratic nominee, John F. Kerry, might not speak those words at this year's Democratic convention in Boston. He is considering delaying his official nomination to raise more money this summer.
But to hear Democratic party officials from across the country tell it, delegates won't mind missing out on the traditional climax of the national political convention one little bit. Kerry must do whatever it takes to beat President George W. Bush, they say.
"We're all excited," said Derek Wooley, executive director of the Louisiana Democratic party. "We've known for a long time who the nominee is going to be, and the convention is a formality at this point. Democrats, especially in Louisiana, believe that if there is something we can do that's legal and ethical and all aboveboard, any help we can get to beat George Bush, then we want to do that."
Delegates will wait for their payoff this year, Wooley and others said yesterday. If Kerry needs the nomination maneuver to keep monetary things even with Bush, then so be it. They'll still show up in Boston and wave their signs and shake their noisemakers.
"I don't think it's a letdown, because we want him to win, and if that's what he needs to do to win, why, I think all of us are pragmatists about it," said Scott Sterling, chairman of the Alaska Democratic Party. "It's still worth [going], absolutely, you bet."
Indeed, some state party officials said yesterday that they admire Kerry all the more for coming up with the maneuver.
"Our delegation is just excited to have a strategic thinker as a nominee," said Jon Summers, communications director for the Nevada Democrats. "Everyone here seems to think it's a smart move ... It's going to be every bit as exciting as it was going to be before. Everyone knows this is a strategic step. Would it be nice to hear the words? Sure. But it's better to win."
Kerry had nothing to say publicly yesterday about whether he will be nominated at the convention, despite a media report saying he was within 48 hours of announcing a decision.
One top aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Kerry was discussing the issue with aides yesterday and gave no sign a decision was imminent. For example, the aide said, Kerry still had not reached out to the Federal Election Commission, seeking an advisory opinion on the legality of the move. He has received briefs from campaign lawyers expert in election financing laws.
"Generally, we know what's on the table," the aide said. "We just have to decide if we want to do it or not."
If Kerry does decide to do it, he will not face widespread rebellion. For many delegates, the Democratic National Convention will be about beating Bush, said Gordon Fischer, chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party.
"Iowa Democrats are so concerned and angry about the direction of the country, and we just want a change," Fischer said. "The only thing Iowa Democrats want is for John Kerry to win, and set a new course that will help create jobs, lift the economy, and bring us out of chaos in Iraq. And if Senator Kerry and his campaign team determine the best way to do that is to not officially accept nomination at the convention and accept it down the road, that's fine."
Not every delegation will be thrilled, however. Ron Oliver, chairman of the Democratic party of Arkansas, said Kerry would be making a mistake if he were to delay his official nomination so that he can continue to raise money.
Accepting the nomination before the delegates is a "decades-old tradition," Oliver said. Bucking that tradition will take the wind out of the convention, he said. Whatever advantage Kerry gains in fund-raising will be offset by "bad feelings and bad publicity," he said.
"I think that dampens the whole feeling. I just think it's a mistake," Oliver said. Accepting the nomination on the convention's final night "is one of the most exhilarating moments. If you love politics, that is the holy grail of American politics, that speech and the balloons coming down is the most magnificent part of the whole political process. It will feel empty if he doesn't accept."
The general mood in the Democratic leadership contrasts sharply with the view of political pundits, who question Kerry's strategy. One of them, Garrison Nelson, professor of political science at the University of Vermont, called the proposed maneuver "the tail wagging the dog." The moment when the candidate accepts the nomination is "the whole point" of the convention, he said.
"The point is to be there at the moment when you have turned your party's nomination over to the great man and he has accepted it," Nelson said. "That's what you're paying for, what you busted your buns years and years for, to get through county committees and state committees and you're finally there at the national stage. It's one of the great dramatic moments of American politics. And just to take it away because you want to have more money to spend... I hope this is just some silly trial balloon."
Glen Johnson of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.
Another
call for cancellation
A mayor long known for his way with words, Tom Menino has come up with a catchy new slogan to prepare us for the national gathering that was supposed to launch Boston as a premier convention destination: "Let's Work Around It."
"Let's Walk Around It" might be more apt, given the commuter nightmare the Democratic National Convention will occasion.
A mayor long known for his way with words, Tom Menino has come up with a catchy new slogan to prepare us for the national gathering that was supposed to launch Boston as a premier convention destination: "Let's Work Around It."
"Let's Walk Around It" might be more apt, given the commuter nightmare the Democratic National Convention will occasion.
Here's an alternative idea: Let's cut our losses....
"Given the fact that the primaries have taken all the drama out of the nomination process and the party platforms generally go unread even by the nominees themselves, why not cancel the convention?" says [Garrison Nelson, the University of Vermont's political polymath].
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Un-conventional advice
By Scot Lehigh
A mayor long known for his way with words, Tom Menino has come up with a catchy new slogan to prepare us for the national gathering that was supposed to launch Boston as a premier convention destination: "Let's Work Around It."
"Let's Walk Around It" might be more apt, given the commuter nightmare the Democratic National Convention will occasion.
Here's an alternative idea: Let's cut our losses.
We now know that the basic security plan for the Democratic confab is to quarantine Boston because Interstate 93 runs too close to the FleetCenter. It makes one wish that Menino and the Democratic National Committee had taken Governor Romney seriously back in mid-March when the former Winter Olympics chief -- who, after all, knows a thing or two about running large events in the age of terrorism -- suggested the obvious: Democrats might better assemble at the new convention center in South Boston.
Instead, Romney's idea was dismissed as so much partisan mischief-making. After all, we were told, the Democrats already had a contract with the FleetCenter. Besides, the networks simply had to have the view from the rafters that makes their convention coverage such, um, compelling TV viewing.
Now we're left with a plan to close long stretches of I-93 as well as miles of its traffic tributaries each convention day from 4 p.m. to midnight.
And all for a gathering whose nomination John Kerry doesn't want to accept in July because doing so would put him at a financial disadvantage relative to George W. Bush, who won't be similarly limited to $74.6 million in public campaign funds until after the Republican convention nominates him on Sept. 2. So the time has come to ask the obvious: Why hold an elaborate convention anyway?
Back when the nominees were decided by power brokers rather than primaries, the quadrennial party assemblages actually picked tickets. But the era when a convention does anything of importance is long gone.
Garrison Nelson, the University of Vermont's political polymath, counts the 1976 Republican convention, where Gerald Ford eked out a narrow win over Ronald Reagan, as the last party conclave that had any residual drama. One must take a time machine back to 1952 to find the last year when the nominees were truly in doubt as the national conventions began.
Robbed of any drama by the primary process, modern conventions have become dull made-for-TV events, full of silly soap opera story lines: After the rancor of the primaries, will Teddy stand, hands aloft, with Jimmy? Did Bill leave Atlanta mad at Mike because the applause prompts from the Duke's operation kept the young governor speaking for seemingly half a century? Have Pat and the cultural warriors derailed George H.W.'s attempt to seize the middle ground? Can a dour Bob Dole overcome the jargony habits of a Senate lifetime to deliver a speech with bounce beyond the Beltway?
Much as we media types try, it's all pretty tedious fare, hardly worth paralyzing the city and region, or boring the country, over.
"Given the fact that the primaries have taken all the drama out of the nomination process and the party platforms generally go unread even by the nominees themselves, why not cancel the convention?" says Nelson.
Here's a more modest proposal: Replace the extraneous four-day extravaganza with a non-traffic snarling two-day affair.
Ted Kennedy labored mightily to bring the Democrats to Boston, and in many ways this was going to be his party, so start Tuesday with an appreciation night for the man who has long anchored Democratic efforts in Congress -- and who doesn't have much more than a 70th birthday boulder in Charlestown to commemorate his efforts. If necessary to keep I-93 open, hold the senator's soiree outdoors at the Kennedy Library and the UMass-Boston campus. (But please, spare us the dopey dynasty-polishing appearances by a parade of third-generation Kennedy pinheads.) If a crowd of delegates threatens to gather at the FleetCenter, send Charles Yancey down to disperse them with a speech entitled: "Daze of Glory: My Year As Accidental President of the Boston City Council."
