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DNC in Charlotte to Feature Million-dollar tickets, luxury suites, concierge services for the 1 Percent.
The organizers of the upcoming Democratic National Convention are doing everything possible to get around the same financial restrictions they once promoted in a concerted effort to make sure that Americas wealthiest individuals, corporations, and lobbyists contribute their fair share to the convention.
Host committee spokeswoman Suzi Emmerling, formerly of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, insisted that convention leaders were not attempting to sidestep the fundraising restrictions. Democratic National Convention Committee CEO Steve Kerrigan, she said, had simply been educating Beltway types about the new rules.
Democrats are billing the upcoming Democratic National Committees annual convention as a Peoples Convention, funded by the people. At President Obamas request, the host committee in Charlottewhich must raise $36.6 million to pay for the conventionhas promised to refuse donations from corporations, lobbyists or other special interest groups, including unions. Individual contributions are limited to $100,000.
But living up to these ambitious self-imposed rules is proving more difficult than party leaders expected. Local sources say the DNC is approaching wealthy Bank of America executives in an effort to unload some of its premier convention packages. A number of these executives have been shocked at the audacity of the proposition, given the administrations attacks on not only the bank but also on wealthy Americans in general. President Obama and his Democratic colleagues have repeatedly charged that wealthy Americans are not paying their fair share to the federal government in the form of taxes.
Steve Kerrigan, the committee CEO, recently convened a meeting with lobbyists and other Beltway power brokers at the Jefferson Hotel in Washington D.C. Democratic sources told Bloomberg that Kerrigan, a former national political director for Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), touted an expensive array of convention packages that were aimed at attracting ultra-wealthy donors.
One of the options is the $1 million Presidential level, which includes a premier uptown hotel room and concierge services, as well as the $500,000 Gold Rush package.
Read More:
The ‘People’s’ Convention? | Washington Free Beacon