Think back to October. That was when word leaked that Bank of American had given the DNC $32m. in what could only be called very generous loans. Will Charlotte’s convention deal toss another $10m. on the pile?
Recall that the original convention bid from Charlotte included a taxpayer backstop in the form of a pledge to use the city’s hospitality taxes to make up any shortfall in the $30 to $40 million the host committee must raise for the party. But it seems that the DNC’s insistence on a corporate contribution ban helped to chase that provision out of the contract. With the corporate ban in place the taxpayer backstop would have moved front and center.
In place of the taxpayer guarantee the final contract between the DNC and the city has a letter of credit backstop. The host committee is directed to obtain a $10m. letter of credit which the DNC can draw upon should fund-raising fall short. The host committee would then be responsible for retiring any debt incurred. The lender has not yet been named (the contract allowed for seven days to line up the loan) but three guesses as to who it might turn out to be.
Meanwhile, union labor.
For some reason local folks refuse to believe that convention work is going to be tightly controlled by the DNC and affiliated unions. I keep telling folks that out-of-state labor is going to get a ton of the work. The rest will likely go to politically wired, minority-owned firms locally.
Let’s just wait and see who is right.
