Who Is Pulling the Levers?

0 Comments | Insight on the News, August 7, 2000 | by Diana Ray

The national conventions require high-level professional planning to come off successfully. Insight finds surprises while taking a peek at who runs these grandiose shows.

Any look at the operatives behind the GOP and Democratic national conventions invites recollection of the reception hall in The Wizard of Oz. As Toto exposes the fraud and sinks his teeth into the snake-oil salesman, the phony wizard bellows into a microphone: "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"

These conventions are to be huge infomercials, grand extravaganzas of show biz and hustle, with the presidency of the world's only superpower on the line, yet the names of the impresarios do not trip lightly off the tongues of spokespersons. Although a few familiar names tend to grace stationery and Websites, a spokesman for the Democratic National Convention Committee, or DNCC, tells Insight: "Some people do not care to be in the public eye." You bet they don't, but put it in the bank that those hired to pull the levers that make these convention machines work are professionals at putting on a grand show.

Take Gary Smith, executive producer of the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, who also produced the last three Democratic national conventions as well as both of Bill Clinton's presidential inaugural galas. Having produced TV specials and concerts for celebrities ranging from Elvis Presley to Barbra Streisand, as well as the Emmy and Tony awards, Smith is described by National Journal as the man with "the task of luring couch potatoes away from Monday Night Football and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"

Smith's name was not difficult to get. Indeed, the DNCC sent a press release out about his participation. But what about Harry Thomason and his wife, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, Hollywood producers and personal friends of the Clintons? The Thomasons, known for their hit sitcoms Designing Women and Evening Shade, assisted in staging the 1992 and 1996 conventions. Joe Lockhart, Clinton/Gore campaign spokesman in 1996, said: "They know how to make the convention user-friendly for television networks."

According to the Washington Post, a specialist in Democratic Party gossip, "It was Thomason, a former Arkansas high-school football coach, who helped transform Clinton from governor of a small Southern state to a presidential nominee. He arranged to have Clinton play the saxophone on the Tonight Show to repair Clinton's image after his disastrous 1988 Democratic Convention speech and then assisted in the 1992 presidential campaign and subsequent inauguration."

Luis Vizcaino, spokesman for the DNCC, says he doesn't know if the Thomasons are involved with this year's planning of the convention. He even says he has never heard of them. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Of course, there are the obvious players, such as Marcia Hale, convention manager for A1 Gore's campaign. According to a National Journal report, the 48-year-old Hale will "surely wield more influence over the four-day [Democratic] event than anyone with a formal title at the convention committee." She has served as a field director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and as assistant to Clinton for intergovernmental relations. Although Hale did not return telephone calls and the Democratic National Committee, or DNC, would not provide a biography, the snoops at National Journal assure that Hale is low-profile, capable and knows "just about everyone in the party and how each one should be stroked"

However, given Gore's determination to court every last environmentalist, there's an irony in the fact that I tale works for the giant Monsanto chemical company in Washington. National Journal says she is a Monsanto vice president and oversees the company's efforts on genetically engineered foods, a very controversial issue among Greens that may tend to offer Ralph Nader an easy Gore target.

As for Andrew Card, 52, who is boss on the Republican side, his national credentials go back to the Reagan years. Card served as a liaison to state-elected officials for President Reagan and was President Bush's deputy chief of staff for three years before becoming transportation secretary under Bush. Originally from Massachusetts, Card has been making his living as head of government affairs for General Motors in Washington. Card's convention task is to put on a show in Philadelphia that will attract, quicken and compel support for Bush and his running mate.

But please don't look behind the curtain. For instance, getting information about the most recent addition to the GOP convention team from the company where he serves as president is like pulling teeth out of a piranha. Au Insight neared deadline, Card had just announced the addition of Hector E. Irastorza as his deputy convention manager. A press release said Irastorza is president and chief executive officer for a company called Icon Solutions -- "a strategic planning and reputation-management firm based in Washington."