Political Non-Payoff

An enduring element of American genius is the ability to turn almost any activity into a thriving multimillion-dollar business. Political conventions, however, are a partial exception. They have indeed become a growth industry, but no one seems to be getting rich off them.

At least $50 million changed hands at, near or because of this year's two Miami Beach conventions, up from an estimated $40 million split between Miami Beach and Chicago in the last presidential election year. The biggest single expenditure by far was for television. ABC, CBS, and NBC spent about $20 million for convention coverage. They did not sell that much in air time to advertisers, so the networks lost money on the conventions.

Much of the network spending went for communications equipment. Southern Bell Telephone Co. installed a total of 12,500 phones for press and delegates at the two conventions. The company made some money, but less than it would have by installing the same number of phones in private homes or offices. Southern Bell had to lay 423 million feet of conductor cable and set up 20 extra switchboards, all at its own expense.

If talk was not cheap, neither was secrecy. To shield its doings from unauthorized eyes, the Committee for the Re-Election of the President spent heavily (it will not say how much) to rent paper shredders and to surround its headquarters at the Doral Hotel with security guards. Wackenhutt Corp., which supplied security personnel, had to hire about 250 extra guards at $2.25 to $2.75 an hour for each gathering.

The city of Miami Beach paid $650,000 to the Democrats and $450,000 to the Republicans for the privilege of playing host to the conventions. Some of the payment was in goods and services, such as police protection and free use of the convention hall, but the sums included $750,000 in cash contributed by the city and local businessmen. The parties did raise some money at the conventions; the Republicans, for example, last week staged a $500-a-plate dinner that grossed nearly $100,000. But each party undoubtedly spent more than it took in. The 1968 conventions cost the Republicans $796,000 and the Democrats $1,746,000, not including security expenses.

To Miami Beach the conventions brought not citywide prosperity but a slump in business. The number of politicians attending the conventions did not make up for the number of regular tourists who stayed away. Says Leonard ("Doc") Baker, executive director of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce: "Tourists read about the demonstrations, and that frightened them off." Overall hotel bookings in Miami Beach were off 5% to 10% from last summer.

Hardly any Miami Beach merchants want to be quoted by name about the delegates' spending habits, but they agreed that both blue-jeaned Democrats and custom-tailored Republicans were tightwads. Doc Baker estimates that each Republican spent $35 a day in Miami Beach, and each Democrat $30. To hear some retailers gripe, the Democratic figure at least is a gross overestimate. The average Democrat, grumbles one businessman, "brought a set of underwear and a $20 bill with him and did not change either one." Merchants who relied on the Republicans to be big spenders were also disappointed. "We will be lucky if we break even," says Sheila Roth, who ran a souvenir booth in the lobby of the Fontainebleau Hotel last week. Two exceptions: button sellers did a brisk business, and some delicatessens did well during the Democratic gathering. "You would be surprised how many Democrats came in to buy bread and cold cuts to take to their rooms," says one counterman.

Miami Beach officials stoutly maintain that in future years their town's new image as Convention City will pull in large nonpolitical conventions at which visitors will spend enough to make up for this year's losses. But officials of some other cities are skeptical. San Diego, which was abruptly dropped last spring as the site of the Republican Convention, celebrated its loss with a ten-day music and dance festival that concluded last week.

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