By: Jennifer Skalka

September 2, 2004, Chicago Tribune

NEW YORK -- Young women moved through the dark bar, serving goat cheese canapes and bits of sirloin on biscuits. Drinks flowed, music filled the room and two big guys in suits guarded the door.

The two-hour fete attended by lobbyists, elected officials and a Cabinet secretary was co-sponsored by Altria Group Inc., the parent company of tobacco powerhouse Philip Morris and Kraft Foods Inc.

It is all part of the all-purpose care and feeding that Altria provides to people who will be making policy decisions that could affect its business fortunes, including major legislation that would impose new regulations on the tobacco industry.

Conventions for both parties provide the often tony venues for corporations, interest groups and lobbying firms to host lavish events. These organizations are looking to curry favor with lawmakers and mingle with officials and party bigwigs. It is part of the dance of influence between businesses and politicians.

"These groups have agendas that they want met, and they are trying to impress both parties in an effort to get that agenda passed," said Steven Weiss, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan research group that tracks how money influences elections and policy.

Dawn Schneider, an Altria spokeswoman, said paying for such parties is another form of political engagement.

"The convention is really, practically speaking, an extension of our commitment to the political process," she said.

Balance sheet of power

But how special interests spend their money is also a measure of who holds the power in Washington. This year, companies seem to reflect the divided electorate, spending heavily on both parties.

"Companies, unlike ideological groups, tend to be pragmatic in their political giving and lobbying," said Tom Mann, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution in Washington. "They realize the Democrats might well regain control of the White House."

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, 22 corporations--including Pfizer Inc., Verizon Communications and Microsoft Corp.--have given to the Republican and Democratic convention host committees.

In total, the Republicans raised $64 million in private contributions for their week; the Democrats got $44 million.

Campaign finance laws enacted in 2002 allow unlimited giving to the host committees.

AT&T is playing both teams, contributing $500,000 to each host committee, according to Ed Bergstraesser, the company's director of public relations.

Altria gave $100,000 to each host committee. Those donations come as Congress debates a bill that would allow the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the design and manufacturing of cigarettes.

The Bush administration, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) are opposed to the FDA regulations and have the power to tank the bill. While they weren't at the Altria bash, the party celebrated the work of local Republican officials, a cause the leaders would no doubt support.

Hoping to defeat bill

"They have an enormously important bill sitting right now [in Congress], a really landmark bill," Daniel Diermeier, director of the Center for Business, Government and Society at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, said of Altria. "They're trying to help their cause by wining and dining people. What it gives them is the opportunity to tell their story."

Certainly throwing convention-week parties for politicians is not enough to win their support. It is simply part of a broader year-round campaign to influence people in power.

Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) said members might know which organizations gave big money to the host committees, but the big dollar gifts for these parties are largely forgotten.

"An extraordinary amount of money is spent, for what?" Shays said. "If you divided the per dollar amount spent totally per delegate and told the delegate we'll give you $10,000 or $20,000 instead, they would probably prefer that."

With the nomination of Bush a foregone conclusion, many delegates believe the real business of the week is the partying.

Tom Rath, a Concord, N.H., attorney and veteran of six Republican conventions, arrived in New York with some 50 party invitations.

"I never eat or drink alone, and there isn't a scallop wrapped in bacon that's safe," said Rath, who sits on the Republican National Committee's Rules Committee.

The Altria party honored the Republican State Legislative Committee, a fundraising group that helps conservative officials get elected on the local level.

Attendee Doug Mays, speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives, said the party provided a networking opportunity.

"Corporations, all they're doing is hedging their bets, especially when you've got an election this close," he said.

Interior Secretary Gale Norton showed up for the Altria bash. She was active with the state legislative panel during her years as Colorado attorney general.

During the party, Norton stood with drink in hand and said that many of the events she is attending this week are educational, such as the General Motors Corp. event at Tavern on the Green. GM provided a hybrid bus and car for perusal.

Norton also said that during her time as a state attorney general she often socialized with grass-roots activists. The convention's corporate parties give people who don't normally have the chance to bend an official's ear that opportunity, she said.

"Some people see it as being very exclusive. It's not really," she said.