Parties Are Big Business at New York Convention

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 - From a party for hundreds at the Temple of Dendur in the Metropolitan Museum of Art to intimate apartment gatherings high above Fifth Avenue overlooking Central Park, the Republican National Convention in New York next week will be a more lavish, and certainly more expensive, affair than the Democratic bash in Boston last month.

At Cartier, guests can shop while they mingle and munch with lawmakers. There will be dinners at Per Se and Daniel. Conventiongoers will cruise New York Harbor at midnight and gather on the flight deck of the U.S.S. Intrepid, a retired aircraft carrier docked in the Hudson River at 46th Street. And official Washington will, of course, be treated to some of the most elaborate events, sponsored by companies such as General Motors, Boeing, American Express and scores of others.
...
Indeed, it will be big business. Hundreds of companies, trade associations and other lobbying groups are not about to miss the chance to entertain top members of the party in power, taking advantage of campaign finance and ethics rules that allow almost unlimited spending at conventions and the social events that surround them. The result is that the Republican convention is expected to be a far larger opportunity for special interests than its Democratic counterpart, from the hundreds of parties thrown for powerful office holders to solicitations from the advocacy groups known as 527 committees, which will use the gathering to raise money.
...
PepsiCo Inc. is sponsoring a party for Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, at the Temple of Dendur, built about 15 B.C., where guests can sip cocktails and gaze at the Egyptian work of sandstone. General Motors will be the host of an event for Representative J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, the House speaker, on Sunday at Tavern on the Green.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/28/politics/campaign/28money.html?hp

[whirlygigspin]

1. nouveau chique

Please remember to invite some homeless people to the parties, they just love the buffets.