A Republican Party rally featuring Donald Trump as its keynote speaker was canceled after being denied a permit. Plans for a weekend rally at USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park during the July 4th weekend have been scrapped. Local officials were worried that the event would be overtaken by partisan politics.

The permit was approved at first. Then officials found out that Trump would be speaking and that nixed the approval. Trump’s appearance would breach venue rules that events at the park be non-partisan. Didn’t the fact that a permit was requested by the Republican Party indicate that the event would likely be politically partisan in the first place? Did the officials think the event would only turn partisan when Trump showed up to speak? Apparently so.

Park officials claim they thought it was to be simply a patriotic event in honor of Independence Day. It seems that back in 2012, Rick Santorum held a political rally there. Santorum was running for president that year.

“After the request was made, then there was contact with the Republican Party, they contacted us and then it became apparent that it was going to be a partisan political event, rather than just a patriotic event planned for that evening,” wrote Bill Tunnell, the park commission chairman, in the letter.

The park houses the USS Alabama, a warship that took part in naval operations during the Second World War. Park authorities have banned political events at the venue since 2012, when former GOP Sen. Rick Santorum held a rally there.

So, Alabama officials blame Santorum’s campaign rally for being the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The state park has been used for political events previously. In 2012, presidential hopeful Rick Santorum used the park for a rally.

“Rick Santorum was the, was the straw that broke the camel’s back. And that’s when the commission went to the no partisan politics open to the public,” said Tunnell.

The timeline of the decision-making process is a bit odd. An opinion was sought from Attorney General Steve Marshall in late May. Marshall responded on June 16. Marshall’s office notes the Republican Party’s letter was dated May 26th, postmarked June 11th, and received June 14th. The attorney general determined that he could not make a timely decision but cited case law.

“Due to the imminence of the date of the proposed event, my Opinions Division is unable to timely respond with an official position,” Marshall wrote. But he went on in the letter to cite case law that says parks may be used for political events provided access is “available for all political parties and candidates on an equal basis.”

Sounds like the slow pace of government bureaucracy strikes again, right? It was a permit for a rally with a former president. The hesitancy to issue a permit may have also been due to hesitancy by some to allow a public appearance by Trump.

“I’ll be honest, I feel some people just didn’t want it, not just it but President Trump,” said local Tea Party activist Pete Riehm.

Riehm, who was familiar with the behind-the-scenes discussions of the event, says what happened raises free speech concerns.

“If people can’t assemble in public places. Where can we assemble?” said Riehm.

The chairman of the Alabama Republican Party John Wahl told NBC 15 news that Donald Trump had committed for Saturday night, was excited to speak to the Port City and he’s disappointed the event is not moving forward.

It wasn’t just the issue of free speech that was discussed, it was also the ability for the location to hold such an event, given the potential for a large turnout. The commission isn’t allowed to approve events for a particular candidate but Trump isn’t a candidate, at least as far as we know. If an event is to be politically partisan in nature, then it has to be accessible to all candidates, not just one party. That sounds like something that typically happens in politics at the local level – political organizations have by-laws that determine how events may be run when they concern candidates. For example, in Republican women clubs, there is a rule that during a primary race, all Republican candidates must be invited to speak if one is. Since this is a memorial park, it isn’t servicing one political party or the other and all parties must be allowed access. That’s one way to look at the reasoning provided by the attorney general, I suppose.

A Trump aide is trying to smooth things over and says the event was canceled due to the closeness with an event planned in Sarasota. Trump will hold a rally later in the year.

Later, a Trump aide contacted NBC 15 and said that the Mobile rally was delayed in order to avoid holding two large events in such a compressed time frame.

The former president still plans to come to Alabama at some point later this year.

“The response to our rally that was being simultaneously planned in Sarasota has blown away our initial projections and so we made the decision some weeks back to do our Mobile rally in the summer or early fall rather than try to stage two massive rallies on back to back days,” the aide said in a statement.

They’ll just need to find a different venue. That shouldn’t be a problem in a city like Mobile. Though I must admit, the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park would have been impressive optics for a rally. I’ve been there and it is an impressive memorial.