Davette Blalock is running for Metro Council

Davette Blalock

by Rod Williams, May 5, 2023- I ran into Davette Blalock at a function a couple days ago and she told me she is running for Metro Council. She had just recently picked up a petition and has not yet developed a website or had any campaign materials printed but she is in the race. 

Davette Blalock is a former member of the Metro Council formerly representing District 27. She served two terms, elected to the council in 2011. Blalock's professional experience includes owning a real estate business, Blalock Services, and a Farmer's Insurance Agency. While on the Council, Blalock was a hard-working exemplary Council member. She was also an advocate for limited government and lower taxes.  

In the redrawn Council maps, Davette lives in Council District 4, which takes effect with the upcoming Council election. Most of what is the new District 4 is currently also Council District 4 but with new boundaries. For Blalock this will be a new district, except for the one prescient where she lives. For the most part, she will be facing a new set of voters.

Currently District 4 is represented by Robert Swope who is term-limited out.  Swope is an unapologetic Republican.  He is a highly visible Republican and served as Tennessee state director for the Trump campaign. Swope won his last Council race with over 61% of the vote. This district is one of those that is competitive for a Republican. 

It is good news that Davette Blalock is running for this seat.  While the Metro Council is overwhelmingly Democrat and always has been, today's Democrats are a lot more woke and progressive than Democrats a few years ago. Thankfully, there are enough Republicans and moderate Democrats in the Council to keep the Council from going totally off the deep end. One may think the Metro Council could not get much worse, but it could. There are forces at work to make Nashville more like Portland or San Francisco.

In years past, election to the non-partisan Metro Council was pretty much a local matter and party identification was pretty much irrelevant.  Now, national left-wing organizations are pushing far-left candidates. Organizations like Our Revolution, Nashville Justice League, Women for Tennessee, LGBTQ Victory Fund, Code Blue PAC and LIUNA (Laborers’ International Union of North America) work to elect left-wing candidates to the Council. For more on how these left-wing organizations worked to elect members of our Metro Council in 2019, read Look to these Council members to lead the push to make Nashville a more "progressive" city.

It matters who governs. It matters that we have some sane Democrats and a handful of Republicans on the Council. In 2020 when Mayor Cooper proposed a 34% property tax increase budget, as is usual the Council substituted their own budget for the mayors, which actually spend more money and reshuffled who got what. The Council's budget was sponsored by CM Mendez. One thing the Mendez budget did was slash money for police and public safety by $2.6 million dollars. Led by Councilman Russ Pulley, the Mendes budget was amended to add back the $2.6 million that had been in the mayor's budget. A lot of Council members abstained, and the amendment only got 21 votes, the bare minimum necessary to pass. One fewer sane Democrat or Republican and the defunding of police would have been successful. To read more about this, follow this link. 

As soon as Davette starts raising money, I will contribute to her campaign. If you currently live in the new 4th district, reach out to her and let her know you will be supporting her. Campaigns need lots of help. if you can help, call her and figure out what help she needs and what you can do.   If unsure if you are in the new 4th District, find out by following this link. You can email Davette at BlalockServices@comcast.net or call her at 615-485-6563.

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These are the eight council members who voted against the sanctuary city bill.

Robert Swope

Doug Pardue

On July 6th the Metro Council met in regular session and among the items on the agenda was BILL NO. BL2017-739, the sanctuary bill. It was withdrawn by the sponsor. On June 20th the bill had passed second reading by a vote of 25 in favor, eight opposed and four abstentions.  Between second reading and third reading, the mayor had come out against the bill, the sheriff  had come out against it and said if it passed he would not enforce it, the Metro legal department had issued an opinion that the bill was not enforceable and the Council could not compel the sheriff to abide by the bills requirements, the state legislature let it be know they were considering going into special session to nullify the Council's action should the bill pass, and there had been a howl of pubic protest opposing the bill.

Steve Glover

Sheri Weiner

On July 20th when on second reading Councilman Robert Swope led the opposition and gave a powerful speech arguing against it.  When it came to a vote, only eight council members voted against it. The eight "no" votes were Robert Swope, Doug Pardue, Steve Glover, Sheri Weiner, Russ Pulley, Davette Blalock, Tanaka Vercher, and Jacobia Dowell. These council members who had the courage to vote against this bill should be applauded.  If you see them, please thank they for their vote.

The members of the Council voting for the sanctuary city bill were John Cooper, Erica Gilmore, Bob Mendes, Sharon Hurt, Jim Shulman, DeCosta Hastings, Brenda Haywood, Scott Davis, Brett Withers, Anthony Davis, Nancy VanReece, Bill Pridemore, Jeff Syracuse, Mike Freeman, Colby Sledge, Burkley Allen, Freddie O’Connell, Mary Carolyn Roberts, Ed Kindall, Mina Johnson, Kathleen Murphy, Jeremy Elrod, Karen Johnson, Fabian Bedne, and Dave Rosenberg. 

