This morning's NYTimes carries a story (Link to NY Times June 7 story)about the DNC soliciting contributions for the convention from large corporations. In return, according to the article, the "sponsor packages" will include "private sessions with federal officeholders." I'm disappointed that the DNC has not chosen to follow the path that has been so successful so far: reaching out to small donors. I understand that the convention costs lots of money and there's not much time, but small donors have proven their mettle in this campaign so far. Let's ask the DNC to limit the amount any corporation can contribute to the convention fund and give us small guys a chance.
I'm a sole-proprietor and I give money to the DNC and candidates of my choice. I wrote one of the first checks to the Dean campaign, and have steadily contributed to the Obama campaign because they rejected the special-interest money that has compromised the electoral process and the ability to govern for the common good. I applauded Obama's move to reject special interest money for his presidential bid. But I am concerned and disappointed that we learn less than 24 hours later that corporations will be asked to fund our convention in Denver. Will they hang a corporate logo off the podium? Will the DNC sell naming rights? Will this nomination speech be brought to you by Depends? More insidiously, will the face time back stage undercut the independence we need to turn this country around?
Big ticket corporate donors — at the presidential level ($1 million), the platinum level ($500,000) and gold ($250,000) — are promised invitations to private events sponsored by Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. of Colorado and Ken Salazar, the Democratic senator from the state, according to the literature.
Companies that have already donated to the Denver committee and whose logos appear on the committee’s Web site include the Lockheed Martin Corporation, the Ford Motor Company, Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Merck, Lilly, Allstate, Travelers, Lehman Brothers, A.T.& T., Visa, Target and Western Union. http://www.nytimes.com/...
The question is: why hasn't the DNC made an appeal to small business owners to help? According to the Times article, donations for the conventions are tax-deductible as business expenses, unlike all the other political contributions we make. Those donations as business expenses are a dollar-for-dollar reduction of the amount a corporation pays taxes on. So, in essence, we're paying for their contributions anyway; this is, of course, in addition to the federal funds and the Homeland Security dollars going to the conventions as well.
I'm not naive; I understand that putting on these conventions costs money, lots of money, but it's little leaks that burst big dams. We have a chance to change the culture of Democratic politics and asking corporations to fund our party's convention is not the way to start.