Milwaukee Preparing Agreement For Possible Republican National Convention
Common Council would approve framework agreement to allow formal work with GOP.
Milwaukee City Hall. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
Milwaukee hasn’t been awarded the 2024 Republican National Convention, but that isn’t stopping city officials from lining up the necessary local approvals.
A resolution is pending before the Common Council that would approve a “framework agreement” between the City of Milwaukee and the Republican National Committee.
The new resolution, which has yet to be scheduled for council review, would reduce the last-minute urgency. Mayor Cavalier Johnson‘s office is working with the council on the framework approval.
“Nothing’s been finalized with respect to the contract,” said a spokesperson for Johnson. No attachments are included with the resolution currently. Nashville, the only remaining competing bidder, is believed to be undertaking a similar process.
Politico reported that Milwaukee was the “frontrunner” during a two-day period in February when Republican National Committee members were in Milwaukee for a site visit. But the committee hadn’t visited Nashville at that point. The political news website reported in April that the loser for the 2024 convention bidding process could be quickly awarded the 2028 convention as a result of a party rule change.
The 2019 city-DNC agreement required Milwaukee to coordinate a number of security patrols and escorts, provide safes or other secured containers for storage, create a free speech protest area, provide a network for security cameras, maintain free streetcar service, broadcast the convention on the City Channel (online and on channel 25). It also prohibited the city from selling virtually all convention merchandise and indemnified the committee from the city (and vice versa).
In preparation for a convention that the COVID-19 pandemic effectively canceled, Milwaukee leased two properties to stage police officers, signed agreements with police and fire departments from other cities and states and restricted certain construction activities.
Similar to the DNC, the RNC is estimated to bring approximately 45,000 visitors and a $200 million economic impact to the city.
An actual announcement on which city will host the convention is expected in August. Milwaukee could also still bid for the 2024 DNC.
Legislation Link - Urban Milwaukee members see direct links to legislation mentioned in this article. Join today
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.
Related Legislation: File 220058
More about the 2024 RNC
- Host Committee Raised $92 Million for RNC in Milwaukee - Evan Casey - Nov 27th, 2024
- Officials Admit RNC Issues, But Say Event Was Success - Jeramey Jannene - Oct 1st, 2024
- Council members seeking information on fatal shooting during RNC, details on convention-related arrests, economic impact - Milwaukee Common Council - Jul 23rd, 2024
- Photo Gallery: Scenes from the RNC - Urban Milwaukee - Jul 19th, 2024
- Hulk Hogan, Kid Rock and Donald Trump, Final Day of RNC Veered All Over - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 19th, 2024
- Trump to Wisconsin – ‘I Am Trying To Buy Your Vote’ - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 18th, 2024
- ‘Everyday American’ Diane Hendricks Touts Trump, Her Life Story in RNC Speech - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 18th, 2024
- Bars and Restaurants See Dramatically Mixed Results For RNC Traffic - Sophie Bolich - Jul 18th, 2024
- Young Republicans Say They’re Ready To Lead Wisconsin GOP - Rich Kremer - Jul 18th, 2024
- RNC Preview – Day 4, Thursday July 18 - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 18th, 2024
Read more about 2024 RNC here
Hopefully, Trump doesn’t control the RNC checkbook. He has an issue with paying contractors.
I’m so happy the over-designed Bus Rapid Transit will be finished! Protestors will be wisked downtown so much faster!
This is not the city for RNC convention. But if Milwaukee is selected, best picture from convention will be Cavalier Johnson being hugged by Trump.
Hey, how’s the state legislature doing on voter suppression legislation?
Do you think that 20 people being shot in one night on Water Street and King Drive might have a dampening effect on the Republicans choice of a convention site? Given the circumstances they’d have to be nuts to visit a city suffering the predictable and devastating effects of their pro gun policies.
Mark Twain once said “The art of prophesying is very difficult, especially with respect to the future.” Okay, but here goes. There are at least three reasons to believe that, if successful, Milwaukee’s leaders will regret having been awarded the Republican convention: (1) The Republican Party is no longer a “normal” political party. It is a far-right party, with a leader who is capable of anything, an “armed wing” of militia groups, and racial animus as its driving force. The likelihood of mass disorder – including open “left-right” violence – would seem to be near 100%. Think Chicago 1968, and multiply it by some number. (2) The right-wing media, especially Fox News, will use the convention to paint Milwaukee as a left-wing, violent, minority dominated hell-hole. This will be an opportunity that they can’t resist. (3) Given current levels of violence, especially in neighborhoods adjacent to the convention site, there are two possibilities: first, that the violence continues, doing further damage to Milwaukee’s image, or, second, that there is a “crackdown,” which will have a whole series of negative and long-term consequences. .Not worth it for a short-term economic bump.
