It's A Little Premature

Houston Mayor @SylvesterTurner directs city to explore legal options for canceling in-person @TexasGOP convention https://t.co/GOSN3hsRce

— Cassi Pollock (@cassi_pollock) July 8, 2020

...to enjoy the thought of this, but I do.

Obviously I back Mayor Turner's stance.  I didn't expect him to come around to this, though it would have been my first thought if I were in his position. The state GOP is so far offering nothing but bluster:

Party Chair James Dickey responded later Wednesday, criticizing Turner for "seeking to deny a political Party's critical electoral function" after the mayor recently allowed protesters to demonstrate there "without any of the safety precautions and measures we have taken."

Dickey also said the party's legal team was assessing the city's ability to cancel the convention and weighing its legal options.

"We are prepared to take all necessary steps to proceed in the peaceable exercise of our constitutionally protected rights," Dickey said in a statement.

There are no constitutional issues at all, here.  The city has an absolute right to prohibit the peaceful assembly of people when there are public health grounds to do so.  The GOP is not being denied the right to hold its convention; they're just being told they can't hold it in the George R. Brown convention center in Houston, Texas.  The City of Houston has good and defensible reasons for banning such a gathering (public health of all persons involved, especially hotel and convention center staff and employees), and I'm sure they can find some reasons to void the contract without putting the convention center into a breach of contract posture.

Or rather, in a defensible breach of contract posture.

For some reason the state GOP has determined this is the hill they want to die on, even as none of the GOP elected officials in the state want to be there.  It's a puzzlement to me, but I hope Mayor Turner finds his grounds and makes his move.  We have a goddamned crisis in this city, and all the GOP wants to do is to pour kerosene on the fire.

OOPS!

If you read the tweet carefully, you saw the photo caption didn't match my commentary.  Seems the story's been updated:

The Republican Party of Texas' in-person convention next week has been canceled, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Wednesday.

The news came after Turner directed the city's legal department to work with the Houston First Corp., which operates the George R. Brown Convention Center, to review the contract with the state party.

Turner said officials with Houston First sent a letter this afternoon to the State Republican Executive Committee, the state party's governing board, canceling the gathering, which was set to happen July 16-18 and was expected to draw roughly 6,000 attendees.

I'd dance in the streets if I wasn't 65 and wearing cowboy boots.  And if I could dance.  Combine the three, and the men in the white coats would scoop me off the street before the Lovely Wife could yell at me to get back inside and quit acting such a damned fool.

Now whether there's enough room in there for the GOP to get an injunction is another question.  Certainly time, yet; but still, I admire the backbone of the Mayor.