New York City has put together a sweeping list of more than 70 people — ranging from Napster founder Sean Parker to Goldman Sachs Chairman Lloyd Blankfein to designer Diane von Furstenberg to union leaders — committed to raising the money to host the Democratic National Convention in Brooklyn in 2016.
A source said the city will announce $100 million in host-committee commitments to entice the Democratic National Committee to pick the borough.
The list of who’s sitting on the host committee was obtained by POLITICO as members of the DNC headed to New York City for a site visit Monday and Tuesday. Members of the committee will meet with DNC site selection officials at a dinner Monday.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is pushing to host the convention in his home borough. There are a range of choices facing the DNC in terms of host cities, but several Democratic insiders have told POLITICO that Brooklyn and Philadelphia are viewed as the front-runners.
Of the members of the host committee, one of the most surprising names is Parker — who has made moves to become a political force this cycle and who has ties to de Blasio senior adviser Peter Ragone.
There are entertainment industry figures, like actress Cynthia Nixon, hiphop producer Russell Simmons and HBO chief Richard Plepler. There are donors with long ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton, like Alan Patricof and Ron Perelman, but also those now known primarily from the Barack Obama orbit, like financiers Robert Wolf, Mark Gallogly, Blair Effron and public-relations executive Michael Kempner.
There are other Wall Street titans, like JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon and American Express’s Kenneth Chenault, real estate leaders like Douglas Durst and Marc Holliday, and business figures like Partnership for New York City president Kathy Wylde.
There are union leaders like Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union President Stuart Appelbaum and 32BJ SEIU President Hector Figueroa. There are communications executives like Verizon senior vice president Leecia Eve and AT&T executive Marissa Shorenstein.
The goal of the list is to demonstrate a broad cross-section of people committed to the event, as well as an ability to fully fund a convention, an enormously expensive undertaking no matter where it’s held. But in a major city like New York City, the costs can rise.
In 2004, when the city played host to the Republican National Convention, the host committee raised $84 million.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misidentified Ragone’s title and the full name of the Partnership for New York City.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/new-york-city-democratic-national-convention-brooklyn-109899.html#ixzz3Jk0hHh00
