L.A. Tightens Grasp on 2000 Convention

After months of negotiating, the Democratic National Committee was on the verge Wednesday of awarding Los Angeles its 2000 presidential nominating convention, according to participants on both sides of the talks.

“We are highly optimistic,” said Eli Broad, the billionaire businessman and nationally known Democratic fund-raiser who is helping to lead the convention campaign. “The stars are in alignment. We expect to get it.”

Broad’s assessment was echoed by Democratic leaders in Washington and by the mayor of Boston, which has been one of Los Angeles’ two rivals for the convention.

“They’re negotiating with Los Angeles. They haven’t officially said to me that ‘you’re out of the picture’ as of yet. [But] it seems like a pretty done deal,” Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said Wednesday afternoon amid reports that his city has been dropped from the running. An aide to Menino said Andrew Cuomo, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, called the Boston mayor Tuesday to tell him the national committee had made Los Angeles an offer.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, a strong supporter of the convention bid, said late Wednesday that he had received a phone call from the White House informing him that the city is now the top contender to host the convention. Riordan called it “a step forward,” but noted that details remained unresolved. He said it was “premature to celebrate.”

In Washington, a senior Democratic Party source predicted that an announcement could be made soon that Los Angeles and the Democratic National Committee had reached a tentative agreement on the convention arrangements. Any such agreement still would require consideration by the Los Angeles City Council, so no deal can be final until after that review is complete.

Moreover, the negotiations are continuing, and last-minute deal-breakers are not out of the question.

According to one source familiar with the bargaining, “L.A. does have a draft contract,” and the Democratic National Committee is awaiting the city’s response. Differences have been narrowed but some remain; one source close to the talks said the two parties are “several million” dollars apart. Still, that source predicted that the gap would be closed within a week or two, perhaps sooner.

“They are close,” another source said. But, this person cautioned, “there may still be negotiations back and forth. It could take two days or two weeks. There still could be snags.”

Officially, Democratic Party officials hedged their remarks.

A spokeswoman for the national committee acknowledged that the party has “intensified discussions with Los Angeles recently.” But “nothing has been finalized,” said press secretary Melissa Bonney Ratcliff, adding that a formal announcement is not expected until early March.

Broad agreed that there still was a chance of the deal going awry and declined to predict how long the negotiations would continue.

“Twenty-four hours, 72 hours, I don’t know,” he said. “There are always nits and gnats in a negotiation, but we’re close.”

A spokesman for DreamWorks SKG executive David Geffen, who is a co-chairman of the convention effort, echoed Broad’s optimism. “I believe we are certainly down to the endgame in terms of the bid,” said the spokesman, Andy Spahn. “There are a few remaining issues to be discussed, but we feel very confident.”

One California Democrat, close to the parties involved in negotiations, suggested that a few fine points are all that remain to be sewn up. “The [Democratic National Committee] is still trying to negotiate all the details with L.A., so they’re saying it’s open-ended,” he said. “But basically the White House has made it pretty clear it’s coming to Los Angeles.”

Backers of the convention effort say it will generate up to $140 million for the local economy and offer a national stage to show off the city’s recovery from the 1992 riots and the 1994 earthquake.

The Democrats last held their national convention in Los Angeles in 1960, when John F. Kennedy was picked as the party’s presidential candidate.

Thousands of delegates, reporters and others typically flock to the conventions of the nation’s two major political parties. In 2000, the Republicans will hold their gathering in Philadelphia; the Democrats have been weighing offers from Boston, Denver and Los Angeles. A number of other cities previously were in contention for the Democratic gathering, but the national party winnowed the finalists to three late last year.

Practical and Symbolic Advantages

Los Angeles has long been considered the finalists’ front-runner, especially since the Republicans chose Philadelphia and knocked that city out of the running for the Democratic event.

Backers of the effort here have highlighted the city’s facilities and political advantages. The Staples Center, under construction downtown, would host the convention, providing the Democrats with a new, state-of-the-art facility well-equipped for the party’s needs.

On the political side, supporters of the Los Angeles bid have long touted the key role that California will play in electing the nation’s next president. The state’s 54 electoral votes are unrivaled, and the Los Angeles media market includes more California residents than does any other area of the state.

Finally, on a symbolic level, convention supporters say Los Angeles offers the Democrats the chance to advertise the party’s appeal to women and minorities by holding its convention in the world’s most ethnically diverse city.

Still, Los Angeles also carries baggage, both real and symbolic. It is the home of Monica Lewinsky and of the Buddhist temple that gave rise to the Democrats’ recent fund-raising scandal.

Initially, the Staples Center also was an uncertainty. Since the building still is under construction, some Democratic Party officials worried that they were committing to a facility that might not be ready in time.

During a visit last year, however, Staples representatives impressed the Democrats with a compelling presentation. They reinforced their promise that the building would be ready by giving each visiting delegate tickets to the Los Angeles Lakers’ home opener later this year.

The bid for the convention also is an unusual one in that the host of the event would be a private group, not the city itself. The organizing group is headed by Broad, Geffen and lawyer William Wardlaw, and though it has the city government’s support, it is not formally under the wing of City Hall.

That has complicated negotiations, and one December session ended with both sides fuming. After that session, national Democratic officials warned that Los Angeles still could lose its bid.

Since then, negotiations have resumed, and officials on both sides of the talks said they had progressed to the point that relatively small amounts of money and a few minor issues remain.

“We’ve made real meaningful progress,” said Broad, adding: “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

Times staff writers Ron Brownstein and Alan Miller contributed to this article.

Hear Times political writer Mark Z. Barabak’s audio analysis of why the Democrats may bring their national convention to Los Angeles on The Times’ Web site at:

https://www.latimes.com/convention