Hosting a national political convention isn’t cheap. The price: Raising $60 million (on top of up to $63 million from the federal government) to help underwrite the affair. That task is charged to the Minneapolis–St. Paul Host Committee for the 2008 Republican Convention, a nonpartisan group of more than 100 Minnesota political and business leaders.
Host Committee President Cynthia Lesher, serving full time on paid leave from her job as CEO of Xcel Energy’s Northern States Power subsidiary, explains that convention expenses fall into five major categories: liability insurance; the build-out at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center (constructing the main stage, plus meeting spaces and other facilities); transportation (mainly buses) to get 45,000 attendees and media representatives from downtown St. Paul to hotels throughout the metro area; and telecommunications services for both delegates and media.
The final major category is administrative expenses—the host committee’s own staffing, accounting and other services, hospitality events, and office space rental.
With Douglas Leatherdale, former CEO of the St. Paul Companies, heading up fundraising efforts, Lesher says the host committee expects to raise half of its money in Minnesota and half elsewhere. Governor Tim Pawlenty, a host committee member, reportedly asked each of Minnesota’s 20 Fortune 500 companies to pony up at least $1 million apiece. A Washington, D.C. fundraising firm, 3 Dog Consulting Limited, has been hired to work on the national scene.
The Associated Press obtained documents last June showing that four early contributors had pledged roughly $9 million combined: Xcel Energy, Supervalu, Wells Fargo, and Qwest Communications. Part of Xcel’s contribution is Lesher’s salary. Much of Qwest’s is in the form of services.
The host committee won’t say what’s been pledged or by whom, though that information becomes public by law after the convention. For now, Lesher says only that the effort is on pace.
