Elected Officials Go Into Show Business

Just eight months after his election, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has already resolved a hotel labor dispute, helped land at least two national meetings and stepped in twice to get a convention center hotel project back on track.

It's all part of the former state assembly speaker's plan to make his city "the leading economic and cultural center in the world."

But Villaraigosa isn't the only elected official taking an active role in the convention business. Instead, he's part of a new breed of mayors, council members and even governors who are writing letters, making speeches and going on sales calls, all in the quest to give their destinations an edge over the competition.

Examples of the phenomenon can be found coast to coast. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been a stalwart backer of an expanded Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman is chairman of the city's convention authority. And in Salt Lake City, the county mayor led the effort to expand the Salt Palace Convention Center in order to retain its largest show, Outdoor Retailer.

The elected officials' efforts go far beyond brief appearances and canned welcome letters in show directories. Some officials, such as Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, go on sales calls to point out their cities' strong points. San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzalez is another one, credited with helping his Northern California city land CMP Media's Game Developers Conference.

In Salt Lake City, former County Mayor Nancy Workman rallied city, county and state officials to quickly support the convention center expansion. "She was able to make sure that happened. As a result of that, we will finish our construction in July," said Allyson Jackson, Salt Palace general manager.

Workman's replacement, Peter Corroon, also understands the role of conventions in the local economy. Corroon, who hails from the private sector, has traveled with CVB and venue officials to meet with planners and executive directors.

"He absolutely understands the value of bringing a convention into town and the ripple effect on the hospitality industry," Jackson said.

And if you really want to see state elected officials pull out the stops, go to a gathering of show organizers or meeting planners. At the Intl. Assn. for Exhibition Management's December Expo! Expo! in Atlanta, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue addressed the crowd. And at the recent Professional Convention Management Assn. Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell turned out, along with a host of other officials, including Philadelphia Mayor John Street and Councilman Michael Nutter, who is also chairman of the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority.

Philadelphia CVB President Tom Muldoon said Nutter "is 100 percent accessible to all of our clients." In addition, he knows each member of the CVB's customer advisory committee intimately. Street, meanwhile, recently put together a hospitality committee.

"In the case of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, we have elected officials who understand the importance of the industry and are extremely supportive," Muldoon said.

Rendell was particularly active and accessible when he served as Philadelphia's mayor. "He delivered pieces of businesses. They knew Ed as well as they knew me," Muldoon said of his clients.

Now that Rendell is governor, Muldoon only asks him to make a call now and then. "And once in a while, Ed will call up with a tip," he said.

In Los Angeles, just a month after being elected, Villaraigosa negotiated an end to a hotel labor dispute that had dragged on for months, prompting Mark Liberman, president and CEO of LA Inc., the Convention & Visitors Bureau, to brand him an auxiliary member of his sales team.

Villaraigosa also convinced the Natl. Council of La Raza to return its 2006 annual meeting to Los Angeles. The group had initially withdrawn due to the boycott that 3,000 hotel workers were waging against several downtown hotels.

The next calamity Villaraigosa resolved was a lawsuit challenging a public subsidy for the city's long-awaited headquarters hotel. Villaraigosa appealed to the subsidy's main opponent, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, which dropped its lawsuit threat in exchange for being allowed to convert 30 percent of the hotel's 1,350 rooms to condominiums if occupancy falls below 50 percent after the headquarters hotel opens in 2008.

Villaraigosa stepped in to help the convention hotel project again last month when a key developer pulled out. The mayor said he and the project's main developer, AEG, spent a week trying to bring in a new partner. Eventually, KB Home was offered as a replacement.

"I describe him as quite a rock star. I describe his charisma as Clinton-like," said Mark Krouse, vice president of convention sales for LA Inc.

The mayor was also instrumental in the city landing the 2011 American Assn. of Retired People's meeting.

Krouse said when he walked into the AARP office to make his sales pitch, he observed that the cover of one of the group's magazines bore a picture of Villaraigosa. "I went into the meeting and said, 'Our mayor is on the cover of your magazine,"' he said.

That convinced AARP to drop in for a site visit and, after touring hotels and the convention center, the visitors got 10 minutes with the mayor. That was all it took.

"He basically convinced them why they should come to L.A. He not only asked for 2011 and 2015, but asked them to move some business out of San Diego," said Krouse, adding that Villaraigosa also agreed to speak at their upcoming meeting in Anaheim.

Muldoon said elected officials should be involved, since convention venues are almost always built with public dollars. And their involvement has a silver lining for the industry too. "If those key leaders can see results, chances are they won't be saying we shouldn't spend money that way," he said.