There’s very little difference between Republicans and Democrats these days… They start 1-2 new wars every year… They’re owned by big pharma and the health insurance companies… They use inside information to buy and sell stocks… They take billions of dollars worth of bribes from lobbyists… They don’t care about working class Americans… They don’t care about homeless Americans… They spend all day rubbing elbows with billionaires but they wouldn’t touch a blue collar worker with a ten foot pole.
Biden, Pelosi, Hillary, Schumer, Adam Schiff, and Elizabeth Warren are actually more right wing than most Republican in Congress…
Let’s welcome the Republican Party to Milwaukee with open arms.
NieWierKrieig’s “they’re all the same” comment deserves a response both because it is false, but also because lots of people believe it. The modern Democratic Party is far from perfect, and, unmentioned by Nie, its current leadership is, in most cases, too old. But – a huge, possibly existential – “but”:
1) The Democratic Party is not a cult of personality led by a narcissistic, pathologically lying crook who led what is likely to turn out to be the most corrupt administration in American history. The Democratic Party is not seeking to destroy democracy by claiming that a legitimate election won by more than 7 million votes was stolen. It does not have leaders like McConnell, McCarthy, Hawley, Cotton, Johnson, Jordan and others who are either total cynics or openly fascist. It does not have Cawthorns, Greenes and the rest of that cast.
2) The Democratic Party does not have an armed wing of militias, or candidates who are openly advocating for them in case they don’t win the next election. And the Democratic Party does not work to flood our country with guns, including high-powered weapons like the one used in the racist killings in Bufallo
3) The Democratic Party does not block every substantive attempt to deal with the threat of climate change or have elected officials like Ron Johnson and others, who still assert that it is “variable weather” instead of the greatest threat to the planet in our lifetimes. The Democratic Party is not in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry.
4) The Democratic Party does not have – as one of its current election planks – the racist “replacement theory” spawned by Neo-Nazis and spread by Fox News, the Republican propaganda channel (Die: spare me the “what about MSNBC?” number. It is not a “little difference” thing.)
5) The Democratic Party is not – as is the current Republican Party – aligned with the most reactionary and destructive leaders in the world, including Putin, Orban and Bolsonaro in Brazil.
6) The Democratic Party and its appeals are not all driven by the search for scapegoats to explain every problem we face, a rotating cast that runs from Black people to LGBTQ people to immigrants to women, and Nie’s apparent favorite, the hated “liberals,” No solutions, just attacks and lies. A current example, the Democratic Party does not demand that we deny infant formula to migrant babies, i.e., let them starve, as a two-pronged solution to the the border problem and the current infant formula shortages, as do the anti-abortion/right-to-life Republican candidates and Fox News.
7) Nie’s other comments, i.e., wars (which ones does he have in mind?), owned by …., corruption describe Republicans far more than Democrats, but have small kernels of truth. Not caring about “working-class Americans” is the most interesting one. Assuming Nie is referring to “white working class” Americans, rather than all working men and women. It is the biggest Democratic failure. But it is not about “not caring,” it’s about not doing enough. (As opposed to Republicans who have actively built a plutocracy and masked it with appeals to racial animus and blocked all efforts to support working Americans.) Here, the Democratic failure started with Clinton and, sadly, continued with Obama, but has changed with Biden, even though he’s not very good at communicating it. And this positive change is also being driven by Nie’s supposed “right wingers” Biden, Pelosi Warren, plus an exceptional cast of young Democrats like Katie Porter, Joe Mobuse , Jon Ossoff and Ritchie Torres. All in the face of a wall of opposition from the far-right Republicans.
So, tNeWiederkrieg, there is a big difference between an imperfect, flawed party (Democrats) and one that is increasingly anti-Democratic and fascist (term carefully chosen; for a reference see “The Anatomy of Fascism,” by Robert O. Paxton, and the checklist on “What is fascism?,” page 218-220.) It’s an uncomfortable fit with your party of “little difference,” the party which you would like to see welcomed “with open arms.”
Thank you to “frank a schneiger”