Updated Convention Party Lists from Lobbying Firm Available at Sunlight's New Party Time Web Site

Party Time Lets You Know Who is Partying with Whom

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 19, 2008

Contact: Gabriela Schneider 202/742-1520

WASHINGTON, DC – As part of its just launched Party Time project the Sunlight Foundation has obtained an updated list of parties and events for the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, as compiled by a top Washington lobbying firm, Quinn Gillespie & Associates.

The updated lists, available in PDF format on Party Time here (PDF) and here (PDF) show some new details about events already reported and also some new events.
For example:

• On Wednesday, August 27, a party called “Sharing Miracles,” at the Denver Aquarium, hosted by Hon. Billy Tauzin, former member of Congress and President and CEO of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).


• Twin receptions, one at the Democratic Convention, on Tuesday, August 26, at the Ritz Carlton ballroom, the other at the Republican Convention, on Wednesday, September 3, at Carlson Hangar in the St. Paul Airport, called “A Toast to Travel, Hospitality and Real Estate Across America,” with sponsors including Mariott, Starwood, TIA, IFA, Carlson, National Real Estate Organizations, American Hotel & Lodging Association, American Resort Development Association, Asian American Hotel Owners Association, Distilled Spirits Council, DLA Piper, NAREIT, National Business Travel Association, Printing Industries of America and the Travel Business Roundtable.


• A “Celebration of Free Speech,” on September 2, at the Republican Convention, sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters.

Sunlight will add these event details to Party Time’s searchable database, where Web site users can get the latest information on what parties are happening and where at the conventions—and beyond.

“As soon as we hear about these parties, we post them—so that everybody can feel like an insider and know who is hobnobbing with whom,” said Nancy Watzman, director of the Party Time project. “This way journalists, bloggers, and citizen activists can connect the dots between the socializing and the policy sausage making back in Washington.”

In addition to convention parties, Party Time also compiles information from invitations to congressional fundraisers and parties that are sent out by the dozens over fax lines, email and through snail mail to lobbyists, Political Action Committee (PAC) representatives and others. Visitors to the Web site will be able to search the Web site to find out where the parties are, often before they happen.

The Sunlight Foundation supports, develops and deploys new Internet technologies to make information about Congress and the federal government more accessible to the American people. Through its projects and grant-making, Sunlight serves as a catalyst to create greater political transparency and to foster more openness and accountability in government. Visit SunlightFoundation.com to learn more about Sunlight’s projects, including PublicMarkup.org, Real Time Investigations and OpenCongress.org.

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