Meet Mayoral Candidates Bernie Cox and Stephanie Johnson if for some reason you want too.

 by Rod Williams, June 30, 2023- The Tennessean is doing a feature article on each of the candidates for mayor, including a video of an interview with each. I have posted to this blog all but these two.  With no money, no name recognition, and no serious credentials, these two candidates cannot be considered serious candidates. Anyone who can gather 25 signatures can run for mayor. Instead of twelve candidates it is almost surprising we don't have one hundred and 25. I think it should be more difficult than that to qualify. These candidates just clutter the stage and divert attention from serious candidates. If you want to know more about them and see The Tennessean's videos, which I have skipped, follow these links: Bernie Cox and Stephanie Johnson. 

Meet Mayoral candidate Vivian Wilhoite

by Rod Williams, June 30, 2023- The Tennessean is doing a feature article on each of the candidates for mayor, including a video of an interview with each. Unfortunately, The Tennessean interview with Vivian Wilhoite does not accompany the article.  Instead of the Wilhoite interview, the video accompany the Wilhoit article is a video of a News Channel 5 mayoral forum. I can't believe no one at the Tennessean caught this mistake or that the candidate did not point it out to The Tennessean. To see the article and where the video ought to be, follow this link. 

My main takeaways from the article and the video: Vivian Wilhoit is Davidson County's Assessor of Property. Having been elected County-wide to that position and having previously served as a Council member at large, she should be considered a serious candidate.  She says, "The top priorities of my office as mayor will be to improve the relationship with our state government, create stronger neighborhoods and businesses, specifically small businesses, through public/private partnerships, work to build our affordable housing stock by utilizing Metro vacant land, and ensure that our public education system is fully funded.

 

Meet Mayoral candidate Sharon Hurt

by Rod Williams, June 30, 2023- The Tennessean is doing a feature article on each of the candidates for mayor, including a video of an interview with each. Above is the Tennessean interview with Sharon Hurt. Thankfully, The Tennessean has made the videoed interview with the candidates sharable, so I am able to post it here. If one has a subscription to the Tennessean, you can read the article at this link. 

My main takeaways from the article and the video: Sharon Hurt is a Council Member at-large. Prior, for 23 years, she served as President/CEO of J.U.M.P.  She says, "My No. 1 goal is building a Nashville that works for everyone." She says we need, "to invest in our public schools, develop mass transit, and make sure government services are available in all the languages of all the communities in Nashville." She advocates for more affordable housing, saying "We can work with developers in Nashville, subsidize low-income housing, and rezone Nashville to be denser." I am pleased to see someone say we need more denser housing. That is reality. Unfortunately, we are moving in the wrong direction and have zoned large swathes of the city "single family only."  One cannot have more affordable housing and less urban sprawl and low-density housing. Other than that dose of reality, I am not particularly impressed.

Meet Mayoral candidate Jeff Yarbro

by Rod Williams, June 30, 2023- The Tennessean is doing a feature article on each of the candidates for mayor, including a video of an interview with each. Above is the Tennessean interview with Jeff Yarbro. Thankfully, The Tennessean has made the videoed interview with the candidates sharable, so I am able to post it here. 

If one has a subscription to the Tennessean, you can read the article on Jeff Yarbro at this link. Most of what is in the article is also in the video. 

My main takeaways from the article and the video: Jeff Yarbro is well known to Nashvillians having served as the State Senator representing Nashville.  He lists his top priorities as education, public safety, and livability. He says he will be "focusing on response times for 911 calls, repairing potholes and broken streetlights, and doing whatever it takes to reduce pedestrian fatalities."  He advocates, "investing in the schools, parks, greenways, and sidewalks." He says his experience would make him the best qualified to heal the division between the State and the City.  I'm not sold.

Meet 2023 Mayoral Candidate Alice Rolli

by Rod Williams, June 30, 2023- The Tennessean is doing a feature article on each of the candidates for mayor, including a video of an interview with each. Above is the Tennessean interview with Alice Rolli. Thankfully, The Tennessean has made the videoed interview with the candidates sharable, so I am able to post it here. 

If one has a subscription to the Tennessean, you can read the article on Alice Rolli at this link. Most of what is in the article is also in the video. 

My main takeaways from the article and the video: She has an impressive resume, having served as assistant commissioner of strategy for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development under Governor Bill Haslam and as special assistant and later campaign manager for U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander. She has been a classroom teacher and a neighborhood leader, in one of the most diverse communities in the city. She has deep roots in Nashville with ancestors who were civic leaders in Nashville. 

