Olivier Bruchez/Creative Commons
Chicago’s House of Blues
The Democratic Party professes to be a big tent open to all, a line that’s been repeated throughout the convention speeches this week. That’s not so much the case for the events happening outside the convention hall, especially if you’re a member of the press and there’s any sort of corporate sponsorship involved.
Inside the United Center, press access is an issue reporters have been complaining about since the first night. That’s mainly about limits on floor time for interviews.
Last night, press members weren’t allowed on the floor for indefinite periods, particularly during the party’s DJ-infused celebratory roll call. If you received your pass (which only lasts an hour) at the periodicals table before they shut the doors, then you missed most of your time allotment before the floor opened back up. One side of the halls last night featured a “blue carpet” event where a procession of politicians stopped by for interviews. The only media figures actually allowed on the blue carpet appeared to be DNC content creators and a few big networks. When I asked a DNC liaison about getting onto the carpet, she said you needed to have gone through a separate credentialing process other than the official credential. The apparent qualifications for scoring the blue carpet slots appeared to be more about if you could do the Apple dance than any particular lines of questioning.
Out on the town, it’s even harder to crack the event circuit. Many are “invite only,” with prior registration required. In many cases, events are completely closed off to members of the press.
This all might seem trivial. But the reason this is getting any play as a storyline at the convention is because it’s paradigmatic of the broader Harris campaign approach to avoid the press like the plague. Harris still hasn’t done a major interview as the presidential nominee.
There were certainly access limitations for the press with President Biden, but the June 27 debate painfully answered the question of why. For Harris, it’s more about bypassing the media filter entirely.
But the presidential nominee isn’t really dictating the amount of secrecy surrounding most of the DNC events, which are put on by members of Congress, outside organizations, corporate underwriters, and assorted others.
The degree of access for certain events and not others is also a window into the political operations of all the various groups trying to influence-peddle at the convention. Some policy groups want to spread their message far and wide, while others seem to be wary and fearful about the word getting out about their plans. Exclusivity is of course a coveted feature for big-money organizations courting donors. Most, though not all, of the closed-off events are corporate-sponsored, and they are typically packed with lobbyists and lawmakers.
Earlier in the week, I made my way over to the House of Blues in downtown Chicago, where I’d heard the Future Forum PAC was holding a swanky evening reception. Future Forum is a caucus for the younger generation of House Democrats generically focused on “the issues and opportunities for the next generation.” Organized by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), the caucus runs the gamut ideologically with caucus members from both the moderate and progressive wings of the party. The PAC receives generous donations from the likes of UPS, Cigna, Merck, and AT&T.
The degree of access for certain events is a window into the political operations of the various groups trying to influence-peddle at the convention.
The House of Blues sits directly underneath the two buildings from the famous Wilco album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, which I learned in line are also known as the “corncob towers” because of the scalloped design of the outer ridges. Along the alleyway next to the line were several black Escalades and security detail, indicating that at least a few lawmakers were likely inside.
After the checkpoint for security, I entered the first floor where gaggles milled around, some posing for photos with the Future Forum backdrop, as they waited in line for two separate entrances, one for a VIP section and then regular guests. A group of revolving-door lobbyists nearby were chatting about the convention. One of them introduced himself as a former Hill staffer for a member in the Future Forum caucus, now working as a lobbyist for UPS.
Spirits were evidently high among the crowd mingling about. There was a sense of relief. The ticket was strong, and with victory in sight, their connections to parlay into business clients would remain valuable.
Once I reached the official registration check, the mistake I made was to flash my newly acquired press pass for the convention, which I thought would make me look official. That apparently was worse than not having registration at all, because general press weren’t being allowed in. While I tried stalling for time, explaining my situation, I peeked beyond the checkpoint at the main concert hall of the House of Blues, which was teeming with people. Both sides of the bar were packed and the main concert floor was starting to fill up. Networking had begun; business cards exchanged, connections forged.
I ultimately was turned away, unable to participate. Nor would I the next night at the closed-off United Airlines party featuring special guest and board member Walter Isaacson, the renowned biographer who still maintains his honorific title of journalist when he appears on cable news shows, despite his corporate board position.
Other events are much easier to edge your way into. Instead of the United Airlines party, I made my way over to a soiree hosted by a number of unions at the Art Institute of Chicago; lots of DNC and local city officials were present, as well as the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Rohit Chopra.
Even happy hours hosted by progressive lawmakers were temporarily closed off to the press while members delivered remarks.
The circumstances for some of my other humiliating exiles from events this week were far more perplexing. I headed to a United Auto Workers event at the Marriott Marquis Chicago in the McCormick Square area, where most of the daytime DNC events take place this week. When I got up to the fourth floor, I walked past a room where a crowd of presumably Hasidic Jews were pacing anxiously outside the door. As I made my way over to try to identify the event taking place inside, I was intercepted by a very flustered woman who inquired about my intentions. I asked about the event and she said I couldn’t be there, shooing me away. The secrecy was captivating.
I tried waiting around the corner for someone to come out of the event. Not long after, two security guards came up to me and told me they were getting complaints about my presence bothering the hosts and that I couldn’t be on the entire floor of the hotel, not even for the UAW event I came to participate in, and that I’d have to leave. Just as I was escorted away, former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot came out of the event, flanked by two aides.
The source of their paranoia became clear to me moments later as I scrolled on Twitter, and happened to find a video taken moments before I’d shown up, where pro-Palestine protesters were getting thrown out of the same event, after disrupting it with chants. The host was Agudath Israel, an Orthodox Jewish organization, and the event was ostensibly about the rise of antisemitism. Some sects of Orthodox Jewry are actually opposed to the state of Israel for religious reasons, though Agudath takes a moderate middle-road position.
Another event was disrupted when DNC delegate RL Miller, founder of Climate Hawks Vote, yelled, “Exxon lied and people died!” at a Punchbowl News event explicitly sponsored by Exxon. There may have been more such disruptions if corporations were sloppier and had their sponsorships broadcast to the public.
Other events this week, in hindsight, I wish I’d been blocked access to. Politico and CNN have teamed up to host a “grill” in trailers outside the convention hall, with around-the-clock live programming so completely devoid of substance that it makes their full-time content seem electrifying. Two of the interviews I stopped by for featured Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA). The spewing of buzzwords to speculate about how a future Harris administration would approach Ukraine and China was enough to put one gentleman to sleep on the couches in the back of the room.
The free buffet on offer, however, was welcomed.
