Face The State Staff Report
While Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper is busy touting the estimated $266 million economic boost brought by the Democratic National Convention, some critics are questioning the “real” cost and are left wondering if the August extravaganza was worth the effort.
Was it all worth it?FTS File Photo
“They talk as if that money were evenly distributed across the population, and that’s just not the case,” said Penn Pfiffner, a fiscal policy analyst at the Independence Institute. “There were people who inconvenienced or even hurt by the convention being in town.”
According to a report released by Hickenlooper’s office, Denver alone raked in $154 million, but the spending splurge stayed largely downtown. Even though 40 area law enforcement agencies loaned resources to Denver during the convention, little economic benefit was seen outside of downtown, with half of the economic impact coming from "direct spending" on the event.
After the 2004 DNC in Boston, some reports estimated the city actually lost money because the convention displaced tourist traffic and other business. The Denver study found no such evidence. But Michael Kanner, a professor of political science at the University of Colorado, questions Hickenlooper's conclusions. He said it’s nearly impossible to measure how much business was truly lost. “Metro lost two weeks of its semester because students didn’t even show up for that first week and then the school was closed,” he said.
Pfiffner also questioned the cost to taxpayers, who footed the bill for the $50 million federal grant each party received for their respective conventions. In Denver, that money was spent mostly on security and as the Denver Post reported, included $111,000 for turtle suits worn by officers for riot control, 1,800 ballistic helmets at a cost of $652,000, $22,000 in flex cuffs, $22,000 in riot shields, and $37,000 on riot control batons. Pfiffner said it is not right for taxpayers, especially those who are unaffiliated or belong to a third party, to bare this expense when political parties could hold their conventions in Washington D.C. and take advantage of the already heavy security permanently in place in the nation's capital.
While media pundits, protest organizers, and law enforcement officials predicted that up to 50,000 people would take to Denver's streets in August to protest the convention, just a couple thousand people showed up, with less than 100 convention-related arrests made.
Democrats were not the only political party to hold a convention in Denver this year. In May, the Libertarians nominated their pick for president, Bob Barr, in downtown's Sheraton Hotel.
According to Travis Nicks, chairman for the Colorado Libertarians, his party received no federal money for its convention and has actually turned down matching funds in the past. Participation in the Libertarian gathering was just a franction of that seen by the Democrats' three day event in late August, with no known coalitions protesting the former.
Nicks was critical of Denver officials for trying to garner attention through the DNC as an "international city".
"St. Louis is internationally known and their economy is tanking," said Nicks. "D.C. is internationally known, and you're hardly free there. If you want to spur the economy by bringing in outside talent and resources, then you don’t have to be famous. Just provide a friendly environment to business,” he said, adding that the Libertarian Party brought business to Denver and it didn’t cost the city a dime.
Kanner agrees, saying the economies that take off are always the least restrictive, with public investments largely limited to infrastructure improvements. Overall, Kanner did admit the convention was a success, but not for the same reasons gloated about last week. "Success, in this case, is not leaving any black eyes," he said. "The only place where people remember conventions is if there is a riot. Chicago is still having to live down that reputation."