The price of a good time at political conventions: $500,000?

[May 29, 2008]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Want a skybox perch to see John McCain speak at the Republican National Convention, passes to hot GOP parties that week, pampering from the concierge and private wheels to tool around town?

Want a chance to mingle with celebrities like Warren Beatty and Al Franken at the Democratic National Convention, and maybe even get face time with Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton?

It's yours, for a price.

Committees raising money for California delegations to the national conventions are asking wealthy donors to make six-figure donations in exchange for VIP-level treatment and seats to witness history. The top-price ticket package: $500,000, to be a "presidential host" at the GOP convention in St. Paul in September.

"We would be honored to have you and your clients participate," a fundraising pitch from the California Democratic Party says. It offers a "convention chair" position for $250,000 that includes dozens of tickets to convention parties and coveted floor passes to see speeches in person.

Sponsoring a breakfast or reception ($30,000 or $50,000, respectively) for the California Democratic delegation at the August convention provides an opportunity "to maximize the impact of your organization" and "reach out to the convention participants, elected officials and media alike."

Even for a quadrennial event known for attracting free-spending corporations and lobbyists, the price is eye-catching, particularly coming from state delegations rather than the fundraising groups that finance the national conventions.

Candidates are under strict fundraising rules in campaigns, but national political conventions present a virtual open door for giving. In 2004, for example, the Raytheon Co., Fidelity Investments and IBM each gave at least $1 million to the host committee for the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

The money raised by state-level delegations bankrolls such items as transportation, catering, and paychecks for an army of staffers to attend to delegates' needs, officials say.

Government watchdogs have long bemoaned the corporate spending on national political conventions, where executives and lobbyists can get access to elected officials at several days of ritzy events. Those relationships, critics say, can lead to influence over policy and legislation.

"It's very rare where you have somebody making a $500,000 donation who doesn't want something in return," said Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles and former general counsel of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. "Anybody who does contribute at the $500,000 level will be feeling it's an investment."

In addition to donations raised by national host committees and state committees, the Democratic and Republican parties each get about $17 million for convention expenses from the federal fund that finances campaigns through voluntary $3 checkoffs by individual taxpayers.

The GOP's California Delegation Host Committee is tax-exempt, and there is no limit on donations to it or its spending. A solicitation letter from the committee chairman, venture capitalist and McCain fundraiser J. Gary Shansby, seeks donations from $50,000 to $500,000.

Each level of giving has its own array of convention perks and privileges. "Presidential host" donors, who give or raise the maximum, get private transportation at the convention, sky box access at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, hotel rooms, a private dinner with "special guest" at Shansby's California estate, "priority ticketing" at events and a promotional listing on the delegation's Web site.

At the low end, the $50,000 "chairman's club" doesn't even come with hotel rooms.

For a pledge of $400,000, California Democrats tell donors they can join a "trustee program" that promises access to events attended in previous years by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Rodham Clinton and celebrities like Beatty, according to an invitation. They get stacks of tickets for convention events, and advertising opportunities for their company.

A GOP host committee spokesman, Hector Barajas, said the California delegation could include as many as 1,000 people. The cost of ground transportation, food, drinks and entertainment, staff, a media office and other activities could hit $1.75 million for the four-day convention, according to one party estimate.

"You try to put forward a first-rate program and activities, and we need to make sure we provide for the various needs of our delegation," Barajas said.

Democratic Party spokesman Bob Mulholland said the donations cover expenses not shouldered by the national convention.

To finance convention activities four years ago, federal records show, the California Republican delegation got $129,000 from the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians; $50,000 each from the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, health-care products maker Allergan Inc., and public relations giant Fleishman-Hillard Inc.; $25,000 from ChevronTexaco Corp., and $20,000 from the Gap Inc.

[Associated Press; By MICHAEL R. BLOOD]

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.