| | Jeff Niederdeppe, an associate professor of communications at [[Cornell University]] in Ithaca, New York, and a former classmate of Nirenberg, said that the mayor was "interested in making San Antonio a better place, and he'd always articulate "maverick" political positions. He's the most disciplined person I've ever met."<ref name=loveatfirstsight/> (Coincidentally, the mayor of San Antonio from 1939 to 1941 was named "Maverick": Fontiane Maury Maverick, Sr, (1895-1954), a Democrat.) | | Jeff Niederdeppe, an associate professor of communications at [[Cornell University]] in Ithaca, New York, and a former classmate of Nirenberg, said that the mayor was "interested in making San Antonio a better place, and he'd always articulate "maverick" political positions. He's the most disciplined person I've ever met."<ref name=loveatfirstsight/> (Coincidentally, the mayor of San Antonio from 1939 to 1941 was named "Maverick": Fontiane Maury Maverick, Sr, (1895-1954), a Democrat.) |
| | + | When the [[Republican National Committee]] asked San Antonio municipal officials to submit a bid for the 2020 national party convention, Nirenberg agreed to meet in May 2018 with the city council to discuss the request but seemed hesitant over seeking the convention. Former Mayor Phil Hardberger, a liberal Democrat and a former judge, strongly opposes San Antonio hosting the GOP conclave. Hardberger said a political convention would cost the city more than the short-term boost in the downtown economy. He even predicted that rioting could occur because many in the Hispanic-majority city view [[U.S. President]] [[Donald Trump]] with disdain. (Trump polled nearly 41 percent of the vote in Bexar County in 2006.) Hardberger recalled that Mayor [[Richard J. Daley]] of [[Chicago]] was politically harmed by allegations of police brutality stemming from demonstrations at the 1968 [[Democratic National Convention]] and that party nominee [[Hubert Humphrey]] lost his presidential bid to [[Richard M. Nixon]].<ref>Josh Baugh, "Council to discuss '20 convention bi: Mayor to ask if city should pursue GOP", ''The San Antonio Express-News'', April 27, 2018, pp. !. A11.</ref> |