Republicans generally have a reputation, not wholly deserved, of being a bunch of puritanical ideologues. It was shocking then to discover they want to party like rock stars next year at their quadrennial political convention.
The Republican National Convention, where an expected 50,000 delegates and spouses, media and other visitors will be in Milwaukee and its environs to attend the selection of the party’s candidate to face off against President Joe Biden’s anticipated reelection run. That’s where Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers proposes bars be allowed to stay open until 4 a.m.
How bleary-eyed convention goers could possibly pick a GOP standard-bearer worthy of U.S. voters would be anybody’s guess. Certainly, it can’t be good for the political process if they’ll be pub crawling until the wee hours during the run of the party’s 2024 gathering, July 15 to July 19. As mothers are wont to warn: Nothing ever good happens at 4 a.m.
Evers, reelected to a second four-year term last year, offered the plan last week, according to multiple media outlets in America’s Dairyland. The proposal would allow bars in 14 counties surrounding Milwaukee, which won out over second-place Nashville, to extend hours to accommodate convention-goers.
Milwaukee, which was to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention before in-person attendance was canceled because of the COVID-19 health crisis, has a dearth of hotel space. So much so that some think Lake County or Cook County might host convention delegations at hotels and have delegates bused from Illinois — where the grass has been greener for a few years — to Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum, where the NBA’s Bucks play.
Or convention backers could convert the near-empty Foxconn properties in Mount Pleasant or a few of those warehouses along Interstate 94 into hostels. Some of them are used by Uline, headquartered in Pleasant Prairie and owned by ultrarich GOP megadonor Richard Uihlein of Lake Forest.
Republicans had a similar lodging situation at the July 1980 party fete in Detroit, where Ronald Reagan was nominated for the presidency. Besides the few Detroit hotels, delegates back then were posted to suburban locales, complete with hospitality suites, even into neighboring Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
If Lake County finds itself in the running for welcoming a delegation or two to next year’s GOP shindig, officials here may debate matching the extended tavern hours. Kenosha, Racine, Walworth and Milwaukee counties, just over the Cheddar Curtain, are four locations where Evers suggests the expansion of late hours for saloons.
Others in the battleground state include such far-flung outposts as Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Jefferson, Ozaukee, Rock, Sheboygan, Washington and Waukesha counties. Current Wisconsin law allows state bars and restaurants to remain open until 2 a.m. on weekdays, 2:30 a.m. during weekends.
Political conventions normally bring a major economic boost to host cities, especially for the hospitality industry, despite the hassles of security concerns and traffic which hordes of political junkies bring with them. Indeed, Chicago has made a bid for the 2024 Democrat convention.
Chicago last hosted a party convention in 1996, when Democrats renominated President Bill Clinton for a second term. It is vying for the party’s OK along with Atlanta and New York City. Party officials are expected to announce the winning site as early as this month.
Evers said he was asked “by the people that are bringing the convention to Milwaukee” to stretch bar hours. The Wisconsin legislature has the final say on the question of longer hours.
The Republican-controlled body rejected a similar measure in 2020 when Democrats were set to celebrate nominating a winning presidential candidate, before it became a less-than exciting virtual event due to the pandemic. Maybe Wisconsin Republicans were afraid of tipsy Democrats roaming across southeast portions of the Badger State.
Which should be a concern when debating extending the hours when liquor can be served. Some may remember when Park City had some of the latest bar hours in Lake County until officials eventually curtailed serving until 6 a.m.
Later closing times for drinking establishments are linked to a host of issues, like DUIs. Unsurprisingly, Evers has worries about the proposal.
“I’m always concerned about drunk driving,” the governor told The Associated Press. “I’m very hopeful that if somebody’s going to a bar in Milwaukee at 4 o’clock in the morning, they’re not driving any place.”
With convention officials expected to use more than 300 hotels and motels within a 60-mile radius of Milwaukee _ putting Lake County square in the hospitality mix _ and 4 a.m. liquor licenses, there’s the possibility of resurrecting the Lake-Kenosha line’s “blood border” moniker from the 1970s and ’80s.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor. sellenews@gmail.com. Twitter: @sellenews
