S.D. Republicans Launch Bid to Attract Party’s 1988 Convention

Thirteen years to the day after the national Republican Party spurned the city and decided to move its presidential nominating convention to Miami Beach, a new group of San Diegans on Friday began an effort to bring the GOP gathering here in 1988.

Wanda Vollmer, the county Republican Central Committee’s administrative director, said a letter was mailed Friday to the party’s national committee, officially beginning the attempt to accomplish what failed in 1972.

On April 26 of that year, party official Thomas Reed notified the state’s Richard Nixon delegates that the nominating convention planned for San Diego would be held in Miami Beach instead.

Reed cited “insurmountable problems” with the San Diego plans--words that sidestepped questions over labor strife at the Sports Arena, doubts about the building’s security, and suspicions that the International Telephone & Telegraph Corp. had escaped antitrust charges by agreeing to underwrite the convention’s expenses.

But Republicans who hope to lure the event here say the bitter taste left by the 1972 debacle--it was the impetus for then-Mayor Pete Wilson’s creation of “America’s Finest City” week--is long forgotten.

“I think it’s an excellent idea,” said Eleanor Ring Storrs, a Coronado resident who, as the state’s national committeewoman in 1972, played a key role in planning for a San Diego convention. “I’ve always felt that way.”

Esther Green, who was executive director of the ill-fated 1972 host committee and is now the state’s committeewoman, said she will do everything she can to bring the 1988 event to San Diego.

“San Diego has grown so much since I was there,” said Green, now in Sacramento as the chief deputy director of the state’s Employment Development Department. “Given the choice of any major city, I think San Diego would be a delightful place.”

City Councilman Dick Murphy said he thought the plan was a “super idea.”

“We’re building the convention center to attract the top conventions in the country,” Murphy said. “If we can attract the Republican National Convention, that’s great. I’d like to see it come here if it could be worked out.”

As there were in 1972, however, there are obstacles that will have to be overcome before San Diego can host the event.

Ground won’t be broken on the convention center until May 22, and the building is not scheduled to be completed until late 1987. Delays could push that date back.

The convention would likely cost the city millions of dollars, money that would have to be raised by the private sector if the city were to avoid subsidizing the political affair.

Another question: Will Mayor Roger Hedgecock’s legal problems color the thinking of the Republican National Committee, which will begin its decision-making process in June?

“I certainly think that’s one factor they will take into consideration,” said J. Michael McDade, Hedgecock’s chief of staff. “They usually look for a situation where there are as few negatives as possible.”

But McDade said the party’s doubts over completion of the convention center will be a bigger obstacle.

“I would really wonder about booking something into a facility that’s not constructed yet,” he said. “Anything can happen.”

McDade’s reservations aside, the effort may pick up steam next week when Chamber of Commerce President Lee Grissom visits Washington and broaches the subject with Wilson, Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese (a former La Mesan) and members of the San Diego congressional delegation.

“San Diego has been called by President Reagan his lucky city,” said Byron Wear, the local Republican committee’s vice chairman. “Since 1988 will be his political finale, it would be appropriate for that to come here, in his home state.”

Wear and others said that holding the convention here that year would complement the National Football League’s Super Bowl, which will be held in San Diego for the first time in January, 1988.