Russ Pulley

Davette Blalock

Four council members, Nike Leonardo, Larry Hagar, Keven Rhoten, and Angie Henderson abstained.

To place a face and council district number with the names, follow this link.

Tanaka Vercher

Jacobia Dowell

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Vote for Davette Blalock in District 53

Davette Blalock was born on 9/11/1971 in Elizabethtown, KY.
The only child of David and Wanda Dennison. Her father was involved in the first Apollo Space Program in Cape Canaveral, Florida in the U.S. Navy with NASA in the sixties before returning home and settling down to raise a family.
Her father started a worldwide educational book distributorship in 1964. Education was a priority in Davette’s life as a result of her upbringing and paternal influence.
Davette and family moved to a Farm in Indiana in 3rd grade through the 9th grade which gave Davette first-hand experience in Agri-Business and the lifestyle and farmer’s strife in America. Davette and family moved to Nashville because of the job opportunity of the Lead Construction Manager position it brought her family when the Airport was being converted into an International Airport.
Davette begin her 10th grade the first year Hunters Lane High School opened.
Davette and family settled down in South Nashville the next year and graduated John Overton High School in 1989.
Davette was raised by a Mother that had worked in a Salon in Hopkinsville, KY earlier in her life where she went to work with her and played with all the clients just about every day. She learned early to love and respect all kinds of people. She became a natural people person. She also learned the Cosmetology trade so when she graduated High School she achieved her Cosmetology License.
She worked at JC Penny’s and Regis Beauty Salon in Hickory Hollow Mall while she studied Law and Political Science at Middle Tennessee State University.
She achieved her Real Estate license to begin her career in the professional world of investments as she continued at MTSU.
Davette has an entrepreneurial mind so in 1995 she started her own Real Estate Brokerage firm. She successfully managed other Real Estate agents and grew her referral base. Davette liked the way she made her clients feel as she earned each and everyone's trust. However, she felt as though she could offer still more to her clients. Therefore, Davette found her niche in full financial planning.
To expand her economic horizons she joined American Express Financial Advisors in 1999. Davette has achieved the Series 7 license (stock broker), the Series 24 License (Securities Management), Life & Health Insurance License, Property & Casualty Insurance License, and Surplus Insurance License, Real Estate Broker's License.
After breaking sales records at American Express she was recruited by Allstate Financial Services in 2000 to provide Financial Planning to Allstate’s clients in middle Tennessee. In this role she managed over 25 Allstate Offices and staff for their Financial Service's needs. In 2004 Davette took a leave of absence to get married to her husband Brian Blalock and give birth to her 1st child Victoria Blalock.
During the leave of absence Davette completed the (CFP) Certified Financial Planning school. Davette stayed home for two years to concentrate on early child development and nurturing as a new mother.
In 2006 Davette opened her own Farmers Insurance Agency enabling her to combine her efforts to offer her clients Real Estate, Financial Estate and Retirement Planning, and Insurance specialties. She has managed several assistants and agents over the years of her businesses.
In 2010 Davette gave birth to her 2nd child, Lance David Blalock. During her pregnancy, Davette was encouraged by many friends and family members to take her wisdom and experience to city government to give additional elements of excellence to the government that serves the greater Nashville community.
In 2010 Davette ran for the Metro City Council for District 27 and won a landslide victory of 61.6% of the vote against two opponents.
In 2015 she was re-elected, beating her opponent that spent three times more money by 64.3% of the vote. Although Davette’s accomplishments and contributions of expertise to the Metro City Council are unmatchable and has earned her worthy respect by council members and her district, as evidenced by her margin of approval in her election victories, she has been groomed by that experience and it has fine-tuned her parliamentary skills to easily qualify her for State Government where she will undoubtedly achieve positive results using acutely calibrated sagacity and persuasive ability to marshal a consensus from both parties of the House that will serve and empower the millions of people in Tennessee.
Davette is running for the Tennessee State House of Representatives for House district 53, for 2016 and graciously asks for your Vote.

Please vote for Davette Blalock in District 53. For more on Davette Blalock, visit her webpage at this link. 

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Davette Blalock explains her vote on the budget. Her record is being distorted!

Davette Blalock

Below is a copy of the email Davette Blaclock sent to her mailing list. I have not seen the original piece from her opponent to which she is responding but you can figure it out. I have lost her original formatting in this re posting, so the highlighting and formatting are mine.

