Recently Denver Post columnist Bill Husted reported Denver convention organizer, lobbyist Steve Farber, saying there could be as many as 1,000 parties in the mile high city when the Democratic convention comes to town next month. And that’s just Denver, not counting the Republican convention in Minneapolis. I couldn’t possibly get to all of them, even if I were invited, which I’m not.

With the conventions coming soon, caterers are busy preparing for events sponsored by the likes of Qwest, Coca Cola, Xcel, Amgen, Teletch, JP Morgan, the American Wind Energy Association, the Wind Energy Institute, Target, CH2MHIll, and unions such the Service Employees International Union and United Food and Commercial Workers.

CQ Politics reports that the lobbying firms will all be out in force, too, including Farber’s employer, Brownstein Hyatt Farber & Schreck, which is hosting a big blow out at the Denver Art Museum on opening night. Patton Boggs will throw a party at Bar Standard, “a brand new Art Deco club,” in Denver, and at St. Paul’s Landmark Center, “a century-old Post Office and courthouse renovated into a cultural center,” in Minneapolis.

What gives? Doesn’t the new ethics law–the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007–specifically say that lobbyists can’t throw parties honoring specific lawmakers at the political conventions anymore?

Yes, the law says that. But these companies and organizations seem to be going with the flow, figuring out how to throw parties that meet the letter of the law while still being able to court access.

First, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct says that parties are allowed that do not occur on the actual days of the conventions, and second, parties honoring a state delegation or multiple lawmakers (PDF). Fundraising events are also outside the scope of the law (PDF). So are “widely-attended events”—receptions where food is limited to hors d’oeuvres, beverages and “similar food of nominal value.”

The Senate Committee on Ethics’ guidance is a bit more strict than the House’s, specifically prohibiting lobbyist-funded parties for multiple lawmakers (PDF). However, parties are still permissible for days before and after the conventions. They are also allowed for parties where a lawmaker is honored along with people who are not members of Congress (PDF).

Here at Party Time, we’re watching all the party planning for the two cities, Denver and Minneapolis, with a mix of awe and trepidation. Awe because of the massive amount of work involved–see this excerpt from a report from specialevents.com:

Many in the Denver event community are already hard at work. Epicurean Culinary Group, based in Centennial, Colo., has 57 events on the books specifically for convention week, notes chief operating officer Greg Karl. The company’s Epicurean Catering arm is handling 35 projects, the largest of which will be a 15,000-guest event for media from throughout the world. The Epicurean Entertainment arm is catering 10 events at Invesco Field at Mile High stadium, where the Denver Broncos football team plays, while Epicurean @ DCPA is catering nine events at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. For Sen. Barack Obama’s Aug. 28 acceptance speech at Mile High, 45 years to the day since Martin Luther King Jr.’s landmark “I Have a Dream” speech, the company will cater 140 executive suites on site.

The trepidation is because of the sang-froid we must rally when preparing ourselves for trying to crash–and report on–these parties. What to wear, especially when you know you are not welcome?