The city's cash-strapped Democratic National Convention host committee was staring at more than $1 million in bills due this week--and not nearly enough money to pay them.
But at the last minute, billionaire investor Ron Burkle agreed Tuesday to make good on a long-standing, $1-million pledge, and the convention-related bills--including $869,000 for production services--were paid on time, said sources familiar with the transaction.
Another flurry of bills requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments is due Friday, but convention organizers insist that those, too, will be paid without delay.
"We have paid every bill on time and we will continue to pay every bill on time," said Rod O'Connor, chief operating officer for the Democratic National Convention Committee.
Nonetheless, the latest scramble for funds highlighted the sometimes tense relationship between the city's nonpartisan host committee, which raises money for the convention, and the national committee, which spends it.
"Neither side quite knows if the other side isn't telling them something," one inside observer explained.
The host committee is made up of influential and wealthy city leaders, while the convention committee is an arm of the Democratic National Committee, with staffers loyal to Vice President Al Gore and the party.
Adding to the tension is the small amount of public money available to the Los Angeles convention, committee members say. At roughly $7 million, the amount is less than a third of what Philadelphia's Republican National Convention has gotten, and $2 million of the Los Angeles money won't be available until after the Aug. 17 close of the convention.
Some of the recent anxiety was created in part by Burkle's delay in making good on his pledge. By Tuesday, the convention cohost and investor, who made his fortune in the grocery business, had fulfilled the pledge.
"This has not been a process [in which] we've been comfortable about money at any point," said one organizer who asked not to be identified. "We've had to raise money in the face of a lot of obstacles."
But neither the tension nor the financial shuffling will hurt the convention, members of both committees insisted. Construction and related contracts are on schedule and the event will start Aug. 14 as planned.