From Davette Blalock

To Rod

Good morning neighbors, 

 It has come to my attention that my opponent is playing politics-as-usual, verbally and in campaign literature, by distorting my voting record in the Metro Council. Such tactics are a disappointment, and I had hoped that his campaign would operate at a more civil level.

These types of political tactics are somewhat of a commonplace when an opponent is challenging an incumbent. I respect District 27’s constituents enough to clarify the incorrect assertions on my opponent’s part. The following is the correct action I took on the specific bills:

• The way the Metro budget works is The Mayor brings a budget to the Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee.

• The Chair person (appointed by the Vice Mayor) gets to make changes if desired and the rest of the council votes on the Chair’s revision.

• If we vote NO on the Chair’s revision then we are actually voting YES to the Mayor’s budget because the Mayor’s budget becomes law automatically if a Substitute Budget brought by the Chair is not passed.

• If a Council member (other than the Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee) wants to make a change to the budget they have to do so by bringing amendments to the budget.

So, if you really want to see who has worked and voted to keep taxes down, look to the Council Members who voted for the amendments......and Yes, you will see my name on them.

My opponent has also misunderstood a bill from 2012. This bill related to health insurance for Council members. Then and now, Council Members who serve 8 years are permitted to retain their coverage. This bill would have changed rules for continuing such coverage beginning in 2019.

This benefit was established when there were no term limits on Council. Now that there are term limits, I have seen this cost to the city increase. That is why I voted in favor that, if it had passed, would have STOPPED the continuation of health insurance for Council Members after 2019.

Bills are sometimes hard to understand with all their legal jargon, but please feel free to contact Jon Cooper, the Council attorney or myself if you have any further questions. I am proud that ALL my votes are aligned with the desires and needs of the residents in our District, without exception. That will be my unwavering commitment for the next four years.

Davette Blalock is exactly right in explaining the budget process. If one votes "no" on a council substitute budget which may have less of a tax increase than the mayor's budget, the effect of that "no" vote is a vote for the mayor's budget instead of the substitute. I have seen incumbents distort the effect of their vote by saying, "I voted against that tax increase," when in actuality they voted for a greater tax increase than what passed. I have also seen challengers wrongly accuse someone of voting for a tax increase when the incumbent actually voted for the lesser of two tax increases.

Most people do not understand the budget process.  But if anyone gets elected promising they will never vote for a tax increase, they are lying. The only way they can vote against a tax increase is if the mayor does not propose one or if the Council substitute does not call for one. Even abstaining or skipping the meeting has the effect of voting for the Mayor's budget. Unfortunately, that is just the way the charter is written.  If does not have to be that way.  In Chattanooga, if the council can not pass a budget they can pass a one-month continuing resolution until they do pass a budget.  The effect of this is that 1/12 of last year's budget appropriation is continued for one month and the tax rate stays the same for another month.

I think the charter should be changed to allow a council member to actually vote "no" on a budget, but until it is, it is not possible to vote against a tax increase if one is proposed by the mayor and if the Council substitute also provides for a tax increase.

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Who is running for Mayor and Metro Council and who I am supporting (update #10)

This is update #10 on who is running for Mayor, Vice Mayor and seats on the Metro Council and who I am supporting. Since the last update on June 19th we have entered the final stretch of the campaign.  Many of the organizations that make endorsements have already done so, the airways are saturated with political advertising, neighborhoods are littered with campaign signs, numerous candidates forums have occurred, we are fast approaching the Tuesday July 7th deadline for voter registration in order to vote in the August 6th election and early voting starts July 17th. If you have not been paying attention to the upcoming election, now is the time to do so.


In my reporting on this campaign, I have made an effort to find out who the candidates are and have given a brief one-sentence bio on some of the them and if I could find a campaign website, Facebook page or a news story about the candidate I have linked to that.  Follow "Link" to learn more about the candidate. If the name is in italics that indicates that person is the incumbent.

In this update, I have made additional endorsements and  have added more links in order to provide more information about the candidates. If you are a candidate and I missed your website or Facebook page and you would like it listed, please send me the link. I will also post any candidate's press release announcing their candidacy if they send it to me.  Posting of a press release of a candidate does not indicate I am supporting that candidate.

Where I have made endorsements, the candidates name is bold and in red typeface. I will be making more endorsements soon but I may not make an endorsement in every race, as I may not have enough information to make an informed decision in each race or some districts may have candidates so equally distasteful that I don't care who wins.  Winnability is a factor in who I support as well as experience and philosophy of government and leadership potential.  Some candidate I am enthusiastically supporting, in other cases, I have a preferred candidate but the candidate may only be the preferred candidate because he is the best of the available choices. In some cases, I am choosing a bad candidate over a terribly bad candidate.

