Thousands of reporters are set to attend this week’s Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, and many are expected to hear about one the confab’s biggest issues: healthcare. Officials at PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. of Santa Ana say they are ready to help reporters out on the subject. It’s providing any reporter access to some of its senior members who rely on Secure Horizons, PacifiCare’s Medicare health maintenance organization.
“I want reporters to know that we are the largest Medicare choice plan for seniors, with a million members, and we can get them local seniors or seniors from their region to talk about healthcare,” said Tyler Mason, a spokesman for PacifiCare. PacifiCare is one of a handful of Orange County companies that are participating in the Democratic Convention in one way or another. ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Costa Mesa, whose colorful chairman Milan Panic calls himself a friend of President Clinton, is actively participating in the convention, including hosting foreign dignitaries including opposition leaders from Panic’s native Yugoslavia.
Verizon Wireless might be grappling with a strike, but the company’s Irvine regional headquarters has big plans for the convention. The wireless arm of New York-based Verizon Communications is a convention sponsor, and Irvine officials are installing six new cellular sites,three permanent and three portable,in and around Staples Center and the Los Angeles Convention Center. They’re also adding capacity to existing cell sites downtown and near Los Angeles International Airport.
“We are expecting approximately 18,000 additional cell phone users during the convention,” said Regional President Mike Finley. “For most major events, one Verizon Wireless portable cell site is sufficient to meet our customers’ needs. But we are anticipating high call volumes as people confer with colleagues or call friends back home.”
As well, Verizon Wireless’ “significant event response team” is working with local public safety officials to provide them free cell phones, airtime and engineering support.
“The undercover cops are using our cellular phones,” said Andrew Colley, a spokesman for Verizon’s Irvine office. LA Convention 2000, the host organizer, has promised to provide the Democratic Convention with $35.3 million in goods and services. But only a few of the 80 sponsors have close ties to Orange County, including The Boeing Co., Cisco Systems Inc. and Sempra Energy, parent company of San Diego Gas & Electric, which provides electricity to south Orange County. Another sponsor is Edison International, which provides most of the county’s electricity and has two key subsidiaries in Irvine, Edison Mission Energy and Edison Capital. Edison International Chairman John Bryson is vice chairman of the host committee.
“We view the convention, regardless of whether Democrat or Republican, as an economic benefit to the region that we serve,” Edison spokesman Gil Alexander said.
Ben Austin, spokesman for LA Convention 2000, said the four-day fest is expected to bring $132 million in economic benefits to Southern California. That’s slightly higher than the $100 million the Republicans brought to Philadelphia because the Democrats’ show starts earlier each day, to target East Coast audiences. Austin said this leaves more time for the delegates to party on the town afterwards. “It will benefit the entire region,” Austin said. “Delegates will come in and take their families to places like Disneyland.”
But Disneyland officials aren’t exactly courting conventioneers. They haven’t set up as much as a booth at the Convention Center. And while Disneyland has special tours for other LA events such as the Rose Bowl, Disneyland is planning no Fantasyland for these delegates. “I’m sure the delegates will be quite busy and they won’t have the time,” said Chela Castano-Lenahan, a Disneyland spokeswoman. Perhaps OC’s best-known businessman among Democrats is Roger W. Johnson, former chairman and chief executive of Western Digital Corp. For three years, Johnson served as director of the U.S. General Services Administration under President Clinton. Johnson said he plans to attend the convention but wasn’t aware of any OC businesses partaking in the event.
A number of other prominent OC firms said they aren’t involved, such as Fluor Corp. and The Irvine Company, which while considered a Republican stalwart, recently contributed to Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat. Both the Republicans and the Democrats are scrambling to get the blessings of the high-tech industry. But OC’s biggest company by market capitalization, chip maker Broadcom Corp., isn’t participating at all in the convention.
“Our executives keep their politics in their own house and don’t make it a company thing,” said a Broadcom spokesperson. “The employees don’t like it. They don’t want their management to tell them what to do.” By working with reporters at the convention, PacifiCare is hoping it can frame an important public issue before the public. Mason said a million elderly people have lost their health plans because doctors, hospitals or the health plans themselves don’t want to participate in the Medicare program, claiming it’s not adequately funded. “The Democrats and Republicans are talking about a drug benefit and a lot of folks think that before they do that, they should put more money back into the current Medicare system,” Mason said. n