Then, after a day to shop and spend and a night to sample Boston's restaurants and nightlife -- and still get to bed by one -- give Kerry and his running mate center stage Thursday evening. Make it late so traffic can first flee town.
And who knows, by paring a week's worth of "we can, we must, and we shall" bloviation to a streamlined hour or two, the Democrats' coy nominee-to-be might just pique enough curiosity to make his nonacceptance speech must-see TV.
What did Tom Menino and the Democratic Party know and when did they know it?
It is nothing short of precious to go back and read the stories from Nov. 14, 2002, the morning after Boston won the Democratic National Convention, or "the political Super Bowl" as we called it then. It was an affirmation of "the New Boston," our moment on the world stage, a chance to pump $150 million into the local economy. Finding enough work space for the media near the FleetCenter qualified as a dicey issue.
Now we know. Now we know that we will have to close down much of the city because Menino, Ted Kennedy and the rest of them sold the Democratic Party on an impossible venue in this post 9/11 world, the FleetCenter, ground zero for the city's transportation network. Our best hope for avoiding complete gridlock is to scare the pants off 250,000 daily commuters and persuade half of them to stay home. Some plan.
In November 2002 Menino, Kennedy, & Co. were taking bows. Now they deserve the heat....
Menino and Kennedy had sold the party on the FleetCenter, and they had to deliver. Moving the convention to South Boston would have involved trade-offs. How daunting is building stadium seating compared to rerouting 200,000 cars a day? Maybe Dan Rather would not have his skybox. But maybe the rest of us could get to work. The message, as they say in politics, of who counts and who doesn't couldn't be clearer.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
The DNC train wreck
By Steve Bailey, Globe Columnist
What did Tom Menino and the Democratic Party know and when did they know it?
It is nothing short of precious to go back and read the stories from Nov. 14, 2002, the morning after Boston won the Democratic National Convention, or "the political Super Bowl" as we called it then. It was an affirmation of "the New Boston," our moment on the world stage, a chance to pump $150 million into the local economy. Finding enough work space for the media near the FleetCenter qualified as a dicey issue.
Now we know. Now we know that we will have to close down much of the city because Menino, Ted Kennedy and the rest of them sold the Democratic Party on an impossible venue in this post 9/11 world, the FleetCenter, ground zero for the city's transportation network. Our best hope for avoiding complete gridlock is to scare the pants off 250,000 daily commuters and persuade half of them to stay home. Some plan.
In November 2002 Menino, Kennedy, & Co. were taking bows. Now they deserve the heat.
Menino and Kennedy got it wrong on the Democratic convention for the same reason George Bush got it wrong in Iraq, and Steve Case and Gerald Levin got it wrong with their AOL-Time Warner merger. In each case, the architects of these train wrecks saw what they wanted to see. They spent too much time focusing on what could go right and not nearly enough time focusing on what could go wrong.
In Boston, we had both the warnings and the options to do something different. But Menino and the others didn't want to hear it.
Last spring -- a full year ago -- both Gloria Larson, the chairwoman of Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, and Jim Rooney, the authority's director, were telling anyone who asked that it was a sure thing the new $850 million South Boston convention center would be ready in time if the FleetCenter looked unworkable. Wrong answer. This convention, like all political conventions, is about television, and the new convention center doesn't have the stadium-style seating and the luxury boxes favored by network anchors.
By last fall, this disaster-in-the-making was becoming clear. Julie Burns, executive director of Boston 2004, told the Globe's editorial page last week the Boston police in October were already suggesting the Democrats consider abandoning the FleetCenter because of security concerns. Transportation officials say that by January it was obvious both Interstate 93 and North Station would have to be closed, assuring a commuter Armageddon. The same officials say the Secret Service was more than open to moving the show to the new convention center.
It didn't matter. Menino and Kennedy had sold the party on the FleetCenter, and they had to deliver. Moving the convention to South Boston would have involved trade-offs. How daunting is building stadium seating compared to rerouting 200,000 cars a day? Maybe Dan Rather would not have his skybox. But maybe the rest of us could get to work. The message, as they say in politics, of who counts and who doesn't couldn't be clearer.
Menino calls the carping so much Monday morning quarterbacking. "We made the right decision," he said yesterday. "I can't run. That's what mayors do. They take the hit." As well he should.
In November 2002, three days after Boston won its booby prize, Jacqueline Lapidus of Brighton authored the most prescient 100 words on the topic that have yet been written. Said Lapidus in a letter to the editor: "Just when I thought Boston might become livable in a year or two for those of us who actually reside here, Mayor Thomas Menino, in cahoots with big business, goes and sells our congested city to the Democratic National Convention. Of course, Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy don't have to take the Green Line to work or sit in bumper-to-bumper rush-hour traffic ... God help Boston because these guys certainly won't." Boy, do I wish I had written that.
Stung by criticism from key Democrats, Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday reversed course - saying he'll accept his party's nomination at Boston's Democratic National Convention after all....
Republicans had mocked Kerry for considering the possibility, saying it was one more example of Kerry living up to his image as a consummate waffler.
Top Democrats, including Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, had privately fumed that Kerry had not consulted them before word leaked of his plans. Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino had publicly expressed displeasure with the idea.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Sen. Flip-Flop does it again!:
Now Kerry will accept nomination in Hub
By Noelle Straub
Stung by criticism from key Democrats, Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday reversed course - saying he'll accept his party's nomination at Boston's Democratic National Convention after all.
Kerry had launched a trial balloon Friday, proposing to delay formal acceptance of the Democratic presidential nomination for five weeks after the Boston convention in hopes of blunting President Bush's fund-raising advantage.
"Boston is the place where America's freedom began, and it's where I want the journey to the Democratic nomination to be completed," Kerry said in a written statement. "On Thursday, July 29, with great pride, I will accept my party's nomination for president in the city of Boston."
Kerry was hoping to use the five weeks to raise and spend freely before accepting the $75 million in public funding for the general election.
Republicans had mocked Kerry for considering the possibility, saying it was one more example of Kerry living up to his image as a consummate waffler.
Top Democrats, including Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, had privately fumed that Kerry had not consulted them before word leaked of his plans. Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino had publicly expressed displeasure with the idea.
In an effort to mend fences, Kerry yesterday thanked Menino and others in the Bay State for "working hard to build a world-class stage, in a world-class city."
Menino said, "I'm pleased by the decision. Let's get on with the campaign (and) don't have any peripheral issues get in the way."
Despite the traffic nightmare facing the city during convention week, the mayor dismissed any idea of moving the convention to another location. "No, (Kerry) can't move it," Menino said. "It's too late, it's 50 days away."
Kennedy also praised the decision.
Kerry stressed he would continue to explore "every possible way" to make up the fund-raising disadvantage he will face during the extra weeks Bush can raise and spend unlimited funds.
"We believe we can close the five-week head start in other ways," Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan said.
Meehan noted that the Democratic National Committee could use up to $16 million on a coordinated campaign with the Kerry camp. He also said Kerry could use state and local parties to do additional fund-raising for advertising independent of Kerry's campaign.
John F. Kerry announced yesterday he would accept his party's presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Boston on July 29, ending a five-day flirtation with the idea of a delay that could have helped him financially but had sparked criticism from Mayor Thomas M. Menino, ridicule from Republicans, and questions among Boston-area residents facing a jam of convention-driven inconveniences....
Initially, several senior advisers said they felt that voters would not care if Kerry delayed the nomination; one aide, conveying this view, said that "only the media and the elites" would pay heed to such a strategic move. Yesterday, however, one senior adviser said that the decision-making had become "too public" and started reflecting poorly on Kerry.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Kerry rules out delaying tactic
OK's Hub nomination; may challenge FEC rule
By Glen Johnson and Patrick Healy, Globe Staff
SEATTLE -- John F. Kerry announced yesterday he would accept his party's presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Boston on July 29, ending a five-day flirtation with the idea of a delay that could have helped him financially but had sparked criticism from Mayor Thomas M. Menino, ridicule from Republicans, and questions among Boston-area residents facing a jam of convention-driven inconveniences.
The Massachusetts senator, who considered the delay to help close a fund-raising gap with President Bush, instead will seek greater grass-roots political support, assistance from state and local parties, and may request a rules change from the Federal Election Commission to help him compete in the final phase of his quest for the White House.
