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Early voting for the August 1st election for mayor and council begins tomorrow, Friday July 12th. Please do not vote early unless you have given adequate thought about for whom you are voting. You still have two more weeks to gather information, meet the candidates and think about your decision.
Please don't vote at all unless you have a reason for voting for whom you are going to vote. Please don't base your decision simply on who has the most yard signs. Often people are shamed into voting and think it is a civic duty. I have never thought that masses of uninformed people voting made for a better democracy. Selecting who will represent you in the Metro Coucil and who will lead our city is serious business. There is no shame in leaving the decision to those who are better informed.
In the pages of this blog I have listed the names of some of who I am supporting and the reasons why. I will provide a more comprehensive list in days to come.
Below is the early voting schedule.
The Nashville Justice League is not a collection of comic book superheros but Nashville's newest Political Action Committee. It is made up of some very liberal organizations including the Equity Alliance Fund, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition Votes, and the Central Labor Council. Their focus is on electing a more progressive Metro Council. A spokesman for the League said, "We’re going to fight for civil rights, immigrant rights and workers rights."
The organization did not endorse a candidate for mayor. Below are The Nashville Justice League's endorsements for Metro Council. Please, don't vote for these candidates:
There are a lot of groups with similar sounding names. The Nashville Business Alliance is not to be confused with The Nashville Business Coalition. The Nashville Business Coalition is a group representing local big business. This groups made endorsements for mayor and council a couple weeks ago. You can read about that groups endorsements at this link.
The Nashville Business Alliance is designed to promote and advocate for minority- and women-owned businesses. Members of the Alliance include Michael Carter, a co-founder of Pinnacle Construction Partners; Jacky Akbari, board chairwoman of the National Organization for Workforce Diversity; Lee Molette, CEO of Molette Investment Services; Turner Nashe, senior vice president of education services at Innertainment Delivery Systems/Global Tel*Link; and Jerry Maynard, CEO of The Maynard Group.
Like the Nashville Business Coalition, the Nashville Business Alliance also edorsed David Briley for mayor. Other endorsements with the exception of Johnathan Hall and Robert Swope are of the most liberal members running. With a few exceptions, this is a list of for whom not to vote.
Below is the full list of The Nashville Business Alliance endorsements:
The Tennessean has done a profile of each of the four major candidates for mayor. Each piece tells the biography of the candidates and essential facts about the candidate and lets the candidate share his or her vision for Nashville. With a word length of about 2600 words, the articles are long enough to do the candidates justice and let their personality shire through. None of the articles are a hatchet-job and none of the top four are slighted. Good reporting.
David Briley, after an improbable political comeback, wants to finish what he started
Carol Swain is running for Nashville mayor after 'a life of beating the odds'
Cooper sees bipartisan path to win in election
John Ray Clemmons: A mayoral candidate underdog who wants to change Nashville
Below are The Tennessean stories on this topic:
US Rep. Mark Green says he won't run for US Senate in 2020
U.S. Rep. Mark Green, a physician and Army veteran who ascended from the
Tennessee statehouse to Washington in January, is taking himself out of
the running to be Tennessee's next U.S. Senator. ....In many ways, Green's exit from the race comes as a surprise. With
a conservative pedigree that includes opposing Medicaid expansion and
supporting Trump, he has ascended the political ladder since first
entering politics less than a decade ago.
Former Gov. Bill Haslam won't run for US Senate, saying it is not his calling
"While I think serving in the United States Senate would be a great
privilege and responsibility, I have come to the conclusion that it is
not my calling for the next period of my life," Haslam, 60, said in the
letter.
BILL HASLAM: Why I am not running for U.S. Senate in 2020 | Opinion
I am convinced that John Cooper is the person we need for Nashville's next mayor. I view the number one problem facing Nashville as mismanagement and massive debt. I am convinced John Cooper is the best person equipped to address these issues.
Many of my Republican friends are supporting Carol Swain. Early in the race, before Cooper declared, I too supported Swain. Last year when Swain ran against Briley I supported her. Not only am I now supporting Cooper because I think he is the best person equipped to deal with the problems we face, but on a pragmatic level I do not see a path to victory for Swain. She is an opinionated outspoken conservative with many things she has pontificated about. In a progressive city like Nashville, I simply do not think she can win. Even under the best of circumstances, with a less opinionated or published candidate, a moderate Republican can only garner about 35% of the vote.
While I don't think she can win, Swain has picked up some impressive endorsements. John Rich of the Country music superstar duo Big and Rich is hosting a fundraiser on her behalf.
Dr. Ming Wang has endorsed her. You may know Dr.Wang from his full page ads in the Tennessean promoting his lasik eye surgery clinic. You also may know him as host of the annual Eye Ball fundraiser event which promotes classic ballroom dancing and raises money for the non-profit Wang Foundation for sight restoration. I have met Dr. Wang several times and have attended several events at his home. He is a remarkable multi-talented person. He is not only a leader in lasik surgery here in Nashville but is a world renowned leader in the field, having made worthwhile contributions to various areas of molecular biology. He has a compelling life story having escaped China durning the worst period of Chinese Communist totalitarian rule, known as the Cultural Revelation. He fled China with only a few dollars in his pocket to become an extremely successful vision surgeon. He tells his story in a autobiography that I have read and recommend, From Darkness to Sight. Dr. Wang is also a board member of the Tennessee Republican Minority Coalition, co-founder, Tennessee Immigrant and Minority Business Group, and founding president of Tennessee Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
Nashville resident and world renowned economist and developer of the Laffer Curve, Dr. Arthur Laffer, has endorsed Carol Swain. Focus on the Family’s Dr. James Dobson has endorsed her. Nashville-based national financial guru and radio host Dave Ransey has endorced her as has
by Thom Druffel - Hindsight is 20/20. This means we always see things more clearly in retrospect. Let’s test that.
| ▪ | Is our public education better? No. |
| ▪ | Are we repurposing our public lands/resources in a responsible and equitable way? No. |
| ▪ | Is our city’s spending equitable, transparent, accountable, and fiscally responsible? No. |
| ▪ | Is our public transportation better? No. |
| ▪ | Are our aging and deficient infrastructures better (roads, sewer systems, and storm water systems)? No. |
| ▪ | The Metro Council is the steward of our tax dollars and the guardian of our neighborhood's quality of life and resources. |
| ▪ | The Metro Council impacts our education system by supporting programs that empower and encourage teachers and enhancing the environment in which they work. |
| ▪ | The Metro Council facilitates and encourages legislation that ensures and preserves: greenways and parks, sidewalks, peace and quiet, minimal traffic congestion, financial, healthcare, and utility assistance programs for our seniors |
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| John Rich |
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