President Trump's rally at the Waukesha County Airport Saturday night was a wild success that drew thousands of supporters--upwards of 15,00 to 20,000 by most counts--but it was originally scheduled to take place at Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee.
Mitchell International Airport wouldn't let it happen, and now the evidence is overwhelming that Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and Mitchell International Airport Director Brian Dranzik canceled the rally for political reasons.
Last week, the Trump Campaign contracted with Chip Zens, the CEO of Freight Runners Express, to host the rally at Freight Runners' private hangar at Mitchell Saturday morning. A short time later, Mitchell officials sent Zens a letter informing him that hosting such a rally would violate the terms of his lease with the airport.
"Airport Director of Properties Matthew Hoffman stated in his letter that the likely attendance of protesters was unacceptable and ordered Zens to notify the Trump team to cancel the event," reported News/Talk 1130 WISN's Mark Belling, who broke the story. "Hoffman’s letter states that neither the Trump team nor Zens obtained prior approval."
Zens believes that this is nonsense.
"Shortly after we sign the contract, we have all the campaign people show up here in droves to look at our site and to start coordinating this event," he told Today's TMJ 4. "It seems highly partisan. Considering that our ramp was already vetted and was supposed to be used for the Democratic Convention."
A spokesman for County Executive Crowley--whose office runs the airport--gave a different rationale for canceling the Trump event in a statement released to the media:
The Airport Director notified a tenant that holding any large special event that is non-aeronautical in nature would be a violation of its lease with Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport and would be in violation of the City of Milwaukee limit on public gatherings. The decision to hold this event was made without prior notification to the Airport Director, which is a requirement of each tenant’s lease. The concern for the Airport is the impact to airline flight operations, as the event originally planned for Saturday morning would require a ground stop, resulting in canceled airline flights for an extended period of time.
This excuse, too, does not hold up to scrutiny since Mitchell International Airport is routinely used for events that are "non-aeronautical in nature"...including presidential rallies. Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore held an event at the airport ahead of the 2000 election, while Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan hosted a rally at the airport the night before the 2012 election.
A source with direct knowledge of airport operations confirmed to "The Dan O'Donnell Show" that gatherings are routinely permitted at private hangars that contract with Mitchell International.
"There’s nothing in the airport leases that prohibit any kind of gatherings; as per previous political gathering during the past 15ish years," the source said. "It's also important to note that the airport was going to allow protesters to gather at the airport during the DNC."
Crowley himself all but confirmed that he simply didn't want President Trump in Milwaukee County. In a Democratic Party of Wisconsin virtual press conference on Saturday morning, Crowley railed against Trump's visit, calling it a Coronavirus "super-spreader."
"When you think about Donald Trump, he continues to fuel hateful rhetoric and his overall mishandling of this pandemic has put black and brown Wisconsinites at a disproportionate disadvantage," Crowey said. "And when we think about events that Donald Trump is having, these are super-spreader events that he is holding."
Crowley has not responded to repeated requests for comment.