Kerry's decision came partly in response to widening concerns about the postponement scenario from political allies such as Menino, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe. Former president Bill Clinton spoke with McAuliffe on Sunday about the pros and cons of delaying the nomination but did not take a position during the conversation, party officials said yesterday.
Under the current law, candidates cannot spend privately raised money once they are formally nominated, after which they each get $75 million in public financing. Since Bush will not accept the Republican Party's nomination until Sept. 2, he will have to make his $75 million last only eight weeks until Election Day; Kerry will have to make his last 13 weeks, beginning on July 29.
One idea under consideration within the Kerry campaign is petitioning the FEC for permission to continue raising and spending private funds until Bush receives his federal allotment in early September, according to campaign spokesman Michael Meehan. The FEC has not indicated how it would rule on Kerry's campaign spending options. But Republicans are almost certain to oppose a rules change in the midst of a campaign.
Having the Democratic national and state parties spend on Kerry's behalf could help Kerry close the gap, but the presidential nominee would have no control over their advertising because of rules limiting formal coordination between the parties and the campaign.
Noting that his campaign has already raised over $100 million, including $2.2 million last night, Kerry encouraged Democrats to remain vigilant.
"The decision that I made today raises the bar, because there will be a five-week period when I'm living under different rules than the Republicans are, which is not sensible, but it's the way it is," he said last night at a Seattle fund-raiser, several hours after issuing a statement announcing the decision. "And we have two things going for us they don't: We have people and ideas, and we have a passion about how we're going to change our country, and I think that will overcome their Pioneers and their Eagles and their money and their special interests, and we're going to prove to them that we are on the march to the beginning of the end of the Bush administration."
Kerry added: "I made that decision because I believe it's the right thing to do. I believe it's right for us to have a good convention, to nominate and speak to the country, to have a finality of the process of nomination. But I know it puts us at a disadvantage financially, and so I'm relying on you who helped bring us to this point."
The issue of whether Kerry would be nominated at the convention was especially controversial in Boston. Business leaders and politicians -- led by Menino, who has staked his political reputation on a dynamic convention -- were troubled that all the headaches associated with the convention, particularly the nearly 40 miles of highway closings in and around Boston during the July 26-29 event, would be for naught without the pomp of a crowning nomination.
In Washington, Republicans relished the idea of Kerry stewing in all the Democratic criticism and repeatedly hammered away at the nomination issue to reinforce their caricature of Kerry as a flip-flopper -- "only John Kerry could be for a nominating convention, but be against the nomination," Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman said in a statement.
By Monday, Menino -- already furious that the Kerry camp did not contact him about the delay option before it became public Friday -- had heard enough concerns that he told Kerry "to make a decision now and get beyond this," the mayor said yesterday.
Kerry called Menino yesterday evening to say that he would accept the nomination in Boston as scheduled.
"It's great news -- it gets the cloud off the campaign and now we can get into the issues that affect the working people of America," Menino said in the interview. "This had become an irritation, and he felt, 'Let's stop this, let's get the focus back on the differences between the Republican administration and a Kerry administration.' "
Kennedy, meanwhile, had privately told friends that he opposed delaying the nomination because it might draw less media and public interest to Boston and to the Democratic Convention, which Kennedy assiduously sought for the city.
Unlike Menino, Kennedy did not make his concerns public; aides to the senator said he intended to support Kerry unconditionally in public, given that they are friends and allies and Kennedy serves as co-chair of the presumptive nominee's campaign.
"Senator Kennedy was less than thrilled with the idea, which I think took some time to sink in with the campaign," one Democratic Party operative who is close to Kennedy said, speaking on condition he not be identified.
David Smith, a spokesman for Kennedy, said the senator was unavailable for comment yesterday. He said Kennedy is "obviously pleased that this has been settled."
For Kerry, the decision about the nomination's timing quickly morphed from a legal issue to a political tinderbox. Democratic Party lawyers had given Kerry a green light to delay the nomination if he wished, reassuring his campaign that the Federal Election Commission would probably not penalize the Democrats if they held a convention without a nominee and continued to raise and spend private funds afterward.
Kerry never chose to explore the idea with the FEC by seeking an advisory opinion, instead hearing from his lawyers that "the nomination can be delayed -- it's not even a close call that this can be done," one Kerry lawyer involved with the matter said yesterday.
"As a matter of law, it simply wasn't that complicated," the Kerry lawyer said. "But there were reams of anguished phone calls going back and forth, and a sense emerged that it might not be worth the trouble of changing the convention. The concerns in Boston were significant concerns."
Initially, several senior advisers said they felt that voters would not care if Kerry delayed the nomination; one aide, conveying this view, said that "only the media and the elites" would pay heed to such a strategic move. Yesterday, however, one senior adviser said that the decision-making had become "too public" and started reflecting poorly on Kerry.
Johnson reported from Seattle, Healy from Boston.
Al-Qaeda terrorists poised for summer attacks on the United States may try to influence the presidential campaign with a deadly strike - possibly targeting the party conventions in Boston and New York - top officials warned yesterday.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Qaeda at conventions?:
AG warns militants may target DNC, RNC
By Andrew Miga
WASHINGTON - Al-Qaeda terrorists poised for summer attacks on the United States may try to influence the presidential campaign with a deadly strike - possibly targeting the party conventions in Boston and New York - top officials warned yesterday.
"Credible intelligence, from multiple sources, indicates that al-Qaeda plans to attempt an attack on the United States in the next few months," said Attorney General John Ashcroft. "This disturbing intelligence indicates al-Qaeda's specific intention to hit the United States hard."
Federal officials issued an alert and wanted posters for seven operatives linked to al-Qaeda, including a Southern California native, a woman who once lived in Boston and two Canadians.
Ashcroft cited the pre-election train bombings by al-Qaeda in Madrid in March that spurred the ouster of Spain's government and the pullback of Spanish troops from Iraq.
"Al-Qaeda may perceive that a large-scale attack in the United States this summer or fall would lead to similar consequences (in the presidential contest)," Ashcroft said.
Boston's July 26-29 Democratic National Convention and New York's Republican National Convention that begins Aug. 30 loom as prime terror targets that carry huge symbolic value, officials warned.
FBI Director Robert Mueller said "extraordinary precautions" are being taken in Boston and New York.
"We have every expectation they will be free from terrorist attacks," Mueller said.
But some backers of presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry [related, bio] (D-Mass.) cried foul, saying the timing of the latest threat was intended to buoy President Bush's slumping popularity and divert attention from the bad news in Iraq.
Police and firefighter union officials supporting Kerry's presidential campaign expressed suspicion about why such a vague threat was issued now. International Brotherhood of Police Officers President David Holway accused Bush of playing politics with the latest intelligence.
"The timing on this is very suspect," Holway said in a conference call with reporters arranged by Kerry's campaign.
But the White House flatly denied the allegations.
"The president believes it's very important to share information appropriately," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
But U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Somerville) said the latest warning was far too vague to be helpful.
"It strikes me when I hear these warnings that it's (cover your expletive)," Capuano told the Herald. "Average Americans get hardened to these generic warnings all the time."
Capuano also complained that security measures for the Democratic National Convention seem extreme. He said the Secret Service should explain precisely why they need stringent traffic and transportation security measures in Boston that far surpass what is being done in New York.
"As a layman it seems they went beyond what is necessary," Capuano said. "They owe the public an explanation as to what they're doing and why. To draw a 10-mile radius around Boston and shut it down makes people like me wonder."
Other potential high-profile targets: This weekend's opening of the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C., June's Group of Eight economic summit in Georgia and July Fourth celebrations nationwide.
Asked why the government was not raising the terror level in response to the latest threats, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told NBC: "There's not a consensus within the administration that we need to raise the threat level." Ridge did not appear at the press conference with Mueller and Ashcroft.
Are terrorists here already? Are they ready to strike?
Attorney General John Ashcroft said yesterday that there is "credible intelligence from multiple sources" that al-Qaeda is determined to launch an attack in the United States in the coming months.
As a city hosting one of those high-risk events, we must ask ourselves are we prepared?