She says, "If we continue to elect the same group that has gotten us where we are over the past 20 years, we should continue to expect the same results; unacceptable rates of literacy, higher taxes, higher crime and more debt in Davidson County than the entire state of Tennessee." I certainly agree. That resonates with me. I am ready for a change. She list the following as her priorities: 

• All first graders reading.
• Improve public safety and reduce crime through improving recruitment and retention of officers and resetting from a criminal justice system to a victims justice system.
• Get the city’s fiscal house in order and to not raise taxes on residents.
• Build a more cooperative relationship with the state in order to improve quality of life by tackling regional issues such as transit, support for homelessness, and crime - issues that don’t stop at the county line - but through solving regionally will benefit Nashville residents.

She had data to support her positions.  She says that, According to Truth in Accounting, we are among the worst fiscally managed cities in the country (68/75) and labeled a sinkhole city. I am pleased to see her quote that. I knew it, but I don't know that most people know how badly we are managed. While Cooper did bring us back from the edge of a fiscal collapse or take over by the State, he did it by a massive tax increase which made Nashvillians the highest taxed residents in Tennessee. 

If you can access it, read the whole article. She does more than speak in vague generalities. She has data and specific goals. She says she will not raise taxes and that is something I have been wanting to hear.  Of course, one can avoid raising taxes by simply letting our fund balances decrease and by borrowing more money.  I think she will avoid a tax increase while improving the financial condition of the city. She also addresses the strained relationship between the State and the City.  I am convinced she is the best candidate to improve that relationship. 

I am impressed and will be voting for Alice Rolli for Mayor. 

Meet 2023 Nashville Mayoral Candidate Freddie O’Connell

by Rod Williams, June 30, 2023- The Tennessean is doing a feature article on each of the candidates for mayor, including a video of an interview with each. Above is the Tennessean interview with Freddie O’Connell. Thankfully, The Tennessean has made the videoed interview with the candidates sharable, so I am able to post it here. 

If one has a subscription to the Tennessean, you can read the article on Freddie O’Connell at this link. Most of what is in the article is also in the video. 

My main takeaways from the article and the video: Being the Council Member for the downtown area he has a high profile and has had to more intently deal with some major issues facing the city than some other council members may have had to do.  Like other candidates he says we have our priorities wrong. He says, "we have prioritized tourism at the expense of residents." He is a strong advocate of mass transit and affordable housing. He is thoughtful and well informed, has a sharp mind and is likeable. He relays his role in bringing about criminal justice reform and I must say that I applaud the reforms he was instrumental in bringing them about. Metro should not make money off of poor people awaiting trial, arrested for nonviolent crime. I fear that O'Connell will raise taxes and promote a woke social justice reform agenda.  I do not share his values but respect his intellect and drive. 

Meet 2023 Nashville Mayoral Candidate Heidi Campbell

by Rod Williams, June 30, 2023- The Tennessean is doing a feature article on each of the candidates for mayor, including a video of an interview with each. Above is the Tennessean interview with Heid Campbell. Thankfully, The Tennessean has made the videoed interview with the candidates sharable, so I am able to post it here. 

If one has a subscription to the Tennessean, you can read the article on Heidi Campbell at this link. Most of what is in the article is also in the video. 

My main takeaways from the article and the video: She has a relevant resume having served as mayor of Oak Hill, serving as a State senator, and having ran for Congress last year as a Democrat seeking the 5th Congressional District seat.  She views the conflict between Nashville and the State as a "hostile takeover." With that kind of rhetoric, I don't think she would be capable of improving relations between the City and the State. 

She says, "Nashville is at the epicenter of a struggle that will profoundly impact the trajectory of our future, and I would characterize this struggle as a battle between greed and good. Greed is a powerful thing – it’s driven more than a decade of decisions that have led to Nashville’s affordability crisis. Greed has catalyzed the hostility between our city and our state," Framing issues as a battle between good and greed seems awfully simplistic. 

She advocates improved mass transit, better schools and wrap around service for the schools, and, of course, like almost everyone running, affordable housing. She also, like some other candidates says she will "prioritizing the people who live here," over developers. 

I come away with a negative impression. If we must have a liberal mayor, I would prefer one of the others. 

Meet 2023 Nashville Mayoral Candidate Jim Gingrich

by Rod Williams, June 29, 2023- The Tennessean is doing a feature article on each of the candidates for mayor, including a video of an interview with each. Above is the Tennessean interview with Jim Gingrich. Thankfully, The Tennessean has made the videoed interview with the candidates sharable, so I am able to post it here. 

If one has a subscription to the Tennessean, you can read the article on Jim Gingrich at this link. Most of what is in the article is also in the video. 