There has been so much written about each of the candidates for mayor, that I am only listing a few links. If you want to know more about any of the mayoral candidates, I suggest you do your own web search.

Below are the people running for Mayor:

• Megan Barry, progressive Council-member-at-large. She is the person I would least like to see elected mayor. (link) (link)
• Charles Robert Bone, an attorney. (link) 
• Linda Rebrovick, Consensus Point president and CEO. A Republican. (link) 
• Jeremy Kane, CEO and President of Lead Academy. (link) 
•  David Fox, a former Tennessean business reporter, former Titan adviser, former

  

  David  Fox

  school board chairman. He is a Republican and has a Republican campaign team. I am supporting David Fox. I am impressed by his intellect, his business background, his leadership as Chairman of the School Board and I share his general view on the roll of government and his view of what challenges will face the next mayor and his priorities.  He is the only mayor candidate that has taken a position against using eminent domain for redevelopment. As chairman of the school board he outsourced school janitorial service and grounds care saving the school system about $7 million a year. I believe he will look to private sector solutions to solve public problems where possible and I believe he is the candidate least likely to raise taxes. He is the only candidate who has taken seriously the increasing indebtedness of our city.  (link. link). 
• Bill Freeman, local businessman and major fund raiser for the Democratic party and the Obama presidential campaign.  Several things make Bill Freeman almost a tie with Megan Barry as the candidate I would least like to see elected mayor. He has advocated a $12 minimum wage for Nashville, a policy which would make it increasing difficult for poor people to climb out of poverty and a policy that would curtail business growth or new business start-ups in Nashville. He has gotten the endorsement of the SEIU, which is reason enough not to support him. (link) (link)
• Howard Gentry, former Vice Mayor, came in third when running for mayor in 2007. The only African-American in the race. He currently serves as Davidson County Criminal Court clerk. (link)

Tim Garrett

This is who is running for Vice Mayor:

• Tim Garrett, Councilman-at-large and former state representative. He is in the funeral home business. He is a Democrat, but he is a reasonable, fiscally conservative Democrat and a very nice guy with a depth of knowledge about Nashville. The job of Vice Mayor is to conduct Council meetings and to appoint the members of Council to committees. It is a fine balance between running efficient meetings and stifling debate. I think Garrett will strike the right balance. I think he will be fair and thoughtful in making committee assignments. With so many good people leaving the council, we need someone with institutional knowledge in the Council. Tim Garrett will be a great vice mayor.  (link)
• David Briley, grandson of former Mayor Beverly Briley, an attorney with Bone McAllester Norton, former candidate for mayor.  (link)

Candidates for at-large seats:

There are no incumbent Council members at-large. They have all been "termed-out." I am such an enthusiastic supporter of Ken Jakes that at this point he is the only candidate for an at-large seat I am endorsing.  One my vote for up to five people to fill the five council member at-large positions, however to vote for five dilutes the strength of one's vote. In addition to not wanting to dilute my vote, recently my enthusiasm waned for an incumbent district councilman seeking an at-large position who voted to advance rent control and has also cast some other votes I disagree with. I have selected some other candidates that I would suggest one vote for if one really wants to vote for more than one candidate. If the election was held today, I would only be casting one vote for an at-large councilman and that would be a vote for Ken Jakes . My choice for other candidates, if one is going to vote for more than one candidate, are indicated by a red asterisk.

• Buddy Baker, a retired Fire Captain with the Metro Fire Department and currently a termed-out Councilman representing District 20. (link) (link)
• Jody Ball, * a self-identified conservative, successful owner of a cost containment company that specializes in the reduction of medical billing for government and private entities.   (link) (link)
  
• Karen Bennett *. currently a member of the Metro Council representing District 8. She is a member of the Republican Party State Executive Committee. (link) (link)
• Al Carota (link)
• Erin Coleman, President of YAD consulting. She is endorsed by Women for Tennessee's Future, which is reason enough not to support her candidacy. (link) (link)
• John Cooper, He is the brother of Congressman Jim Cooper. (link) (link)
• Elizabeth Dachowski, a Green Party activist. (link)
  