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Thursday, May 27, 2004
A Boston Herald editorial
Planning for the worst
Are terrorists here already? Are they ready to strike?
Attorney General John Ashcroft said yesterday that there is "credible intelligence from multiple sources" that al-Qaeda is determined to launch an attack in the United States in the coming months.
As a city hosting one of those high-risk events, we must ask ourselves are we prepared?
A disturbing Herald report yesterday suggests the answer is no. An outside expert review of the state medical examiner's office readiness plan in the event of a "dirty bomb attack" gave it a solid "D" grade.
That's a disgrace and there's no gentlemen's "C" when it comes to emergency response, either.
Bostonians are learning plenty about the upcoming traffic nightmare caused by the Democratic National Convention, but little about what to do, where to go or how to get there in the event of a nightmarish dirty bomb attack. Or what would happen in the event of a chemical or biological weapons attack. How about a suicide bombing?
Meanwhile, Boston police play cat and mouse with Mayor Menino on settling their contract by July 26. Is the force, which wasn't ready for post-Super Bowl rioting, prepared to evacuate the FleetCenter and any number of city neighborhoods imperiled by dispersed radiation?
No one's saying.
An entire government bureaucracy has been created whose sole function is to not only imagine the worst, but to plan for it.
What's the plan for Boston?
Mayor Thomas M. Menino said, "Our city is prepared. If any information comes in, we'll deal with it."
However, state officials are concerned about shoring up security on rail lines and subways, according to Katie Ford, a spokeswoman for state Public Safety Secretary Edward Flynn. In addition, the state wants to enlist the public in reporting suspicious activity.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Feds claim Hub has no terror cells:
Menino: We're prepared
By J.M. Lawrence, David Weber and Jack Meyers
Federal officials yesterday maintained there are no al-Qaeda cells in the Boston area, but joined state and city agencies in pledging to be prepared for any threat.
"There is no evidence there are sleeper cells," FBI Special Agent in Charge Kenneth J. Kaiser said.
The FBI has questioned "people of interest" since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but none of their activities merited the federal definition of a terror cell. Among those questioned was former MIT student Aafia Siddiqui, who fled Boston in 2002 after agents began investigating her ties to 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shalkh Mohammed.
The bureau since has labeled Siddiqui an al-Qaeda operative wanted for questioning.
"Intelligence is our best defense," said Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan. "The more information we have, the better position we'll be in to identify something long before it becomes a crisis or catastrophe."
The Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council, composed of law enforcement and public health officials, was briefed Monday about the latest terrorist threat, Sullivan added.
Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly rejected any suggestion that the White House could be overblowing the threat.
"(FBI Director) Bob Mueller is the real deal," he said. "When he takes it seriously, I take it seriously."
Reilly said the state is prepared but admitted no amount of preparation can guarantee there will never be another attack.
"This is a free country. This is a democracy. There's no way you can protect everything," Reilly said.
Boston police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole said she is confident law enforcement is prepared for the Democratic National Convention and any attack that might involve biological threats.
"I'm not at all concerned," she said yesterday, adding that Boston police have ordered "a good deal of equipment" to handle bioterrorism that will be delivered before the DNC.
Carlo Boccia, head of Mayor Thomas Menino's Office of Homeland Security, said, "The intelligence people are always out there, the police are always on guard ... There is no specific threat here."
Mayor Thomas M. Menino said, "Our city is prepared. If any information comes in, we'll deal with it."
However, state officials are concerned about shoring up security on rail lines and subways, according to Katie Ford, a spokeswoman for state Public Safety Secretary Edward Flynn. In addition, the state wants to enlist the public in reporting suspicious activity.
"The war on terror is not something people can watch on television. They need to be involved and notify local law enforcement and FBI of unusual activity," Ford said.
Having endured days of bad publicity for one of the most hideously dumb political ideas to come down the pike, Sen. John Kerry now gives it a big "nevermind."
The problem with his delayed nomination trial balloon was that in addition to making himself a national laughingstock, Kerry also failed to endear himself to the two men most responsible for bringing the Democratic National Convention to his hometown - Mayor Tom Menino and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy....
Ah, yes, another decisive moment from a man who is increasingly behaving like New England weather. You know, if you don't like it, just wait a minute, it'll change.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Friday, May 28, 2004
A Boston Herald editorial
. . . whoops, nevermind
Having endured days of bad publicity for one of the most hideously dumb political ideas to come down the pike, Sen. John Kerry now gives it a big "nevermind."
The problem with his delayed nomination trial balloon was that in addition to making himself a national laughingstock, Kerry also failed to endear himself to the two men most responsible for bringing the Democratic National Convention to his hometown - Mayor Tom Menino and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
Neither Menino nor Kennedy was apparently brought into the loop before members of the Kerry team launched this entirely loopy idea. Menino was openly critical of it; Kennedy reportedly fumed in private. And pundits like David Broder hashing it out on Sunday's "Meet the Press" roundtable quickly labeled it simply dumb.
So by Wednesday Kerry finally put this lame idea out of its misery.
"Boston is the place where America's freedom began, and it's where I want the journey to the Democratic nomination to be completed," Kerry said in a written statement. He later told CBS4 in an interview, "We had a number of different ways to delay it if I'd chosen to, but I just felt it was the wrong decision... Boston is where I think the journey to the nomination ought to end."
Ah, yes, another decisive moment from a man who is increasingly behaving like New England weather. You know, if you don't like it, just wait a minute, it'll change.
I recently saw a movie called "28 Days Later," in which a major city has been largely deserted by its inhabitants. Although most have fled, the few remaining have barricaded themselves in their apartments against marauding bands of crazed victims of a strange virus. Major highways have been blocked by ruthless security forces.
Citizens of our fair city look to be playing bit parts in a depressingly similar drama this summer when Boston plays host to the Democratic National Convention in July. What seemed to be a wonderful chance to show off the city to the world is now looking like a world-class headache in the making.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Friday, May 28, 2004
Hub's DNC melodrama churns on
By H.D.S. Greenway
I recently saw a movie called "28 Days Later," in which a major city has been largely deserted by its inhabitants. Although most have fled, the few remaining have barricaded themselves in their apartments against marauding bands of crazed victims of a strange virus. Major highways have been blocked by ruthless security forces.
Citizens of our fair city look to be playing bit parts in a depressingly similar drama this summer when Boston plays host to the Democratic National Convention in July. What seemed to be a wonderful chance to show off the city to the world is now looking like a world-class headache in the making.
With security forces planning to close off some 40 miles of main roads into and out of the city during the four-day event and with North Station and some subways closed to commuters because of proximity to the convention site, the prospect for chaos and collateral damage to businesses looks formidable.
As for the natives, Mayor Thomas Menino's advice that Bostonians either take their vacations during convention week or "telecommute" sounded a bit like Marie Antoinette's advice to the French.
However, many are taking his advice and making plans to flee the city. "People are going to avoid us like a bad case of the bubonic plague," a store manager named Jeremy Shugar told The Boston Globe. People in the tourist industry are bracing for the worst as potential visitors make other plans. Travel agents and airlines are concentrating on accommodating those who are planning to escape.
This leaves the prospect of a city abandoned to demented victims of a mysterious virus called politics as delegates and groupies flood in to fill the vacuum. The few citizens left in town who are not infected by the virus have the option of barricading themselves into their apartments. "Go to the supermarket, stock up on milk and bread or beer or whatever you usually buy, and stay off the roads," a Stoneham policeman advised.
Even before Attorney General John Ashcroft's dramatic announcement that Al Qaeda might choose the convention site for a possible attack, the economic predictions of what the city might gain from the four days in July had sunk from a surplus of $154 million to a deficit that might hit $50 million.
Just when all of the above was beginning to sink in, Mayor Menino and the city fathers had to deal with the launch of John Kerry's ill-fated trial balloon. The idea that the Democratic nominee would not accept his party's nomination at the convention in order to fiddle with federal election funding rules was preposterous from the start. Party stalwarts quickly let Kerry know that his balloon was sucking the oxygen out of their big moment.
