Key Member of Group Planning Democratic Convention Quits

Don Foley, one of the most experienced and highly regarded members of the committee organizing this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, has resigned for personal reasons, though he will continue to advise the effort as a consultant.

Foley declined to say why he decided to leave the planning group just under seven months before the event, which is expected to draw thousands of delegates and as many as 15,000 members of the media to Los Angeles for a week in August.

“I really don’t want” to give the precise reasons, Foley said, though he added that his desire to spend more time with his family and at his full-time job played a role in his decision. Foley, 50, is a vice president of Northwest Airlines and has a family in Washington, D.C.

Foley served as convention chairman for the Democrats’ 1996 Chicago convention. He has attended every convention since 1968 and has been involved in planning every one since 1980.

Although declining to offer his reasons for going, Foley did stress that he would not be leaving if he thought there were problems with the convention, particularly areas that he was helping to oversee: production of the gala, construction work and media relations.

“I feel very confident,” he said. “We’re in a good place.”

Ron O’Connor, a top official at the party’s convention planning group, agreed. Noting that the convention does not start until August, O’Connor said there is plenty of time to take over Foley’s work and keep preparations on track.

Nevertheless, Foley’s departure raises another challenge to a convention effort that increasingly is coming under scrutiny, in part because the committee’s leaders have been slow to hire staff and have yet to make some decisions that affect security and transportation arrangements. The local host committee, which includes a number of Mayor Richard Riordan’s close friends and allies, also is behind schedule in raising the $35 million it pledged.

One result of the perceived dithering has been an aggressive move by Riordan to take over a larger share of the convention planning--an encroachment that convention planners have grudgingly accepted but which some warn may only deepen the problems.

Ironically, Democratic convention planners have tried to ease anxiety about their efforts by citing Foley’s credentials, including his experience helping to plan the 1996 convention in Chicago. Foley was not immediately available for comment Tuesday, but news of his departure rippled through City Hall, where insiders worried that it signaled deepening troubles for an event that many have hoped will offer Los Angeles a chance to show off its recovery from the recession and riots of the early 1990s.

Last week, Riordan praised convention efforts, saying they were in some respects ahead of where other cities have been with this much time to go. He dismissed questions about the convention organizers, largely by expressing his confidence in Foley to smooth out any problems.

Upon learning of Foley’s resignation Tuesday, Riordan contacted Democratic Party officials to urge them to move quickly on a replacement and to ensure a smooth transition. Foley said he would continue acting as a consultant.

“The mayor has an interest in what goes on here,” said Deputy Mayor Noelia Rodriguez. “He’s hopeful that this will not cause any problems.”

Party officials and others in recent weeks have assured city leaders that the convention is coming together on schedule. They stress that they’ve identified hotels where delegates will stay, have sketched out bus routes and have begun drafting a security plan. They have not, however, resolved which hotels will be designated for special media and delegate events, nor have they settled on which delegations will stay at which locations--decisions that have some bearing on security.

Most pointedly, the committee remains about $9 million to $10 million short of its fund-raising obligation.