Party crasher sets out to expose big-money schmoozing

She slips past guards at private RNC event in Holman Field hangar

Publication: Pioneer Press

Jason Hoppin
September 4, 2008

The drinks were free, but more importantly, so were the mini-doughnuts.

At a hangar at St. Paul's Holman Field on Wednesday night, representatives from the hospitality industry wined and dined elected officials and others in town for the Republican National Convention, all behind closed doors. It was one of scores of events being held around the Twin Cities for what many say is the real purpose of the convention — having the rich rub elbows with the powerful.

Using a pass she found the previous night at a party in Minneapolis, Nancy Watzman of the Washington, D.C.-based Sunlight Foundation was able to crash the party. It was one of more than two-dozen events Watzman tried to crash during the RNC and the Democratic National Convention in Denver, and one of just a handful where she actually got inside.

"Our point is just to bring these private, secretive events into the sunlight, into public view. And so people can make these connections — journalists, bloggers, citizen activists — between these events and what's going on policywise," Watzman said.

Along with a Pioneer Press reporter, Watzman passed four security guards and a checkpoint manned by a member of the Minnesota National Guard. She recognized at least one high-powered lobbyist, and shortly after arriving, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty showed up.

It was a swanky affair, serving notice that the lobbying reforms passed since the 2004 convention may have changed the menus — no more lavish dinners — but hasn't stopped events like these at all.

A vintage airplane served as a prop. There was a popcorn machine, a mini-doughnut trailer that could have come straight from the State Fair, and top-shelf booze. Convention-style placards were placed throughout the hangar reading "Vote Real Estate!" and "Vote Travel!"

At the back of the room, near where an old-time jamboree band played, a projection screen showed pie charts depicting the woeful state of the American travel industry. No one seemed to pay it much mind.

"The people with the money are basically the people that get the access, and the people that don't have money to hire fancy lobbyists are left out of the process," Watzman said. "It's not the way our democracy is supposed to work."

The event was held at Carlson Hangar, and was sponsored by a variety of groups — the American Hotel and Lodging Association, the National Business Travel Association, the Travel Business Roundtable, and many more.

Watzman has been turned away from several events in the Twin Cities, everything from parties for the Alabama delegation to an event co-sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, the National Mining Association and the American Gas Association.

"We got into a pharmaceutical industry briefing but they wouldn't let me stay, even though it was a pretty lame continental breakfast," Watzman said.

Not all events are secretive. Watzman was allowed into a party for the Distilled Spirits Council, where reporters were allowed, too. Reporters were also allowed into an event at First Avenue on Monday night organized by Friends of New Orleans.

Planned as a fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Katrina, the fundraised morphed into a dual fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Gustav.