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A logo of the Republican Party’s first-ever midterm convention is displayed at the American Airlines Center.<\/p>\n
Tom Fox\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Mayor Starke Taylor on a tour of the work preparing the Dallas Convention Center for the Republican political gathering in August 1984.<\/p>\n
Evans Caglage – staff photog.\/3920<\/p>\n
Dallas has hosted a Republican convention before. It also learned that \u201cprivately financed\u201d does not necessarily spare taxpayers.<\/p>\n
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City and civic leaders promoted the 1984 Republican National Convention as a \u201cfree enterprise\u201d gathering that would be paid for with private donations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Dallas taxpayers ultimately absorbed between $1 million and $1.5 million in convention-related expenses, according to news reports at the time\u00a0 <\/a>and a 2014 account by The Dallas Morning News<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Forty-two years later, as President Donald Trump brings Republicans back to Dallas, the question of what taxpayers<\/a> could be asked to pay has returned.<\/p>\n Dallas expects to seek reimbursement for city resources used during Trump\u2019s\u00a0Sept. 9\u201310 Republican midterm convention<\/a> at the American Airlines Center. But officials have not said who they would ask to repay the city, how much Dallas could recover or what the event might cost.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m hoping to hear more because I keep asking, when are we gonna know what they\u2019re doing?\u201d City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert said Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n Asked again Sunday whether city taxpayers would bear any convention costs, Tolbert said she and Police Chief Daniel Comeaux expect \u201cany requests for enhanced security during the GOP convention to be accompanied with appropriate reimbursements and resources.\u201d<\/p>\n A local host committee has been formed to raise private money for the convention, which organizers estimate could cost as much as $40 million,\u00a0The News reported<\/a> in July.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The committee says it wants to \u201cdefray the costs to the local government.\u201d It has not explained how that would work, leaving unresolved what Dallas could spend on police, security and other city services or how much would be reimbursed.<\/p>\n The uncertainty recalls the financial aftermath of the 1984 convention, when Republicans nominated President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush for reelection.<\/p>\n When Dallas first pursued the convention, Mayor Jack Evans said he told Republican officials that because the Dallas government was nonpartisan, \u201cwe couldn\u2019t spend any taxpayer money. It would have to be done with funds from the private sector,\u201d according to\u00a0an August 1984 account in D Magazine.<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0A billboard with the 1984 Dallas convention logo.<\/p>\n The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Private path<\/p>\n City and business leaders went on to tout it as a \u201cfree enterprise\u201d convention financed entirely with private money raised by the \u201cDallas Convention Fund,\u201d led by developer Trammell Crow.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n An internal Republican National Committee memorandum preserved by the Reagan Presidential Library and Museum <\/a>says the fund was created so the city could accept unlimited contributions, including corporate donations, and pay for Dallas\u2019 contractual commitments.<\/p>\n Even before that August convention, Republicans were worried about how the city could fulfill its convention contract if Crow\u2019s private fundraising efforts fell short and security expenses exceeded projections.<\/p>\n The Jan. 19, 1984, memo, written by RNC Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf Jr. and outlined here for the first time, said Dallas had expressed \u201cgrave concerns\u201d that its security and contingency budgets were \u201cgrossly inadequate.\u201d<\/p>\n The Dallas Municipal Archives<\/a> says the four-day convention drew 2,235 delegates and used the Dallas Convention Center for the nomination votes and main speeches and Reunion Arena for other activities.<\/p>\n A financial report released after the convention put Dallas\u2019 total cost at about $5 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The city received roughly $3.5 million from its convention fund and sought nearly $500,000 more from the Republican Party, leaving taxpayers responsible for between $1 million and $1.5 million, according to an Oct. 22, 1984, national news story preserved by the University of Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n Later accounts placed the final tally at about $1.4 million, mostly for equipment and security.<\/p>\n Contemporaneous media coverage<\/a> and The News\u2019 review of the convention<\/a> recounted then-Mayor Starke Taylor\u2019s defense of the city\u2019s financing plan in 1984.<\/p>\n Starke Taylor, mayor of Dallas during the 1984 Republican National Convention.\u00a0<\/p>\n File 1984<\/p>\n Taylor stood by the convention\u2019s \u201cfree enterprise\u201d description but acknowledged that city leaders should have been clearer about what taxpayers might pay.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n He said the city\u2019s promise had been narrower than some residents understood: \u201cNo city money would be used for \u2018direct\u2019 convention costs.\u201d Those were covered by the privately financed Dallas Convention Fund.<\/p>\n But he said the city would pick up other expenses, including policing downtown demonstrations, purchasing equipment and protecting dignitaries.\u00a0<\/p>\n Taylor classified that spending as ancillary or indirect rather than directly associated with staging the GOP convention.<\/p>\n Critics said the city had not lived up to its much-publicized assertions of relying only on private funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n One council member at the time called the mayor\u2019s distinction \u201ca play on words,\u201d saying a taxpayer bill of as much as $1.5 million did not sound indirect.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n GOP delegates crowding the floor at the Dallas Convention Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jan Sonnenmair – Staff Photog.\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n A stronger promise<\/p>\n When Dallas competed with other cities for the 2016 Republican National Convention, Mayor Mike Rawlings made a more explicit commitment.\u00a0<\/p>\n He pledged that no city tax money would be used if Dallas landed the event, according to The News\u2019 2014 report<\/a>.<\/p>\n The city planned to raise $60 million through several sources. The bid projected that 59% would come from private cash contributions, 8% from private in-kind contributions, 31% from the state\u2019s major-event trust fund and 2% from the Dallas tourism public improvement district, according to archived materials from the 2016 campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n By June 2014, Dallas organizers said they had secured $45 million and said they would raise the full $60 million without using city funds. Dallas ultimately lost the convention to Cleveland.<\/p>\n Mayor Eric Johnson has not made a comparable pledge about this year\u2019s gathering.<\/p>\n At a media reception last week, he promoted Dallas as the host city<\/a> but did not discuss costs, taxpayer exposure or reimbursement.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s gathering differs from national presidential conventions. Those attending are being called delegates, but Trump\u2019s two-day event will conduct no presidential nomination or other official party business.<\/p>\n Dallas developer Ray Washburne is a co-chair of the Dallas Host Committee, a nonprofit that is seeking private contributions for the convention. The committee, in a July 8 news release, said its \u201cmission is to highlight Dallas, support local businesses, defray the costs to the local government and help deliver a safe, welcoming, world-class event.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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