• Adam Dread*,  a former member of the Metro Council and a recent Republican candidate for a judgeship. (link)
• Robert Duvall*, currently a district councilman, term limited out, former unsuccessful candidate for the State House, and former Chairman of the Davidson County Republican Party. (link)
• Leroy Johnny Ellis,
• Erica Gilmore, currently a district councilman representing District 19 and termed-out.  She is the daughter of Democratic state Rep. Brenda Gilmore.   (link)
• Ronnie E. Greer, Sr, a former member of the Metro Council representing District 17 prior to the current incumbent. (link)
• Frank Harrison, is currently a termed-out member of the Metro Council representing District 2.  
• Jason Holleman, a termed-out Councilman representing District 24. He briefly ran for the State Senate in the  Democrat primary last year. (link) (link) 
• Martin Holsinger, A member of the Green Party.  (link)(link) (link)
• Phillip Hostteler,
• Walter Hunt. He is currently serving as the Councilman from District 3, he is a retired substitute teacher and served in a high level capacity in the Boner administration and is a member of the Davidson County Democratic Party executive committee. (link)
• Sharron W. Hurt,  President and CEO of JUMP-Jefferson Street United Merchants Partnership, an organization dedicated to revitalizing the businesses on Jefferson Street and bringing commerce to the North Nashville Community. 

  

  Ken Jakes

  (link)
• Ken Jakes, he owns a produce company and is a citizen activist who has often exposed government waste and corruption.  He has previously sought the position of Councilman at-large, garnering the most votes other than the five incumbents. link,  (link to everything ever published in this blog about Ken Jakes and learn of his work for honest and open government.)  
• James Keeton,*  (link)   (link)
• John Lasiter. He previously served in the Council represented District 18 in 2007. He is openly gay. link, link,  link,
• Don Majors, who has been working in constituent services for Rep. Jim Cooper, is leaving that position to run for council. He previously represented the Maplewood area in the Council in the 90s and early aughts.  (link)
• Lonnell Mathews, Jr., currently representing District 1 and termed out.  (link)
• Bob Mendes, an attorney, chairs the board of Nashville Electric Service.  (link)
• Jim Shulman, Former Chief of Staff for Speaker of the House Jimmy Naifeh, former member of the Metro Council.  (link) (link)
• Sandra V. Moore, she is the Council member in District 17 who is termed-out. 

District Council seats:

Below are the people who are running for a District council seats.  Most of the current Council members are "termed-out," meaning they have served two terms and are not eligible to seek reelection. The names of incumbents who are seeking reelection are italicized in the list below. Three Council members, Josh Stites in District 13, Brady Banks in District 4, and Chris Harmon in District 26 are not termed-out but have chosen not to seek reelection. In some of the races I am enthusiastically supporting someone and in some of the races, I am selected the least bad choice. In some districts, I do not know enough about the candidates to have a preference.

Lioniel Green, Jr.

District 1.

• Sylvester Armour, (link) (link)
• Ruby Baker, (link)
• Rueben Dockery, he is a former candidate for the State Senate.
• Lioniel Green, Jr. Former officer in US Army, served in Iraq, on the board of the charter school Purpose Prep and Northwest YMCA. I have met him and am very impressed.  (link)(link)
• Nick Leonardo, several YMCA affiliations. (link) 
• John H. Montgomery,
• Johnathan Richardson, Democrat, (link)
• Roosevelt Williamson, A retired Air Force Major, he has taught Junior ROTC at Whites Creek High School for the last 21 years. Prior to teaching at Whites Creek, he had a successful career in the Air Force, primarily in the Space and Missile career field, with assignments in missile operations, missile maintenance and missile test and evaluation. (link)

District 2.

• Laura Fortier,
• Decosta Hastings, He is a member of the Davidson County Democrat Party Executive

  

  Carrie Searcy

  Committeeman.(link) 
• Danavan Hylton, President and Owner of Hoshana Management Group (link) 
• Carrie Searcy is an attorney  focused on criminal defense, family law, and personal injury with the law firm of Edward J. Gross. (link) (link)
• Robert "Bobby" Stockard, (link)

District 3.

• Terry Clayton
• Tim Coleman, 
•  Brenda Haywood, retired teacher, wellness consultant, talk Show personality with 760 AM a Gospel Radio station. (link)

District 4.

• Robert Swope, has had a successful career in the music business. He has leadership ability and

  

  Robert Swope

  is a strong conservative. With the music business being so important to our city, I think it is important to have someone with that perspective on the Council. Mr. Tuttle is also a good conservative but I have talked to Mr. Swope and believe he is the better choice of two very good candidates. (link)(link)
• Peter Tuttle,(link)

District 5.

• Scott Davis,  is the incumbent. There is not a good choice in this race but the incumbent would be preferable to the challengers.  (link)
• Sarah Martin,  She is a liberal, works in the non-profit sector, neighborhood activist. She is a liberal, works in the non-profit sector, neighborhood activist.(link) (link) (link) 
• Pam Murray, is the former council member who was removed from office. (link)

District 6.

• Peter Westerholm, He is the incumbent and one of the more liberal members of the council (link)
• Brett A. Withers, a community activist. Withers would be the better choice. (link) (link)

District 7.

