N.C. city leaders privately questioned whether Trump-headlined convention was worth it: docs

When former President Donald Trump and other prominent presidential candidates come to town, local governments often find themselves expending significant public resources to ensure public safety.

Greensboro, N.C., was no different when the North Carolina Republican Party Convention came to town in June, and city officials enlisted its understaffed police force to provide security for thousands of visitors and three presidential candidate headliners — Trump included.

But in the days leading up to the event, Greensboro began asking, is it all worth it?

After all, the convention would end up costing the city about $45,000 for 1,150 police officer work hours.

“Do we get reimbursed any of our additional expenses for security from the GOP?” Tammi Thurm, a councilwoman for the City of Greensboro, wrote to the city’s police chief and assistant city manager on June 7.

Raw Story obtained the email through a City of Greensboro public records request.

Thurm later followed up: “In a time where we are so short handed, and OT budgets are limited, we need to figure out if the [Convention and Visitors Bureau] should still be recruiting these events to Greensboro, or if they cost us too much.”

Greensboro’s concerns come at a time when cash-strapped municipalities across the country find themselves paying tens of thousands — even hundreds of thousands — of dollars to provide public safety coverage for Trump campaign visits.

But Trump’s campaign has almost universally refused to help defray the unexpected public safety costs stemming from his rallies at a time when he’s facing 78 felonies across three criminal cases.

Trump’s campaign has to date racked up millions in public safety bills from his MAGA rallies that his campaign neglected to pay, with his campaign arguing that its under no obligation to pay them.

The presidential campaigns of Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who headlined the North Carolina convention, could have volunteered campaign funds to cover security costs incurred for their visits. The North Carolina GOP that hosted the event could’ve chipped in, too.

But they didn’t.

‘Plan for contingencies’

Nathaniel “Trey” Davis, an assistant city manager for the City of Greensboro, replied to Thurm’s email and explained that reimbursement for such events has been a “challenge” in the past.

He pointed to the Greensboro Department police chief to “add some context on recent successes.”

“We are working with staff from the NC GOP to coordinate our security and response for the event, which includes who will bear the cost for the services,” John Thompson, Greensboro Police Department chief of police, replied in a June 7 email. “In most dignitary visits we never fully recoup the costs as we have to plan for contingencies typically not covered for the event.”

In an interview with Raw Story, Thurm explained that political event-related police expenditures have “traditionally” been a “city expense” that the taxpayers will cover. The City of Greensboro didn’t send a bill to the Trump, Pence or DeSantis campaigns or the North Carolina GOP as many other municipalities have done in similar situations, with limited success.

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“It's always a concern when you're short staffed to have to dedicate people to be at certain places at certain times, that kind of thing, but it's what we do as a city,” Thurm said. “It's our obligation to protect the public and that's the role we have to fulfill.”

Since the convention was a state-level event, Thurm said the city wasn’t eligible for federal reimbursement of public safety costs.

“Just the GOP convention, it's just kind of our obligation,” Thurm said. “There's a function in our city — support that and work with those function sponsors to make sure that everything goes smoothly for them.”

The Greensboro Police Department said in a statement in response to Raw Story’s open records request, “GPD was involved in the GOP convention. There was no contract. It was treated as one of our normal dignitary visits using on-duty and activated Greensboro Police Department resources. There were no financial or contractual transactions between the Greensboro Police Department and the GOP.”

When asked how a $45,000 expense plays into the city’s broad budget, Thurm said, “Every dollar should be significant to the taxpayers, but in the grand scheme of things, $45,000 is not a huge amount of money in our budget. What's more taxing is the hours for police officers, when we're short staffed anyway, to have to be committed to events and traffic control, but that's true whether it's the convention or whether it's a major concert or some other function.”

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Thurm said she anticipates Greensboro will continue to host events such as the North Carolina GOP Convention. The upside to these events is that they attract visitors who spend money and support the local economy.

“It's a good thing for our community. Certainly, we welcome visitors to our community, and the dollars they spend, it helps offset the hotel motel taxes, helps offset these expenses,” Thurm said. “I can't say whether or not it covered it all, but certainly we had thousands of people come here and stay in our hotels and eat at our restaurants and shop in Greensboro, and that's a good thing.”

The North Carolina GOP did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

Trump visits often cost small-town taxpayers

From far-right Republican Ted Cruz to far-left Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, some presidential candidates have voluntarily paid public safety bills using campaign money.

Trump, Pence or DeSantis’s campaign could have all used their campaign funds to contribute to Greensboro’s costs, but Trump, in particular, is known for avoiding paying for public safety costs related to his speaking engagements, particularly MAGA rallies.

Take Erie, Pa.

Officials there are still trying to get Trump to pay for a $35,129.27 bill from 2018 for overtime pay that city workers, including police officers, earned for covering his previous rally. When he came to town in late July, the city tried billing him upfront for $5,200 for police overtime costs, Raw Story reported.

When Trump first didn’t pay his 2018 bill in Erie, the Center for Public Integrity reported that Trump had not only stiffed Erie but also hadn’t paid $841,219 total to various city governments. The campaign’s unpaid bills grew to nearly $2 million by December 2020, Insider reported.

Cities including Minneapolis and El Paso, Texas, have threatened or pursued legal action against the Trump campaign to no avail.

RELATED ARTICLE: Tiny South Carolina town officials at odds over eating $40K in costs after Trump visit

And some cities are still footing the bill to protect Trump, his supporters and the community, writ large. Among them: Manchester, N.H., where 35 officers supported a Trump hotel rally on April 27 — clocking in 216.5 hours of overtime that cost an estimated $12,870 — for which the city government covered the costs, according to records obtained by Raw Story.

In recent months, city governments have taken note of Trump’s debts and used creative techniques to ensure Trump pays up front.

They include Waco, Texas, where the Trump campaign settled up a $60,714.27 bill for a March rally on city property.

Trump, who leads all polls for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is continuing to have an active campaign and speaking schedule despite facing several legal battles, including two federal indictments. This week it was announced that Trump was charged with four felony counts in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection and his alleged effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election. He also faces 39 felony counts related to the alleged willful retention of classified documents and conspiracy to conceal, along with felony business record falsification charges in New York City stemming from a "hush money" payment.

Officials in Fulton County, Georgia, are also investigating whether Trump tampered with the results of the state’s 2020 presidential vote.

Trump’s campaign did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment at the time of publication.