San Diego Seals Deal for GOP Convention : Politics: Offer of $13 million plus in-kind services is key factor. City hopes the event will bring in $100 million.
WASHINGTON — As expected, Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour announced Friday that his party will hold its 1996 national convention in San Diego.
“We think it will be the perfect place to showcase the energy and ideas of our party and to showcase our nominees for President and vice president of the United States,†Barbour said.
The GOP named San Diego as its choice for the convention in December pending the end of negotiations over how much money the city will contribute to the event. It is scheduled to be held for four days between Aug. 10 and 16, 1996.
“It’s a great moment for San Diego and all Californians,†said Gov. Pete Wilson, a former mayor of San Diego. “The GOP wisely selected America’s finest city.â€
San Diego nearly landed the event in 1972 and 1992.
“I will tell you, San Diego has been a bridesmaid in this process twice before,†said Barbour, who credited San Diego Mayor Susan Golding with sealing the deal.
Golding made it plain to the Republican National Committee that San Diego would do whatever it takes to make the convention successful, Barbour said.
It will take $11.5 million, according to Golding, who plans to raise the money through private donors, along with an additional $1.5 million through a dedicated sales and room tax in the city.
“San Diego will be supplying the services: public safety, fire, paramedics, the transportation,†Golding said.
The contribution of city services and in-kind donations from private firms is difficult to put a price tag on, she said.
That cost will be offset by the $100-million economic infusion the convention will bring to San Diego, according to an estimate by the mayor’s office.
Gerry Parsky, a San Diego financier, will lead efforts to raise the $11.5 million as head of the host committee. So far, he said, the state has not committed any financial help.
Parsky plans a broad fund-raising appeal. He hopes that it will “demonstrate to the nation that California and the city of San Diego really want to put on a first-class convention.â€
“Corporations and people have actually called and said they want to help,†Golding added.
Golding’s office issued a triumphant statement quoting the mayor as saying the nominating convention will allow the city to “show how San Diego is fast becoming the first great city of the 21st Century.â€
In 1972, in the early days of Wilson’s reign as mayor, the city was tentatively selected for the Republican convention only to see it moved to Miami with scant 90 days notice because of the Dita Beard-ITT scandal.
Although San Diego had been named in December as the tentative winner after a competition with San Antonio and New Orleans, a flurry of rumors in the last two weeks indicated that a snag had occurred and that the city might again lose out at the last moment.
This put the San Diego negotiating team, led by Golding, into overdrive to make sure an agreement was reached. In the process, the deal offered by the San Diego host committee, a bevy of well-heeled business people, was sweetened by several million dollars.
New York City was also reportedly under consideration until Mayor Rudolph Guiliani endorsed incumbent Democrat Mario Cuomo in that state’s gubernatorial race in November.
Times staff writer Tony Perry in San Diego contributed to this report. Roberson works for States News Service.
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