My main takeaways from the article and the video: Jim Gingrich is the former COO of AllianceBernstein and a fairly recent resident of Nashville, moving here with AlianceBernstein. His primary pitch seems to be that people have seen massive growth in Nashville and many Nashvillians feel that growth threatens the "soul" of the city and he will focus on neighborhood concerns. He says, "It is possible to have growth while preserving the heart of Nashville." His main issues he says are "presenting a vision and concrete plan to build more affordable housing immediately, reduce crime, improve education, ease traffic, increase city services, and invest in our communities."  If elected mayor, he may do an adequate job, but I wanted to hear more than the same list of concerns. He is short on specifics, and he is almost interchangeable with other candidates. 

Statesmen's Dinner 2023 - Birth of Freedom

From TNGOP:

Dear Tennessee Republican Party Supporter,

I wanted you to know first, that we are announcing Florida Governor Ron Desantis as the keynote speaker for The Tennessee Republican Party's 46th annual Statesmen's Dinner on July 15th, 2023. 

We are proud of the Tennessee Republican Party's reputation as one of the premier Republican organizations across the United States. Almost a half-century ago, our leaders had the idea of bringing our Republican family together for an annual dinner and named it the Statesman's Dinner. Each year we gather to recognize the volunteers that have turned the State of Tennessee from a Democrat stronghold to a bright red, conservative Republican beacon.  

To that effort, the TNGOP has been a must-stop on the road to the White House and the Republican nomination. Hosting such notables as Governor Chris Christie (2013), Senator Tim Scott (2014), Ambassador Nikki Haley (2016), and Vice-President Mike Pence (2017).  

This year is no different, as the Tennessee Republican Party is proud to welcome Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as the keynote speaker for the 46th Statesman's Dinner to be held on July 15th, 2023 at the Music City Center in Nashville.  

The evening promises to be an excellent opportunity to hear directly from one of the presidential candidates before Tennessee's 2024 Super Tuesday Presidential Primary. The TNGOP looks forward to hosting other presidential candidates and events as we move toward victory in 2024!  

Tickets

Meet 2023 Nashville Mayoral Candidate Matt Wiltshire

 by Rod Williams, June 28, 2023- The Tennessean is doing a feature article on each of the candidates for mayor, including a video of an interview with each. Above is the Tennessean interview with Matt Wiltshire. Thankfully, The Tennessean has made the videoed interview with the candidates sharable, so I am able to post it here. 

If one has a subscription to the Tennessean, you can read the article on Matt Wiltshire at this link. Most of what is in the article is also in the video. 

My main takeaways from the article and the video: Matt has an impressive and relevant resume, having served as three years as the chief strategy officer at the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency and eight years as the director of the Mayor's Office of Economic and Community Development under three mayors. He claims credit for bringing down Nashville's unemployment rate. My understanding, however, is that during this period unemployment declined everywhere and I am not sure he deserves the credit. He also claims credit for helping build 4,000 affordable homes. I tend to think those homes would have been built with someone else in his role, but I don't know that. His top three goals are improving education, improving public safety, and creating affordable housing. 

On education he appears to favor education choice saying, "Every parent and guardian in Nashville should be able to choose from a variety of great schools." He seems to have given serious thought to the issue of our failing public schools. On public safety, he says we need to fully staff the police department. On addressing affordable housing, he says he has specific ideas and has the experience of delivering results on the issue.  Overall, while he is not my favorite candidate, I am favorably impressed. If elected, he would do an adequate job as mayor. 

Look which mayoral and Metro Council candidates won Planned Parenthood endorsements, ...

 ... these are candidates I will not be voting for or supporting. 

$276 billion in COVID-19 aid may have been stolen.

 WASHINGTON (AP) — More than $200 billion may have been stolen from two large COVID-19 relief initiatives, according to new estimates from a federal watchdog investigating federally funded programs that helped small businesses survive the worst public health crisis in more than a hundred years.

The numbers issued Tuesday by the U.S. Small Business Administration inspector general are much greater than the office’s previous projections and underscore how vulnerable the Paycheck Protection and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs were to fraudsters, particularly during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

The inspector general’s report said “at least 17 percent of all COVID-EIDL and PPP funds were disbursed to potentially fraudulent actors.” The fraud estimate for the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan program is more than $136 billion, which represents 33 percent of the total money spent on that program, according to the report. The Paycheck Protection fraud estimate is $64 billion, the inspector general said.

... The federal government has now reported $276 billion in potential fraud, a figure that aligns with the AP’s analysis. (read more)

Police announce endorsements for Mayor, Vice Mayor, at-large Council, and District Council races.

 

Police Union Backs Wiltshire for Mayor

The Nashville Scene, June 27, 2023- ... The endorsement surprised some political observers who had assumed Alice Rolli, a Republican who has campaigned on reducing crime as an issue, would get the nomination. But similar to four years ago when the FOP snubbed Carol Swain in favor of John Cooper, the police union tacked toward the center instead of the right. ... (link)

Bellevue Breakfast Club, July 1, guest speakers are Alice Rolli and Natisha Brooks