Republicans had a field day. "Only John Kerry could be for a nominating convention but against the nomination," chortled Ken Mehlman, George Bush's campaign manager. "Too clever by half," was the description even friendly commentators were using. By the time Kerry finally agreed to accept the nominiation in July after all, it seemed just another flip after a dismal flop.
Republicans are already painting Massachusetts in the colors of hyperliberalism, and the fact that the state is the first in the country to allow homosexual marriages will play its role in the election.
Some wondered at the wisdom of a Democratic convention in Boston in the first place. Will a convention in the liberal Northeast give the Democrats the political bounce it needs? Wouldn't a swing state like Ohio have been a better bet?
Kerry begs to differ. "The story of America began here," he told reporters, "and the future is going to be built here during those days of the convention." Among the pictures the candidate wants people to carry in their heads is "John Adams riding that horse down to Philadelphia in the dead of winter to help write the Constitution at risk of life." The convention will take place in a warm month, but the horse idea might be one way to beat the traffic and blocked highways.
Menino, in one of the greatest understatements of his time in office, called Kerry's trial balloon "an irritation" and said the cloud over the campaign had now been lifted. Menino worked hard to bring the convention to his city, which one of its founders, John Winthrop, nearly 400 years ago predicted would be "a city on a hill," a beacon unto others. "The eyes of all people are on us," Winthrop said. With all the problems involved with urban life in the age of terrorism and with all that is real in this historic city, what a relief not to have to put on a faux convention.
Eighteen months ago, when Boston was picked as the site of the 2004 Democratic convention, it was compared to landing the Super Bowl. These days the four-day gathering in late July is looking more and more like a demolition derby of Democrats....
When Boston was first picked for the DNC, Kerry's fellow Bay State Democrats touted the convention as a $150 million bonanza for the region. Now, the best guesstimates are that when the delegates finally pull out on July 30, Massachusetts will be at least $50 million in the red.
And road closings threaten to create a week-long nightmare.
(Full report follows)
The New York Post
Friday, May 28, 2004
Beantown lockdown
By Howie Carr
Eighteen months ago, when Boston was picked as the site of the 2004 Democratic convention, it was compared to landing the Super Bowl. These days the four-day gathering in late July is looking more and more like a demolition derby of Democrats.
At least the unfolding fiasco is providing a sneak preview of how a Kerry administration might handle major logistical problems. And Sen. Kerry's performance as a leader has been underwhelming, to say the least.
When Boston was first picked for the DNC, Kerry's fellow Bay State Democrats touted the convention as a $150 million bonanza for the region. Now, the best guesstimates are that when the delegates finally pull out on July 30, Massachusetts will be at least $50 million in the red.
And road closings threaten to create a week-long nightmare.
For years, the liberal warhorses of the state's all-Democratic Congressional delegation have thundered about how the average American worker was "one missed paycheck away" from homelessness. Now Rep. Michael Capuano blithely advises his constituents here to simply take the entire week off.
Kerry himself is facing the impending chaos with his usual aplomb. The would-be leader of the Free World said this week he was "surprised" that his hometown would face monumental gridlock.
Kerry now wants a "study" to see if the planned road-closings can be scaled back. He is "urging" the state to provide free subway and bus service - a proposal that was ruled out months ago.
Boston Mayor Thomas "Mumbles" Menino is reported to be reacting "coolly" to Kerry's latest use of the Sgt. Schultz ("I know nothing") defense. When angered in the past, the tongued-tied mayor has said, "That really fries my nose." This time, apparently, his nose is deep-fried.
The biggest problem: The convention's at Fleet Center, and Fleet is right next to North Station - the transportation hub of the Hub. It includes a commuter-rail station and a subway stop, both of which will be closed.
Worse, the city's major north-south thoroughfare, I-93, runs underground right next to the Fleet Center - and the Secret Service demands it be shut down for hours each day, including the entire afternoon commute, and not just in the affected area, but for miles in either direction. Bridges and tunnels will also be blocked.
Particularly infuriating commuters is that the convention didn't have to be held at the Fleet Center. The (Republican) governor, Mitt Romney, offered the state's brand-new convention center, in a much less congested area. But that facility lacks the skyboxes favored by network anchors.
So, to give Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw a better backdrop, the city of Boston will pretty much shut down for five days.
Local talk-radio has been flooded with irate calls.
One listener scoffed at the mayor's suggestion that workers telecommute: "My wife's a nurse... How does she 'telecommute?'"
Cancer patients wonder whether they could miss a week of treatments. Expectant parents ask how, or if, they'd be able to get into the world-class maternity wards of the city's hospitals. Would the airport be accessible? Baseball fans want to know if they'll be able to get to Fenway Park for the Yankees-Red Sox series that week.
Some callers have even asked a most undiplomatic question: Why would terrorists want to disrupt the party of Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi?
"I'm an EMT," said one caller from the South Shore. "We take three or four people a day up to the emergency rooms in Boston. Where are they going to go that week when the roads are all closed? And if they die, who are they going to sue?"
It won't be a problem for John Kerry. In a worst-case scenario, he could actually walk down Beacon Hill from his $12-million mansion to the Fleet Center. It would take no more than 10 minutes; on his $7,000 Serotta bicycle, less than five minutes.
"Smart people are working on this," says Kerry. "I'm confident we'll be able to get somewhere."
Easy for him to say - he relies on the Secret Service for transportation.
How badly could this hurt Kerry's chances in the fall? He'll still carry Massachusetts - but many of the affected commuters live in New Hampshire. George Bush won the Granite State by only 7,000 votes four years ago.
As the DNC nears, Mayor Menino for once speaks, not just for Boston, but for the whole region: This really fries our nose.
Howie Carr is a columnist for the Boston Herald and a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host.
The boss of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority shot down a trial balloon by the Bay State's all-Democratic congressional delegation for a four-day freebie for T riders during July's Democratic convention....
"Such a request fails to appreciate the significant financial strain the DNC is placing on the area's public transit agency. Our (convention-related) expenses are at $5 million and mounting with each new security initiative," Mulhern said.
However, Mulhern's prompt veto might not be the last word....
He told The Associated Press that making the downtown portion of the subway system free would result in an additional $1 million a day in losses.
In a statement, Kennedy did not acknowledge that Mulhern's refusal was the end of the proposal....
Passafaro, Menino's one-time chief of staff who heads Boston 2004, the host committee raising money privately to pay for the shindig, was supportive - as long as the state or federal government picked up the tab.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Saturday, May 29, 2004
T to Ted: No freebies:
Transit shuns Dems' push for DNC gesture
By Jack Meyers
The boss of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority shot down a trial balloon by the Bay State's all-Democratic congressional delegation for a four-day freebie for T riders during July's Democratic convention.
A letter sent by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and all 10 congressmen to MBTA General Manager Michael Mulhern and to David Passafaro, the mayor's point man raising money for the political powwow, asked them to make the subways free in much of downtown Boston during the July 26-29 festivities.
Mulhern responded immediately and emphatically: No.
"Such a request fails to appreciate the significant financial strain the DNC is placing on the area's public transit agency. Our (convention-related) expenses are at $5 million and mounting with each new security initiative," Mulhern said.
However, Mulhern's prompt veto might not be the last word.
Officials close to Mayor Thomas M. Menino are working with Bay State congressmen to pry some more "security" money from the federal government, funds which could be used to cover the T's four-day experiment with fare-free subway service.
Given the broad road-clogging detours being implemented on regional highways by the Secret Service and local police, thousands of additional people will be taking the T because it will be much more convenient than driving during the convention.
"Whether or not to pay the modest fare requested is not going to be an influencing factor in people's choices. The fact is that people will choose public transit because it will be the best option," Mulhern said in a statement. He told The Associated Press that making the downtown portion of the subway system free would result in an additional $1 million a day in losses.
In a statement, Kennedy did not acknowledge that Mulhern's refusal was the end of the proposal.
"The T is doing a great job working to plan operations during the convention. The delegation just thinks that this is an idea that is worth exploring," the senator said.
Passafaro, Menino's one-time chief of staff who heads Boston 2004, the host committee raising money privately to pay for the shindig, was supportive - as long as the state or federal government picked up the tab.
"We think it's an interesting idea that deserves full consideration by the MBTA," Boston 2004 spokeswoman Karen Grant said. "We would like to see efforts" to make it easier to get around during the convention.