Steve Clements

• Anthony Davis, he is the incumbent councilman. 
• Stephen Clements, a Republican who heads the Caffeinated Conservatives group, works for the State of Tennessee, former Army officer, active in Madison Now and other civic affairs. He has leadership ability and will be an independent thinker. He is one of the candidates I am enthusiastic about. (link) (link)
• Randy Reed, he is a retired policeman who previously ran against Anthony Davis and did not do too well. 

District 8.

• Ramona L. Gholston,(link) (link) 
• Nina Ground 
• Robert Sawyers, Sr.,
• Chris Swann,works at Olympus Corp. and has spent more than 20 years in the medical field. He is a conservative. (link) (link) (link)
• Nancy VanReece, (link) (link)
• Daniel (Danny) Williams,

Cris Swann

District 9.

• Bill Pridemore, He is the incumbent seeking reelection. He was the recent Chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee. He is moderately conservative. There will be a massive turn over of the Council this time. We need to keep some experienced councilmen in office.
• Rod McDaniel, (link) (link)

District 10.

• Doug Pardue, He is the incumbent seeking reelection and he is unopposed. He is one of the "good" councilman.

District 11.

• Larry Hagar, He is the incumbent, elected in a special election in August 2014. In the short while he has been in office, he has voted the right way on the several controversial issues. He deserves another term.

District 12.

• Steve Glover, He is the incumbent seeking reelection and is unopposed. He is one of the "good" councilmen. 

District 13.

• Furtesha Carter, (link) (link)
• Mark Cole,
• Holly Huezo

District 14. 

• Kevin Rhoten, a former Tennessee state attorney and legislative liaison in Gov. Pill Bredesen's administration.  (link) 

District 15. (There are two good candidates in this race and I have not yet made a selection.)

• Jim Garrett, (link) (link)
  
• Jeff Syracuse, There are two good candidates running in this district. Jeff Syracuse has 15 years experience in the music business, he is active in several neighborhood civic organizations and has the support of the current termed-out incumbent Phil Claiborne.  (link) (link)

District 16.

• Tony Tenpenny,  He is the incumbent. He was active in the effort to save the fair grounds. He

  

  Tony Tenpenny

  is one of the "good" councilmen.
• Mike Freeman, (link)

District 17.

• Christopher Cotton, an attorney and Vice Chair of the Davidson County Democrat Party (link)
• Colby Sledge, A community activist, public relations professional with McNeely, Piggott and Fox and former employee of the Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus. (link)
• Paula Foster. She is endorsed by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. She is practicing privately as a clinical social work supervisor and therapist as well as a practicing faculty member for the Vanderbilt School of Nursing. She lives with her "wife." (link) (link) 
• Tony Watson, He is a conservative and was active in saving he fair grounds.  (link) 

  

  Tony Watson

District 18

• Burkley Allen. She is the incumbent and is unopposed. She has shown leadership on the issue of regulating peer-to-peer vacation rentals and attempting to apply reasonable regulations of in-home recording studios and developed legislation to accommodate an innovative car-share program. She has worked to accommodate innovation and make the regulations not overly onerous. Her experience and her approach to resolving problems will be valuable in the new council.

District 19.

Amanda Harrison

• Keith Caldwell (link)
• Amanda Harrison, (link)
• Freddie O'Connell,  President of the Salemtown Neighborhood Association, board member of Walk Bike Nashville. (link)
• Bill Shick, an attorney, member of the Tennessee Democratic Party's executive committee. (link) (link)

District 20.

• Marisa Frank, (link)
• Frank Stabile, a neighborhood leader in the Nations Neighborhood. (link)
• Mary Carolyn Roberts (link) (link) 

District 21.

• Leah P. Dupree, An attorney and legislative liaison for the Tennessee Department of General Services. (link)
• Edward Kindall, a former school board member. (link)
• Mark Lollis, Jr 

District 22.

• Sheri Weiner, The incumbent Council member, a Republican. A member of Budget and  Finance who asks good questions. She has no opponent.  (link) 

District 23.

• Thom Druffel, (link) (link). Mr Druffel failed to turn in his qualifying petition. He says he was so busy he just forgot it. His name will not be on the ballot but he is conducting a write-in campaign (link). 
• Mina Johnson, very active in the West Meade neighborhood organization. (link)
• Timothy Lee, Tim Lee is a Republican and a former candidate for the state house. I like both Tim Lee and Jim Roberts in this race, however, I had already committed to Jim Roberts and am

  

  Jim Roberts

  supporting his candidacy and believe he would be the better choice.
• Jim Roberts, former Republican candidate for Chancery Court Judge. (link)

District 24.

