HOUSTON – While Houston’s mayor has expressed little concern over recent political assemblies in his city, he evidently believes it’s too risky for the Republican Party of Texas to hold a convention next week.
Citing health concerns, Mayor Sylvester Turner announced the cancelation of the convention, which was expected to draw roughly 6,000 people, yesterday.
The following day, the RPT filed a lawsuit against Turner, Houston First Corporation, and the City of Houston for breach of contract and applied for a writ of mandamus requiring the city to honor its contract.
The convention was supposed to be held from July 13 to July 18 at the George R. Brown Convention Center. The RPT first contracted with HFC two years ago to use the venue.
The RPT is seeking an injunction requiring the George R. Brown to comply with the binding contract and is requesting a temporary restraining order preventing the city from restricting the convention’s events or using COVID-19 as a pretext to cancel the convention.
The RPT asserts Turner’s use of the Force Majeure clause in the contract is just a pretext to his intent to treat the RPT differently than other groups.
“It should go without saying that a political viewpoint cannot be the basis for unequal treatment,” a RPT press release states. “Mayor Turner publicly stated his intention to interrupt the convention process and disenfranchise Republicans around the state, and yesterday he put his scheme into action.”
The RPT contends Turner dug through the contract in order to find a way to shut the convention down and changed Health Department guidelines to impose additional requirements on the Republican Party that he did not impose on other organizations.
According to the suit, the RPT had been in constant contact with the facility and worked cooperatively to implement common-sense safety measures to facilitate a safe and productive convention experience for its delegates and guests.
“Turner and Houston are treating RPT differently than other groups,” the suit states “Mayor Turner showed no significant virus spread concern during other recent political assemblies, never once threatening any unconstitutional draconian regulations as he has with the RPT.
“For example, during the George Floyd protests, Houston hosted significant political protests without Turner’s condemnation or significant new edicts for public discourse.”
The RPT is represented by Norred Law and the Fulton Strahan Law Group.
The suit was filed in Harris County District Court.