However, when asked if the committee would help defray the costs of operating a fare-free subway, Grant would not comment.
A spokesman for Menino did not return a phone call.
The Republican National Convention may provide a $184 million boost to New York, in contrast to a $34 million hit the Hub's economy is expected to sustain by hosting the Democrats' nominating convention, a conservative think tank estimated yesterday.
While down from the $260 million New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg estimated the RNC event would generate, the Beacon Hill Institute estimate puts the expected cost of the Democratic National Convention in stark relief.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Saturday, May 29, 2004
Hub may lose as NYC reaps Repub jackpot
By Scott Van Voorhis
The Republican National Convention may provide a $184 million boost to New York, in contrast to a $34 million hit the Hub's economy is expected to sustain by hosting the Democrats' nominating convention, a conservative think tank estimated yesterday.
While down from the $260 million New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg estimated the RNC event would generate, the Beacon Hill Institute estimate puts the expected cost of the Democratic National Convention in stark relief.
Based at Suffolk University, the institute found the key difference in the two events is the security clampdown planned for the DNC in July, which involves the shutdown of a major parts of the Greater Boston transportation system. New York is not expected to face similar shutdowns, imposed by the U.S. Secret Service.
But the RNC security plan hasn't been made public.
Seth Gitell, Mayor Thomas M. Menino's press secretary, questioned the institute's findings given New York's still-unknown official RNC security plans.
Corporations, special interests, and labor unions are planning lavish parties during the Democratic National Convention in Boston, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars each and gaining direct access to major Democratic Party figures.
The list of contributors ranges from longtime Democratic supporters like the AFL-CIO to emerging Massachusetts industries like biotech firms. Despite new campaign finance regulations, donors continue to face few restrictions about how much they can contribute to the parties, receptions, and concerts that take place during the political conventions....
Steven Weiss, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based government watchdog group, said the heavy presence of corporate and other special-interest dollars at the convention events shows that "the conventions are now a marketplace of influence-peddling."
(Full report follows)
The Boston Globe
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Dollars to flow for access at convention
By Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff
Corporations, special interests, and labor unions are planning lavish parties during the Democratic National Convention in Boston, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars each and gaining direct access to major Democratic Party figures.
The list of contributors ranges from longtime Democratic supporters like the AFL-CIO to emerging Massachusetts industries like biotech firms. Despite new campaign finance regulations, donors continue to face few restrictions about how much they can contribute to the parties, receptions, and concerts that take place during the political conventions.
One of the more sought-after tickets is for a Symphony Hall gala honoring Senator Edward M. Kennedy. It is financed by more than a half-dozen corporations and national labor unions, which are donating $100,000 apiece. The donors, including Raytheon Corp., Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Affiliated Unions of the AFL-CIO, and the International Brotherhood of Carpenters, often have interests before Kennedy and his colleagues on Capitol Hill.
Other events include a concert on the final night of the convention whose host is Time Warner; a luncheon for US Senator Hillary Clinton and other New York lawmakers hosted by insurance giant AIG; and a golf tournament fund-raiser organized by US Representative William D. Delahunt, which is expected to attract several union presidents and more than 20 members of Congress.
Steven Weiss, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based government watchdog group, said the heavy presence of corporate and other special-interest dollars at the convention events shows that "the conventions are now a marketplace of influence-peddling."
"Donors clearly see conventions as a way to try to enhance their relationships with lawmakers," Weiss said. "These same donors face restrictions in what they can contribute to candidates and parties for election activity, but the conventions are an open door to send large amounts of money to something that means a lot to elected and party officials. It's clearly a loophole on [the] limits on what these same organizations can contribute. The donors have obviously become quite adept at maneuvering through this loophole."
As they have at every modern party convention, the gatherings represent an ideal setting for company executives and their lobbyists to glad-hand with Washington powerbrokers. The Republican convention taking place in New York City five weeks later is no different -- and maybe even more lavish, given that the GOP controls Congress and the White House. As in Boston, Washington's Republican lawmakers and Bush administration officials will be eating brunches, attending cocktail parties, luncheons, and dinners and listening to concerts with the leaders and lobbyists from industries that they oversee and regulate.
At the Boston convention, the events sponsored by corporations and other groups fall into one of several general categories: there are parties and receptions, often held to honor a specific lawmaker, such as Senator Kennedy, or to entertain the delegates and others who are coming here. And there are political fund-raisers, held by committees or candidates who are taking advantage of the confluence of donors and politicians who gather at the conventions.
In the political category, Emily's List, a group that raises campaign money for female andidates who support abortion rights, expects to collect $500,000 in donations at a convention week luncheon featuring Senator Clinton and Governor Jennifer Granholm of Michigan.
Among other parties, The Boston Globe has agreed to spend $500,000 for a party on July 24, the Saturday before the convention begins, for the 15,000 members of the media who will cover the political event, said Alfred S. Larkin Jr., senior vice president, general administration and external affairs.
Other parties are part of a long tradition. Senator John Breaux of Louisiana, who has thrown parties at several previous conventions, is expected to host an event at New England Aquarium that organizers say may include a performance by reggae singer Ziggy Marley.
The politicians who are honored at the parties or who otherwise mingle with the interest groups at the various galas deny that the sponsorships influence them.
In a written statement to the Globe, Kennedy dismissed as "ridiculous" the notion that business and labor interests were trying to buy influence with him by helping to finance the Symphony Hall gala honoring his long legislative career.
"I'm proud to serve the people of Massachusetts, and I make no apology for going to bat for them when it serves our state," the senator said.
"A few Massachusetts firms and allies in the labor movement have been kind enough to help underwrite the event. I'm grateful for their generosity, and it's ridiculous to suggest there's any quid pro quo," Kennedy said.
The donations for the Kennedy Symphony gala will go to a group called The Massachusetts Tribute Corp., according to an invitation obtained by the Globe. Each $100,000 sponsor gets 25 tickets and a promise for their guests to have "a private post event reception with Senator Kennedy, recognition in all related printed materials, on-site recognition during the event, and invitations to other events hosted" by the sponsoring committee.
One donor, Raytheon Corp., one of the nation's leading defense contractors, has benefited from Kennedy's help in winning multibillion-dollar deals with the Defense Department. Raytheon's current $1.3 billion contract to build a communications system called DDX for surface warships is facing calls for cutbacks in the US House.
James Fetig, a Raytheon spokesman, bristled at the notion that the company's lavish donations both to Kennedy's symphony soiree and the $1 million it has given to the convention itself raised questions.
"If there were [questions], we wouldn't do it," Fetig said. "There are no issues whatsoever. This is an opportunity for Raytheon to support the Boston community and the arts. Raytheon, we've been in Massachusetts for 83 years, we are proud to be one of the few corporations still based in Massachusetts, and we are pleased to be helping out the committee."
Two other $100,000 donors are Citizens Financial Services and Bank of America, two national banks with deep interest in federal banking regulations and with strong Boston ties. Bank of America has a particularly aggressive agenda on Capitol Hill to relax the rules for takeovers. After its recent $48 billion takeover of FleetBoston Financial Corp., the bank is challenging a regulation that, for now, would prohibit it from undertaking additional mergers.
Shirley Norton, a Bank of America spokeswoman, said the bank is honoring a commitment made by Fleet before the April 1 takeover. "It's billed as an event to promote Massachusetts, and I am sure that's why a leading company in that area would believe it appropriate to be a participant," she said.
Another $100,000 donor, the New York-based pharmaceutical firm Bristol-Myers Squibb, has a particularly keen interest in Kennedy's position on the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. As the committee's ranking member, Kennedy has been the Democratic congressional leader in the battle over drug pricing and health-care costs.
Other Massachusetts corporate leaders are taking advantage of having movers and shakers from Capitol Hill and around the country descend on Boston for a week of partying.
Local biotech giant Genzyme Corp., for example, will hold a private reception for the New England delegates at the firm's new headquarters on the evening of July 26, spokesman Bo Piela said. An official with the state Democratic Party said Genzyme's chief executives will meet privately with the Democratic congressmen and governors who attend the reception.