• Allen Grant, a neighborhood leader in the Sylvan Park community. link) (link)
• Kathleen Murphy, She is a government lobbyist and active in Democrat Party politics and the daughter of Mike Murphy. (link)(link)

 District 25.

• Russ Pulley, (link)  He is the only candidate in the race. 

District 26.

• Jeremy Elrod, An attorney, employed at the Tennessee Municipal Electric Power Association. (link)  (link)
• Luseni Bangalie Kromah
• Jimmy Mitchell (link)

Davette Blalock

District 27.

• Davette Blalock, The incumbent council member, A Republican. When Nashville had livery service price-fixing, she let the effort to repeal it. (link)
• Clement Ledbetter, (link)(link)

District 28.

• Daniel Lewis, is Chairman of the Davidson County Libertarian Party. I like Daniel and have in the past contributed to his campaign for another office. I would like to see one libertarian in the Council, but am supporting Melissa Smithson. I do not think Lewis is electable and he seems more interested in promoting the Libertarian brand than getting elected. (link)
• Melissa Smithson, A Republican. She has the support of Duane Dominy, the termed-our incumbent. (link)



Melissa Smithson

• Tanaka Vercher, (link)

District 29.

• Karen Johnson, She is the incumbent Council member. I know and like Karen a lot.   Karen takes her duties seriously and is a good council member and is responsive to her constituents.  I know nothing about Karen's opponent, but I want to see Karen reelected. Karen is a Democrat but is moderate in her views and is not an ideologue.  (link) (link)
• Vicky Tataryn, (link)

District 30.

• Jason Potts, the incumbent council member. It is unfortunate he does not have an opponent. If you live in his district I would suggest writing in your own name. (link)

District 31.

• Fabian Bedne, the incumbent council member.  No doubt Fabian Bedne is a liberal, but he scored a point with me when he took an extremely free market position of advocating removing the cap on the number of taxis allowed to operate in Nashville, something I have heard no conservative in the Council do. He also seems to be one of those Council members who carefully studies the agenda and asks good question. He returns phone calls and will listen to other opinions. (link) 

District 32.

• Jacobia  Dowell is the incumbent. She scored a point with me when she voted to "abstain" rather than vote for Metro benefits for same-sex couples. She also took what I consider a pro free market position in advocating for a co-op taxi company to get more permits. She also took a strong position against the jail locating in Antioch. She is smart and asks good questions in committee. Also, with such massive turn over in the Council this time, it is important to keep some continuity by reelecting some incumbents. I would probably vote to reelect Jacobia Dowell, if I lived in her district but I do not have enough information to make an informed decision, so at this time I am undecided. (link) 
• Ronald A. Haskins, I have heard favorable things about this candidate. I am still undecided in this race. (link) (link)
• William Kissie, 

District 33. (This is the District represented by Robert Duvall who  is termed-out. I have not yet reached a decision in this race.)

• Sam Coleman,  He is an attorney and a former Councilman. He has been described as a moderate Democrat. He has served in the Council before and with such a massive council turn over, having some people with experience is important. I don't know much about the other candidate, so at this time I am not making an endorsement but lean toward Coleman. (link)
• Jimmy Gafford, former police officer. He got the endorsement of the SEIU, so that is one strike against him. (link)

District 34.

• Steve Butler, on the board of Matthew 25 and on the  board of Stem Preparatory Academy, a charter school.   (link)
• Angie Henderson, (link)

Lonnie Spivak

District 35.

• Lonnie Spivak, a Republican and a former Republican primary candidate for the 5th Congressional district. He is smart and thoughtful and I suspect he will become a leader in the Council if elected. He is one of the candidates about which I am enthusiastic.  (link)
• Vic Lineweaver, A former Metro Councilman who went on to be elected Juvenile Court Clerk and terribly mismanaged the office. He was once arrested for failing to provide client files to the court. He was filmed by a local news station in his driveway getting his newspaper while on the phone claiming to be at work. Lineweaver lost his re-election bid for office of Juvenile Court Clerk. He has been trying to get back into politics every since. (Lineweaver arrested by Juvenile Court officers) (link)
• Dave Rosenberg, a supporter of State Rep. and Council member Bo Mitchel and a supporter of School Board member Amy Frogge. Those are two good reasons to vote against him. He has several Bellevue community involvements. (link)

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Re-election campaign kick off for Davette Blalock

Davette Blalock is one of the good council members seeking reelection. Please join me in contributing to her campaign.

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How the Council voted on same-sex Metro benefits & who simply did not vote.

