Charlotte may pay millions in damages if it cancels RNC
If the city of Charlotte tries to shut down the Republican National Convention because of concerns about coronavirus, it could cost tens of millions of dollars in damages.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles have not answered whether the convention will take place in uptown in August. Both have said the decision will be based on safety and data.
But under a contract the city signed two years ago, RNC organizers could ask the courts to force Charlotte to host the event or pay millions of dollars in damages if city leaders don’t allow the event to happen, according to Charlotte’s head attorney and three city council members.
Republican City Council member Ed Driggs told the Observer that a city attorney has told officials there is a likelihood the courts would rule against Charlotte if it did not follow the terms of the contract.
“It is not going to be easy for anyone to say ‘We’re out,’” Driggs said. “This is a legal, commercial and political minefield.”
Charlotte did not include a so-called “act of God” clause in its agreement with the RNC, which would allow it to call off the event due to unforeseen disasters. While some large events have such clauses, it is not common for political conventions to include them, lawyers said.
Charlotte City Council member Dimple Ajmera said it is regrettable that officials failed to protect the city by including such language. Hosting a political convention in the midst of a global pandemic poses a serious risk to public health, Ajmera said.
“Many contracts have that (provision),” she said. “I wish we did. That would allow us to pull out.”
City of Charlotte attorney Patrick Baker said the RNC contract was intentionally structured — two years before the coronavirus spread across the globe — so that it would be difficult for either side to cancel.
“The contract is designed so the two sides are substantially bound together,” said Baker, who came to Charlotte in 2019 after the deal was done. “The terms are mutual.”
Before coronavirus, convention organizers expected the RNC would draw as many as 50,000 people to Charlotte. Under the second phase of Cooper’s reopening plan, however, indoor gatherings of more than 10 people are prohibited.
Charlotte likely would not face the same legal jeopardy if Cooper keeps the rules against large gatherings in place, Baker and other officials said. The city cannot execute a contract that violates state law, they said.
But if Cooper allows large crowds prior to the RNC, Charlotte officials could be left to decide between guarding public health and the threat of a lawsuit if they attempt to halt the convention.
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen, who has helped lead the Cooper administration’s response to coronavirus, declined to be interviewed for this story.
Lyles did not respond to a request for an interview.
A spokeswoman for the RNC also did not reply to a request for comment.
Charlotte-RNC agreement
Mecklenburg County has become the epicenter for coronavirus in North Carolina, with roughly 3,600 confirmed cases and 86 deaths as of Wednesday — more than twice as many infections as any other county.
The contract between the city and the RNC Host Committee spells out, in detail, things like security, insurance policies and parking. While an “act of God” clause would be useful for the city now, that provision is not commonly included in deals to host national political conventions, said three lawyers who represented cities that hosted them.
Contracts between cities and conventions are often one-sided in favor of the convention committee, said David Fine, who was Denver’s city attorney when it hosted the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Cities are often eager to host the event as a point of pride, which can allow the political party to dictate terms, he said.
“When I saw the agreements in Denver I just said ‘Jeez, these are terrible for the city.’ But there’s really no other option,” he said.
In the past, convention agreements haven’t needed to consider pandemics, according to John Choi, who was the St. Paul, Minn. attorney when it hosted the Republican National Convention in 2008.
Ultimately, even if the provisions to cancel the event aren’t written into a contract, an official with emergency authority, like Gov. Cooper, could cancel the convention and the city would not likely be liable, Choi said.
Health risk?
President Trump has threatened to move the event to another state unless “full attendance” is allowed.
On Thursday, the Republican National Committee issued a letter to Cooper demanding he approve and provide safety guidelines by June 3. Cooper’s administration responded Friday, asking for more detail about the RNC’s plans.
With thousands expected to attend from across the country, health experts warn that any transmission of the virus at the convention could lead to a resurgence of the virus not only in Charlotte, but across the country. Large gatherings like conventions are environments where coronavirus can spread quickly from person to person.
“Anytime you have a lot of people in an enclosed building, you are asking for trouble,” said Dr. John Allbert, president of the Mecklenburg County Medical Society.
Convention-goers and workers would risk contracting the virus and then infecting their families and others, he said.
“As a citizen and a physician, my preference is that they do not (hold the convention) in a traditional way. They should do it on Zoom,” Allbert said. “The problem with a convention is that you could get a spike in cases that is difficult to control.”
Until a vaccine is developed, mass gatherings should be halted unless organizers can prove they can guarantee participants use social distancing, said Dennis Taylor, president of the North Carolina Nurses Association.
Ensuring social distancing during a political convention is likely to be extremely difficult, given the huge crowds, he said.
“It could be exposing your community to significant risks,” Taylor said.
According to a letter obtained by the Charlotte Observer, Cohen asked the RNC CEO for a COVID-19-specific safety plan Monday, indicating that the state is operating as though the event could go forward. The convention is scheduled Aug. 24-27 at the Spectrum Center.
Convention organizers are asking Cooper to approve multiple safety protocols, including daily online health care questionnaires, pre-travel healthy surveys, thermal scans of all mandatory attendees prior to boarding sanitized, pre-arranged transportation and health checks before attendees can enter the arena, according to the letter they sent to Cooper and Charlotte leaders.
The letter says organizers will keep safety “foremost in mind.” It does not indicate the event would be scaled down, nor does it mention social distancing or face coverings, which have been used to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“A successful convention per RNC rules require delegates, alternates, elected officials, guests and media to be in attendance as President Trump is nominated for a second term,” the letter says.
Split opinion
Before the pandemic, the Rev. Rodney Sadler, one of the leaders of the Charlotte Clergy Coalition for Justice, met with Mayor Lyles to try to persuade her that the convention should not take place in Charlotte because of the threat of violent protests.
At the time, Sadler said, Lyles told him that she supported the RNC, which could bring economic benefits to Charlotte. Lyles, a Democrat with significant bipartisan support, has struck a balance between Trump’s politics and the RNC in the past, arguing that the RNC would stimulate business, a claim with limited support from past conventions.
But now coronavirus has added urgency to Sadler’s pleas to halt the gathering.
“It is immoral to bring a convention with 50,000 people to town in the middle of a pandemic,” Sadler said. “It puts our city at increased risk. If it doesn’t make sense to have a basketball game with fans, why would you bring a one-week political rally?”
Driggs, the Charlotte City Council member, said there have been no formal discussions among city leaders about halting the convention.
Charlotte City Council member Malcolm Graham said it would be irresponsible to have a full-blown traditional political convention.
“Given where we are, to have an event with 50,000 people is clearly not in the best interest of attendees, not in the best interest of front-line workers and not in the best interest of the community,” Graham said. “That goes for all events and not just the RNC.”
But Graham acknowledged that Charlotte has contractual obligations to meet. He said he wants the event to be “the right scale and scope.”
Charlotte City Council member Tariq Bokhari said it is far too soon to know with certainty if it would be safe host a convention.
“Anyone who tells you they know what will happen three months from now is simply playing politics,” Bokhari said.
He said the city could find itself in a legal fight if officials try to halt the event.
“The way contracts are written, someone is going to be left holding the bag,” Bokhari said. “Millions of dollars have already (been spent). You would have to make the other side whole.”
This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 10:43 AM.