WASHINGTON — It’s not cheap, but the fastest way to score prime tickets for inauguration weekend is to raise money — lots of money — for the winning presidential candidate.
Just ask John Morgan, the Central Florida attorney and fundraiser extraordinaire for President Barack Obama.
“I think I’m invited to everything,” said Morgan, who raised about $2.6 million for Obama’s re-election (including hosting a fundraiser headlined by “Margaritaville” singer Jimmy Buffett).
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Morgan said his red-carpet treatment includes a reception at Vice President Joe Biden’s home, four tickets to the inaugural ball and VIP bleacher seats for the inauguration.
“I like those three letters [VIP] very much. I don’t know [exactly] where [the seats] are but I’m OK with them,” said Morgan, a personal-injury lawyer best known for his “For the People” commercials.
Meanwhile, another local high-roller has a bit farther to travel than four years ago.
In 2009, Central Florida homebuilder Bob Mandell cheered Obama from a seat less than 100 feet from the podium — a reward for helping raise at least $200,000 for Obama’s campaign and giving $50,000 for the inauguration ceremony.
Mandell is listed again this year as a benefactor for the ceremony (the dollar amount hasn’t been released). But getting to Washington is going to require a plane ride from overseas.
The reason? Mandell was picked by Obama in 2011 to serve as U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg.
In fact, Mandell is bringing a guest. He’s escorting Luxembourg’s finance minister to the inauguration and other events.
The inauguration is a “reflection of our country and our democracy,” he said. “What a great way to celebrate the way we live.”
Like Mandell, Morgan said he was approached with the possibility of applying to work for the administration or become an ambassador, but the Lake Mary resident said he wasn’t interested.
“I’m not a bureaucrat. I don’t like committees, and I don’t like meetings, and I don’t like the cold,” Morgan said.
Prior to the official inauguration, Florida lawmakers from both political parties gathered Saturday at a posh dinner near the National Mall hosted by two Sunshine State nonprofits: the Florida State Society and the Florida House, a self-described “embassy” for Floridians on Capitol Hill.
The seafood-heavy menu included a slate of Florida favorites — garlic-rubbed black grouper and Clementine cupcakes were just two — and tickets were sold out. It was $500 for dinner, dessert and dancing and $200 for those skipping dinner.
About 250 people were expected to eat dinner with another 400 slated to come later. Underwriting the cost — taxpayer money wasn’t spent — were donations from special interests such as CSX and the Florida Sugar Cane League.
The hosts said they were successful in attracting more than a dozen Florida politicians, including U.S. Reps. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, and Ron DeSantis, R-Ponte Vedra Beach, as well as U.S. Reps. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, and Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville.
“We think it’s quite the coup to bring the different viewpoints together,” said Bart Hudson, president of the Florida House. He said eating dinner together “can only help” in trying to bridge the stark divisions between Republicans and Democrats.
But the glitzy VIP route isn’t the only way Central Floridians are taking in the inauguration festivities.
Grayson participated in “The Peoples’ Inauguration” on Saturday, alongside other liberal Democrats.
Though not really an inauguration — it was a series of panel lectures — the event included talks with titles such as “Climate Summit: Windmills not Bombs,” “Green Economy” and “Organizing for Main St. not Wall St.” — where Grayson was listed as a speaker.
Grayson said the focus of his talk was on doing right by the nation’s neediest.
“We need to carry out the 3,000-year-old imperatives of every just society: to feed the hungry, to shelter the homeless and to heal the sick,” Grayson said.
mkmatthews@tribune.com or 202-824-8222
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