Over the weekend, the Trump presidential campaign tentatively scheduled a return visit to Plattsburgh. But shortly after contracts were finalized the event was postponed.
On Saturday, Republican Donald Trump’s preliminary schedule showed a stop in Portland, Maine Thursday followed by a stop at 2 o’clock in Plattsburgh, NY. Details at that time were pending including the venue. Mayor James Calnon spent the weekend and Monday hashing out a contract for use of the city-owned Crete Civic Center adjacent to the city beach.
At 6:17 Monday evening the mayor sent an email stating: “The City of Plattsburgh has executed a contract with the Trump Campaignfor an event on Thursday at the Crete Civic Center…” But two hours later, he sent a new email: “I just heard from the Trump campaign that a scheduling conflict has arisen, and they are going to have to postpone their Plattsburgh visit. No future date has been scheduled.” Calnon is disappointed after getting the city geared up for the event. “It’s a kind of fevered pitch and then all of a sudden (sigh) guess we don’t have to do that. So it’s a bit of a letdown.”
Calnon does not think the postponement has anything to do with the final contract. When Trump appeared in April, the city charged $4,500 for use of the Crete Center. But in the current contract the fee is $7,500. “We were asking for more money than we had last time. Really it came down to the logistics of what was going on. While we didn’t have any activities planned between now and Thursday we do have Brewfest on the weekend and Thursday was supposed to be their setup day which means that what would have happened over two days would’ve, if Trump had come, would have had to happen in one day which really raises the cost for us considerably. And the fact that he’s now a party nominee means he would’ve really made it a more complex operation for us. And when he came in April our city beach wasn’t open and that would complicate things as we look at how we keep the beach traffic and the Crete traffic separate. So all those things got factored in.”
On Monday Clinton County Republican Committee Chair Donald McBrayer was excited that Trump was considering a stop in Plattsburgh. “We were really looking forward to seeing our Presidential candidate. But we understand his schedule is very busy and not absolutely shocked but I am a little disappointed.”
McBrayer thought a second visit by Trump would have generated a much larger crowd than his April rally. He spoke with campaign representatives shortly after the postponement was announced. “And I did inquire about rescheduling. They didn’t indicate one way or the other but with the man’s schedule it’s, ah, you know he would have to be in this part of the country and then they would have to reschedule those venues. So if I had to wager a bet I would say we probably missed our opportunity to see Mr. Trump for a second time.”
A downtown rally in opposition to the Trump visit was in the works. Co-organizer Patty Bentley is not surprised that Trump has canceled his appearance. “My immediate reaction was that I’m surprised and my next reaction was that I wasn’t surprised because I have found this candidate to be so erratic that it didn’t seem out of the ordinary. And I understand there may be legitimate reasons for him changing it. But frankly I was a little relieved that we didn’t have the circus coming to town.”
Bentley says the planned “Rally For No Hate In The North Country”, which would have been concurrent with the Trump event, will be held at a later date. “You know the energy that was created over this won’t diminish drastically because Donald Trump isn’t coming to town. So we plan to have this. We postponed the rally and hope to have it within the next three weeks on a weekend when more people can come.”
Trump made a campaign stop in Plattsburgh on April 15th ahead of the New York primary and also rallied in Burlington and Albany this year.
