CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It's an event that's been anticipated for years. The Republican National Convention in Charlotte is less than 90 days away, and questions are mounting about what it will look like amid the coronavirus pandemic.
So, WCNC Charlotte took the contract to an attorney to see what options could be on the table and what the financial penalties would be.
The contract between the City of Charlotte, the RNC Host Committee, and others is 94 pages long. It was written years before the pandemic, therefore, there's not a pandemic clause.
However, city leaders have the power to enforce rules that could vastly change the way the RNC would operate, according to a legal evaluation of the contract by Chris Strianese, the managing partner at Strianese Hucker, LLP in Charlotte.
"The contract specifically allows both the city and the county to respond to any public emergency situation or public health situation that may arise in the city," Strianese said as he interpreted the contract.
He argues the RNC could only go on as planned if two things were to happen.
"Number one is Governor Cooper revises his executive order to permit mass gatherings," he said, or the governor could grant the RNC a waiver, according to Strianese.
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