Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) | Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Republicans tried to control fears surrounding next month’s Republican National Convention on Tuesday, a day after the Jacksonville sheriff warned he could not keep people safe without an infusion of help and money.
Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, played down Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams’ warning during an appearance on CNN Tuesday.
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“We are confident it will be a great event, a great series of events over the course of four days and it will be safe,” Murtaugh said. “The police in Jacksonville will have access to a large amount of federal money.”
Murtaugh’s reasoning, however, included an example refuted by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
“Law enforcement officers in the city of Jacksonville have a lot of experience providing security for large-scale events,” said Murtaugh, noting that the Jacksonville Jaguars can take 70,000 people to a soccer stadium. “I’m pretty sure he can handle security at an event like the Republican National Convention.”
Jacksonville Sheriff Pat Ivey said comparing a football game to a political convention was “apples and oranges.” Police authorities have a plug-and-play plan that they have used for decades to handle sporting events. The multi-night political gathering, by contrast, will require meals and hotel rooms and thousands of people.
“This is a much bigger animal,” said Ivey. One of the logistical challenges is that organizers are looking to move events from the downtown Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena to a nearby soccer stadium or minor league baseball park.
The presidential nomination convention has been in constant motion since Republicans moved major events, including Trump’s acceptance speech, out of North Carolina amid a dispute with Governor Roy Cooper over security restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, coronavirus infections have exploded in Florida. Jacksonville has imposed a mask mandate on residents, and convention organizers have limited the number of attendees.
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, a former Florida Republican Party chair who helped court convention events away from Charlotte, North Carolina, said he is working to ensure that the city has enough staff to enforce the convention law and any possible protests. The city also expects more than $ 30 million in federal grant funds to pay for security costs.
Curry said he was not surprised by Williams’ decision to publicly express his concerns, saying “he knows what he’s talking about, clearly.”
“The position he takes that we are not prepared for this right now, yes, I agree with him,” Curry told reporters on Tuesday. “However, he has also communicated that he continues to work with planners to set this up safely and to get the resources he needs.”
Senator Rick Scott, a Republican and former Florida governor for two terms, praised Williams as a “very good sheriff” and said the responsibility for a safe convention will rest with many.
“The RNC, the Trump campaign, the mayor, the sheriff, I know they are going to work together to do everything they can to have a safe convention,” Scott told Fox Business on Tuesday.
Matt Dixon contributed to this report.