"It's a nice way to showcase our new facility and who Genzyme is," Piela said.
Executives of virtually every firm with interests in the pharmaceutical industry, including Genzyme, have been upset with Kennedy and several other Democrats for proposing the legalization of importing drugs from cheaper markets, such as Canada.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization, or BIO, the industry's premier trade group, will host an evening cocktail party for Kennedy and US Representative Michael E. Capuano at the Museum of Science on July 28. In addition, BIO will hold a private policy lunch at Genzyme's Cambridge offices for members of Congress and their staffs, said Michael Werner, BIO's policy chief.
"It's an opportunity at an appropriate venue to introduce people to the industry," Werner said. "We can't compete with these blowout parties with the Allman Brothers, and we don't try. We think there's enough attraction for people to find out about what we do."
Some events taking place on the periphery of the convention will be far less showy. For instance, the New York State Democratic Party has tapped New York City-based insurance giant AIG to sponsor an invitation-only lunch at the posh downtown restaurant Locke-Ober on July 28.
AIG spokesman Andrew Silver declined to comment, but Chung Seto, representing the New York State Democratic Party, said the event will be hosted by US Representative Charles B. Rangel a New Yorker who is the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, and will include Senators Clinton and Charles E. Schumer.
"It's a small, intimate lunch hosted by the dean of our delegation, and we asked AIG to help us," Seto said. "It's a service event to thank our service trustees. We have trustees of the party who support us throughout the year."
Most of the large events are not so much about company executives hunkering down over a meal with congressmen but about raising money.
One of the more notable parties in that category will take place at the Park Plaza on July 25, when the Irish American Democrats and the Italian American Democratic Leadership Council, both of which are political action committees, honor Kennedy and other lawmakers.
To get into the party, where politicos will rub shoulders with pop icons Bono and Stephen Stills and comic Al Franken, unions and corporations must cough up $25,000, sponsors are asked to chip in $10,000, and individual tickets go for $150.
Stella O'Leary of the Irish American Democrats said proceeds will go to "the PACs and to promote the candidates in the fall.... We, as they say in the ethnic community, have issues."
Sasha Talcott and Yvonne Abraham of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.
Perhaps the one good thing about the uproar over the Democratic National Convention is that it points up the myriad flaws in today's presidential election process....
Citizens for Limited Taxation said it best. The taxpayer watchdog group declared, "There is no rational excuse to shut down a city for a four-day multi-block
party... We already know who the Democratic nominee will be; let the DNC have a big news conference, announce its vice presidential nominee, and get on with the campaign."
If the Democratic National Committee would "admit the mistake" and cancel the convention, as CLT suggested, then Boston would be spared the traffic nightmare and business bust expected for that hot week at the end of July.
As CLT said, "If Democratic convention delegates can vote by Internet or proxy later after Sen. John Kerry declines to accept the nomination in July for whatever reasons, then they can vote by Internet or proxy now instead of crippling Greater Boston. Which is more important to Democrats?"
CLT -- the people who brought you Proposition 2˝ -- was having some fun with the Democratic Party, but they also had a point.
(Full report follows)
The Attleboro Sun-Chronicle
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Conventions obsolete
By Ned Bristol
Perhaps the one good thing about the uproar over the Democratic National Convention is that it points up the myriad flaws in today's presidential election process.
First we have the archaic electoral college system -- which has both candidates writing off all but about 20 states. Then we have people questioning why the Democratic Party was even holding a convention if John Kerry was going to keep the nomination in his pocket until he maximized his campaign spending.
Citizens for Limited Taxation said it best. The taxpayer watchdog group declared, "There is no rational excuse to shut down a city for a four-day multi-block
party... We already know who the Democratic nominee will be; let the DNC have a big news conference, announce its vice presidential nominee, and get on with the campaign."
If the Democratic National Committee would "admit the mistake" and cancel the convention, as CLT suggested, then Boston would be spared the traffic nightmare and business bust expected for that hot week at the end of July.
As CLT said, "If Democratic convention delegates can vote by Internet or proxy later after Sen. John Kerry declines to accept the nomination in July for whatever reasons, then they can vote by Internet or proxy now instead of crippling Greater Boston. Which is more important to Democrats?"
CLT -- the people who brought you Proposition 2˝ -- was having some fun with the Democratic Party, but they also had a point. The Democratic and Republican conventions have very little reason for being today, and if they're going to be a terrorist magnet, then maybe it's time to do away with them.
Kerry's effort to have his campaign finance cake and eat it too -- by trying to postpone his nomination while still holding the convention -- also serves to point up how meaningless the convention is, and long has been.
Time was when the party's nominee was actually selected at the convention, but those are times you have to read about in the history books. With the modern primary system, of course, the nomination is wrapped up months before the conventions and the "votes" of delegates are just a showpiece.
The conventions hang on because they still get massive TV coverage -- and you'll soon be treated to stories about the grumbling of network anchors about not having anything meaningful to report. The networks won't pull the plug, however, because they get most of the campaign finance money.
That money, incidentally, is your money, but that's another story.
Not only are the conventions superfluous today, they aren't even necessary to generate publicity or the predictable "bounce" in the polls that the candidates so prize.
Today's political media managers have plenty of tools to exact whatever advantage they can get from the candidate, his wife, his children, his dog, even his pronouncements on the issue of the day.
The only meaningful news made at the convention is the selection of the candidate's running mate. This is a selection made by the candidate, not the delegates.
John Kerry could disclose his choice before the convention -- or after it, for that matter -- but won't. It will still come the Wednesday of convention week, because that's the one thin excuse for the convention at all. Kerry's nomination, which he has now decided to accept, will come Thursday night and will be anticlimactic. (He'll probably give a good speech, though.)
Unfortunately -- especially for people who live or work in Boston -- the convention will have to go forward.
Too bad John Kerry couldn't just hold a press conference to announce his running mate, as CLT suggested, and take a vacation for the month of August. The real campaign doesn't begin until after Labor Day anyway.
Ned Bristol is editor of The Sun Chronicle.
"Nothing Conventional About It" is the axiom on the Web homepage for the Boston 2004 host committee. This slogan touts the convention, the city of Boston and "it." The phrase sends a subliminal unconventional message that, so far, is the keynote of the Democratic Convention. And "Let's Work Around It" is the motto pitched exclusively to Boston residents and businesses, exhorting them to deal with "it."
The slogans only add to the confusion....
With highways closed, parking banned and general conveyances held in abeyance in downtown Boston, you might wonder if "Let's Work Around It" means working extra hard not to be around from July 23 to July 30.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Monday, May 31, 2004
Slogans only add to convention confusion
By Monica Collins
The sloganeers should go back to the phrase bubbler. The marketing adages swirling around the Democratic National Convention resonate with defeatism and oddity.
"Nothing Conventional About It" is the axiom on the Web homepage for the Boston 2004 host committee. This slogan touts the convention, the city of Boston and "it." The phrase sends a subliminal unconventional message that, so far, is the keynote of the Democratic Convention. And "Let's Work Around It" is the motto pitched exclusively to Boston residents and businesses, exhorting them to deal with "it."
The slogans only add to the confusion.
"It's a mess," says one North End business owner who fears the last week of July will be nutty. "To me, it seems like they're going to close us in."
The business owner dutifully got a bunch of advisory fliers from the Boston 2004 Committee and has handed them out to customers. With a forward by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, the pamphlets describe the changes to come.
Peter Gori, outreach coordinator for Boston 2004, was not available to talk about reaction to his "Let's Work Around It" canvassing last week. His name is on the handout soliciting questions from residents and business owners. A staffer who works with Gori claimed to have gotten good feedback.
"Personally, I've received positive response," says Wes Eberle, communication coordinator of Boston 2004, which is based in the Back Bay.
"The 'Let's Work Around It' campaign is simply to convey proper information to make necessary decisions and appropriate plans to get in, out and around the city during the convention," says Karen Grant, spokesperson for Boston 2004.
With highways closed, parking banned and general conveyances held in abeyance in downtown Boston, you might wonder if "Let's Work Around It" means working extra hard not to be around from July 23 to July 30.