On July 3rd the Metro Council passed a bill on second reading that would extend metro benefits to the domestic partner of same-sex couples.  The measure is estimated to cost between $400,000 and $900,000 a year.  While the cost is reason enough to oppose the measure, in my view a more compelling reason is that we should not be normalizing what is a perverted life style.  We should not treat as if married, two homosexuals who live together.  If we wanted to say that any two people who share a household and have financial entanglement could be treated the same as a married couple, then I would have less problem with the bill.  I am sure that among Metro's employees, there is a son caring for his elderly mother who lives with him, or there is a mother carrying for her disabled son who lives wither her, or there are two "old maids" who share expenses but do not share sex. If we want to extend this service to people who may be dependent on each other, why is it contingent that they have a sexual relationship?

The vote to approve the bill was 25 in favor, 6 opposed, and 3 voting to abstain.

 BILL NO. BL2014-779

An ordinance amending Title 3 of the Metropolitan Code to provide domestic partner benefits for Metropolitan Government employees. The bill was approved by the Budget and Finance Committee and Personnel-Public Information-Human Resources-Housing Committees. Mr. Westerholm moved to pass the bill on second reading, which motion was seconded and adopted by a the following roll call vote: “Ayes” Barry, Steine, Garrett, Tygard, Matthews, Harrison, Hunt, Banks, Scott Davis, Westerholm, Anthony Davis, Stanley, Moore, Allen, Gilmore, Baker, Evans, Holleman, McGuire, Harmon, Johnson, Potts, Bedne, Todd, Mitchell (25); “Noes” Pridemore, Pardue, Glover, Stites, Claiborne, Dominy (6); “Abstaining” Bennett, Blalock, Dowell (3).

Bill Pridemore
voted NO

Doug Pardue
voted NO

I am extremely proud of those six who voted "No" and want to put a picture with the face.  I am especially proud of the stand and comments made by Josh Sites.

Josh Stites
voted NO

Steve Glover
voted NO

Phil Clairborne
voted NO

Duane Dominy
voted NO

Three Council members voted to abstain. I do not understand a vote to abstain.  I think on controversial issues one should get off the fence and state how they stand.  Sometimes one votes to abstain when they have a conflict of interest. If a council member works for a company that is seeking a zone change, then a vote to abstain is appropriate, or if one has some other conflict of interest. On a bill like these there is no logic to a vote to abstain. Of the three abstentions  Karen Bennett and Davette Blalock who are both Republicans are very disappointing. I am not familiar enough with Jacobia Dowell to know how she would have voted, had she voted. I emailed Karen Bennett and Davette Blalock to give them a chance to tell me why they abstained, but I did not hear from either of them.

 Here are the pictures of those who chose to not take a stand and voted to abstain. 

Jacobia Dowell
Abstained

Karen Bennett
Abstained

Davette Blalock
Abstained

Twenty-five of the Council members voted "yes."  Many of them are obviously liberals and I am not surprised. Some of them I don't know well enough to have guessed how they would have voted. Some of them however disappoint me in how they voted. Maybe my evaluation of them was wrong, but these are the Councilman who disappointment. I am especially disappointing in Charlie Tygerd, and Carter Todd both of whom are Republicans.  

Here are the "yes" votes that either surprised me or disappointed me.

Charlie Tygard
voted YES

Emily Evans
voted YES

Carter Todd
voted YES

Tim Garrett
voted YES

There is one vacancy in the Council and Council Member Edith Langster was absent for the whole meeting. Other Council Member who did not vote at all and were present at least for part of the meeting were Jerry Maynard, Tony Tenpenny, Sheri Weiner and Robert Duvall. I do not know if Mr. Maynard was present for this vote or not. This vote was near the end of agenda and the meeting was almost five hours long, so he may have not been present and had a legitimate reason.  I did speak to Councilman Tenpenny, Sheri Weiner, and Robert Duvall. They all had left the meeting early with very legitimate reason. Council member Sheri Weiner had a health issue and Councilman Robert Duvall and Councilman Tony Tenpenny had family emergencies. I won't go into details but they all did what they needed to do by leaving early. All three told me that had they been there they would have been "no" votes and that they will continue to oppose this effort.

As disappointing as I am in those who I expected to be "no's" who voted yes and those who abstained, I am disappointed in the Christian community and those who advocate traditional values. The Social Conservatives were AWOL on this issue. Had the three who abstained voted "no" and the two of the four disappointing "yes's" voted "no" and Weiner, Tenpenny and Duvall been present, the vote would have been to 23 to 14. If there would have been a campaign from advocates of traditional values to stop this, I believe five more votes could have been switched and it could have been killed. An outpouring of opposition could still stop this between now and June 17th.

If anyone, I mentioned in this blog post would like to explain your vote or your abstention, please feel free to leave a comment, or email me and I will post your explanation.

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