Urban League Urges Political Parties to Hold 2008 Conventions In New Orleans
Urban League Urges Political Parties to Hold 2008 Conventions In New Orleans
One year after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial calls upon leaders of the nation’s major political parties to hold their 2008 conventions in New Orleans.
“This would send a powerful message to the nation and the world that the victims of Hurricane Katrina will not be forgotten,” Morial, who was New Orleans mayor from 1994 to 2002, says. “It will also demonstrate that the nation’s political leaders are squarely and solidly committed to rebuilding.”
In his letter to Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, Morial also urges the parties to limit convention expenditures at 50 percent of 2004 levels and contribute the rest to Gulf Coast rebuilding.
In 2004, Republicans took their convention to New York City, a little less than three years after 9/11 hit, injecting an estimated $255 million in much-needed revenue into the city’s economy. It cost $82 million, according to a Federal Election Commission audit. The Democrats held their event in Boston, generating an estimated $154.2 million in economic revenue and costing $50.3 million.
“The GOP came to New York City’s rescue in 2004. Why can’t the political parties come to the aid of New Orleans, which was hit by a tragedy nearly as grave as 9/11 and as deserving of such grand gestures,” Morial says.
“Our political leaders need to put their rhetoric into real action. What better way to help the victims than to hold their conventions right in the midst of Katrina’s Ground Zero,” he says.
