Fred Dombo Discusses Impact of Republican National Convention Going Virtual

Fred Dombo was quoted in The Hill article, “'Trump Show' Convention Sparks Little Interest On K Street.” The article looks at how many in the lobbying industry aren’t expecting any major policy announcements at this year’s Republican convention, despite GOP officials touting a surprise factor for each night of the convention.

Commenting for the article, Fred said that a virtual convention will give Trump and the party full control of the week’s activities, to the detriment of clientele. “Who is getting the most attention is funneled more through the organizers now,” he said. “In the past, I had clients who were able to do outside events that were fairly prominent, and they were able to get a good amount of attention to their cause by putting on an event that had big names and rock star entertainment. Now, it’s a lot harder to fight for that attention.”

He added that conventions are mostly about visibility and interfacing with officials. But that is largely what lobbyists do regularly in Washington. “It’s networking, it’s the kind of stuff we do Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday nights at home in D.C. There’s a bunch of them compressed into one week at conventions and it can be pretty grueling. Some of the lobbyists who are a little grayer are probably relieved,” he said.