Farber: Raising funds has just begun

$60 million more is goal, he says, from Colorado, region, nation

John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 12, 2007 at midnight

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Denver lawyer and fundraiser Steve Farber was having his usual bowl of oatmeal at Ellyngton's at the Brown Palace Hotel about 8:40 a.m. Thursday when he received a call from his office confirming that Denver had landed the 2008 Democratic Convention.

But Farber, who was dining with Steve Naples, co-owner of the Heidi's Brooklyn Deli chain, already had an inkling something was up.

"Before breakfast, I had sent out some e-mails after getting a few phone calls," Farber said. "I got a call from a congressman's wife and a senator not from Colorado asking me, "Do you know if you guys got it?"

At lunchtime, Farber, co-chairman of the 2008 Denver Host Committee, and other host committee members gathered at the Capital Grille at 1450 Larimer St. to celebrate the win over a $105 bottle of champagne.

Farber joked that booking the restaurant's private Molly Brown room at the last minute was about as difficult as landing the convention.

But Heather Turnwall, sales and marketing manager for the restaurant, said Farber never has to worry about getting a table.

"Mr. Farber just has to make a phone call to get into the Capital Grille," she said. "We always have a table for him."

The $23 million in cash and in- kind commitments already raised from the business community for the convention is just the beginning, Farber said.

"We're going to try to get $30 million in commitments from Colorado, and another $10 million from the region and another $15 million or $20 million nationally - which is something both conventions, Republican and Democratic, have done in recent years," he said.

Farber said he will be going back to many of same "major players" to ask for more money.

"We need to cover a few things, our operational expenses being No. 1. And No. 2, we need to cover the budget," he said.

"I expect that within the next 30 days, we will have a breakfast to thank our major donors. Maybe we can get someone to underwrite it. At the breakfast, we'd probably outline our next goal."

Farber said he thinks that raising the necessary money was one of the top three reasons Denver won.

He said he believes that the other two were probably the appeal of the West courting voters and Denver's ability to accommodate the 35,000 or so people attending the convention.

Money has always been a key, City Councilwoman Elbra Wedgeworth said last month. She is president of the Denver 2008 Host Committee.

"That's why a lot of cities dropped out," she said. "As a city of 500,000 people, I think we're doing a great job against a city that has 8 million people.

"We don't have the Fortune 500 companies like New York."

Wedgeworth said last month that more money would flow to Denver if it were chosen.

She said that more money will flow to Denver now that Democrats have chosen it.

And there are reasons beside money to choose Denver, she said.

"We have to stretch the map politically," she said. "The pathway to the presidency is through the West."

rebchookj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5207

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