Feb. 11, 2003 -  FORT WORTH, Texas -- An effort to stop city officials from moving forward with financing a convention center hotel without a public vote was largely bankrolled by the company responsible for running the downtown Radisson Plaza hotel. 

A petition drive for the effort, described by organizers as a grassroots movement, cost more than $109,000, according to the latest financial report filed with the city secretary's office. 

The report notes only three contributions totaling $85,000 from a single company -- the Dallas-based Ashford Financial Corp., a holding company that owns Remington Hotel Corp., which manages the Radisson. The report details costs for the petition effort between Oct. 22 and Dec. 31 last year. 

The funding source behind the petition drive should come as little surprise because the company is involved in running the Radisson, said Steve Hollern, chairman of the nonprofit Citizens for Taxpayers Rights group that started the petition. 

"If the [convention center hotel] proposal moves forward, it would dump another 600 rooms on the market. It doesn't take a genius to figure out the existing businesses would be compromised by this," Hollern said. 

More money will have to be raised to cover the difference between the $85,000 contributed by Ashford and the $109,925.31 spent by the nonprofit group, he said. 

Contributions paid for setting up an office, developing a campaign Web site, putting calls out to the public, doing research and public relations, and putting out ads, according to the document. 

Officials with the Radisson and Ashford could not be reached for comment Monday. 

Organizers started the petition drive last year after city officials announced an intention to finance a 600-room convention center hotel by issuing $160 million in debt without getting voter approval. 

The outcry began with criticism by a few local hoteliers but grew into a well-funded petition drive to force the issue to a referendum. Under the City Charter, a successful petition must include signatures from 5 percent of registered voters -- or about 14,500 signatures -- to force a referendum. 

Within weeks, organizers of the "Let Us Vote" movement stationed activists with petitions at various sites throughout the city. They had collected more signatures than needed by mid-December. 

"This is a highly risky project that would cost a lot of money -- and likely lose money," Hollern said. "This is a policy issue the voters have a right to have a say about." 

The City Council delayed its decision and formed a citizens committee to study the issue. That committee is expected to make a recommendation by July on whether the city should build the hotel. 

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(c) 2003, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.