But there are different levels of "Let's Work Around It" preparedness. Inside the area called the "Bulfinch Triangle," which might as well be called the DNC's Bermuda Triangle (the neighborhoods closest to the FleetCenter), the "Let's Work Around It" advisories are particularly ominous.
For example, in the brochure distributed last week, the first bullet point is nothing short of bizarre:
"Residents of the West End, Charles River Park, the North End, Charlestown, Beacon Hill and all downtown neighborhoods will have full and open access to their homes for the duration of the DNC week."
"Let's Work Around It" indeed.
"The flier you're looking at is for residents and businesses in the Bulfinch Triangle area," says Grant. "A lot of residents had questions about whether or not they would even be able to get to their homes. That area is very near the FleetCenter and has a different set of issues, so, yes, they are going to be allowed to get to their homes."
Second bullet point: "The Boston Police Department (BPD) strongly suggests that no residents in the DNC area plan to move in or out of an apartment, home or condominium between Friday, July 23, and Friday, July 30."
"It doesn't say they can't move," explains Grant. "It's simply a suggestion." Nudge, nudge - Boston Police, Secret Service and Homeland Security would be very grateful if folks took the hint.
The flier further advises that early mail and package pickup and delivery will be "coordinated and expedited." Garbage collection in the "DNC area" will be before noon each day. Also, the "BPD, Boston Fire Department and EMS plan to have pre-staged emergency equipment throughout the city to ensure quick and inimpeded responses."
Final bullet point: "911 Emergency phone service and response will work normally throughout the city and during the entire DNC week."
There's still the matter of whether boats will be allowed in the harbor.
"They won't be allowed near Lovejoy Wharf (at the Charles River locks near the FleetCenter)," says Grant. "But the Coast Guard is handling the rest of the harbor."
The Coast Guard did not return calls.
Whatever the Coast Guard says, we'll just have to work - or paddle - around it.
Like terrorist alerts, the "Let's Work Around It" campaign prepares Boston residents for the start of something big - or the fizzle of something that may prove quite manageable.
And the flier has gotten everybody's attention, which is what it was designed to do.
The North End business owner wonders whether he'll have to sleep outside in late July - pitch his tent under the statue of Paul Revere in the Prado. He says it with a smile, which is the right attitude. There is no other way to handle the uncertainty.
A waterfront resident who had planned her daughter's baby shower for Saturday, July 24, is rescheduling the event. What else can she do but work around it and prepare for the unconventional?
Unprecedented security measures planned for the hundreds of convention-related parties this July will spread traffic woes and disruptions beyond the FleetCenter to locales across Boston, according to security experts and hospitality professionals.
"There is a pretty dramatic impact on the rest of the city that hasn't been focused on," said Larry Curran, investigative counsel for Pinkerton, a division of Securitas, the largest private security firm in the world.
Boosted screening measures at office buildings, roving motorcades of dignitaries getting Secret Service protection, and the sheer number of events will combine to make it challenging for people going about their daily lives during the four-day Democratic nominating powwow, Curran said.
"From a traffic point of view, I think it's going to be worse than people expect," he said.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, June 1, 2003
DNC security could unleash citywide angst
By Jack Meyers
Unprecedented security measures planned for the hundreds of convention-related parties this July will spread traffic woes and disruptions beyond the FleetCenter to locales across Boston, according to security experts and hospitality professionals.
"There is a pretty dramatic impact on the rest of the city that hasn't been focused on," said Larry Curran, investigative counsel for Pinkerton, a division of Securitas, the largest private security firm in the world.
Boosted screening measures at office buildings, roving motorcades of dignitaries getting Secret Service protection, and the sheer number of events will combine to make it challenging for people going about their daily lives during the four-day Democratic nominating powwow, Curran said.
"From a traffic point of view, I think it's going to be worse than people expect," he said.
Boston Police Lt. Kevin Foley, a department spokesman on convention matters, said police have considered how the heightened security will affect residents.
"That's been a big concern all along," Foley said. "For obvious reasons, we do not want to give out our security plan."
Foley predicted that convention delegates, the media andattendees will bear the brunt of it, including delays at checkpoints and screenings.
"For people who are not associated with the event, I would say for the most part there won't be much" impact, he said.
Curran, though, is not so upbeat. He said his firm has been hired by dozens of organizations, property owners and executives to handle their security. For reasons of client confidentiality, he could not name the firms or events Securitas will be guarding but he said people are bound to be affected.
"For example, a number of office buildings will choose to heighten the screening of access to their facilities," causing an inconvenience to all visitors, Curran said. Even relatively low-key parties without VIPs will get special treatment.
"Events which might in years gone by have had virtually no security function might have eight to 10 security people now," he said.
Security planners will take other measures, such as issuing new identifiable uniforms or clothing to caterers and others working at hotels or hospitality parties. That is one way to prevent impostors from gaining access to convention sites, he said. Another is to simply shut down some of a venue's entrances, making it easier to screen visitors, he said.
Democratic convention organizers raised another $2.8 million last month, including four cash donations from building trade unions that contributed despite the city's ongoing battles with its municipal unions.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, June 2, 2004
Unions give as DNC rakes in $2.8M in May
By Jack Meyers
Democratic convention organizers raised another $2.8 million last month, including four cash donations from building trade unions that contributed despite the city's ongoing battles with its municipal unions.
May's contributions leave Boston 2004 Inc., the city's host committee, with about $1.7 million to raise to fulfill its financial contract with the Democratic National Committee for this July's four-day Democratic convention at the FleetCenter.
The New England Carpenters donated between $100,000 and $250,000 while three other pipefitters, plumbers and roofers locals gave under $50,000 each.
While the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association is planning to picket construction at the FleetCenter when it begins Tuesday, building trades union honchos, including Joseph Nigro, are siding with Mayor Thomas M. Menino instead of the municipal unions.
Yesterday, convention organizers also unveiled a Web log, or "blog," on the event's Web site and will be providing media credentials to bloggers in addition to the 15,000 print and broadcast journalists attending the convention.
Meanwhile, a coalition of anti-abortion groups has agreed to drop its lawsuit over the permitting process for protesters at the convention after the city agreed to simplify the process and allow for more spontaneous demonstrations.
The Christian Defense Coalition said yesterday it has reached a settlement with city officials that gives protest groups more leeway about when they can apply for demonstration permits.
Even as Bostonians are attempting to brace themselves for the inconvenience being visited on them by the Democratic National Convention, Democratic politicians are attempting to add a financial insult to those obvious injuries.
Sen. Ted Kennedy and the state's 10-member congressional delegation sent a letter to the mayor's chief convention planner asking that downtown subway service be made free during the convention week....
But, as we all know, "free" isn't. Someone pays the tab and it's grossly unfair for the already hard-pressed taxpayers of this state to be asked to do that. If the Democratic National Committee thinks it's a nifty idea to provide free MBTA subway service and the cost is estimated at $1 million, let them write the check - as a goodwill gesture to their delegates and to this host city.
(Full report follows)
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, June 2, 2004
A Boston Herald editorial
No free ride for Dems
Even as Bostonians are attempting to brace themselves for the inconvenience being visited on them by the Democratic National Convention, Democratic politicians are attempting to add a financial insult to those obvious injuries.
Sen. Ted Kennedy and the state's 10-member congressional delegation sent a letter to the mayor's chief convention planner asking that downtown subway service be made free during the convention week.
Nevermind that the MBTA will taxed virtually to the breaking point to shuttle regular commuters around areas closed down to accomodate security needs around North Station. Our duly elected represenatives weren't begging for free rides for inconvenienced constituents. No, their request extended only to downtown subway service - a request MBTA General Manager Michael Mulhern pegged at about $1 million. That's on top of an estimated $5 million in additional expenses the T can chaulk up to the convention.
Now it's not that free subway service during the convention isn't a terrific idea. It is. Not having to fiddle with tokens and passes allows the system to accomodate more people more efficiently. Free service also encourages people not to clog the roads.
But, as we all know, "free" isn't. Someone pays the tab and it's grossly unfair for the already hard-pressed taxpayers of this state to be asked to do that. If the Democratic National Committee thinks it's a nifty idea to provide free MBTA subway service and the cost is estimated at $1 million, let them write the check - as a goodwill gesture to their delegates and to this host city.
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