Office holders who endorce Bill Freeman are on his campaign payroll: Maynard, Gillmore and Sherry Jones.

It is illegal to buy votes, but not illegal to put people on your payroll who will endorse you. While it may not be illegal, it is unseemly to buy endorsements.  I am talking about Bill Freeman and the number of prominent people who have endorsed him and are on his campaign payroll. At-large Metro Councilman Jerry Maynard and state Rep. Brenda Gilmore are among those who "endorse" Freeman but are also paid "consultants" to his campaign. Another person paid by the campaign who has endorsed Freeman is Democratic Rep. Sherry Jones. Maynard got paid $18,090 for three months work on the campaign.

To read The Tennessean article that exposed this, follow this link; however, unless you are a subscriber to the Tennessean you may not be able to access it. It looks like the Tennessean is finally putting up their pay wall.

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Jerry Maynard is not running for Mayor

Last night on This Week with Bob Mueller, Councilman Jerry Maynard announced he would not be running for Mayor of Nashville.  Maynard is a term-limited Councilman-at-large, a pastor, an author, an attorney, and a self-employed government relations consultant.

In announcing his decision not to run, he sited as his reason the health of his mother who is 70 years old and battling cancer.  For a long time it was assumed Maynard would be a candidate.  With several candidates in the race with deep pockets who can self-fund their own race or the ability to raise large sums of money, it is doubtful Maynard could have been elected Mayor. However, it is assumed he would have overwhelmingly carried the Black vote. With five viable white candidates splitting the non-Black vote, Maynard could have possibly made the runoff.   At this time there is not another Black candidate for Mayor. It is unsure which candidate will benefit most from Maynard's withdrawal.

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According to The Scene and The Tennessean, this is who is running for Mayor: Barry, Todd, Kane, Johnson, Bone, Brunson, Freeman, Hall......

The Crowded Field Circling the Mayor's Race 
The Nashville Scene,  by Steven Hale, Fri, Jan 17, 2014 - Among the hundreds of people crammed into West End Middle School for last night's public meeting on Mayor Karl Dean's proposed bus rapid transit project, The Amp, were several people with an eye on his job. (link)

Race for Nashville mayor gets interesting
The Tennessean, by Bruce Dobbie, Jan. 18, 2014 - The mayor’s race to succeed Karl Dean just got a whole lot more interesting. Four additional Nashvillians are considering entering the contest. All of them are smart and accomplished. All could run credible races. To date none has been mentioned in local media as a potential candidate. (link)

Read the two above articles to get an insight into the race for Mayor. According to the two articles and other sources, here are the leading contenders:

• Megan Barry,  At-Large Council member. She is considered the most "progressive" of the field.
• Carter Todd, Metro councilman representing Green Hills area and until recently was general counsel and vice president at Gaylord Entertainment. He is the only Republican in the field that I know of.
• Jeremy Kane, former CEO of LEAD Public Schools. I don't know much about any of these candidates yet, but being from a charter school background would be a plus in my consideration given the anti-charter position of our public school director and school board.
• Torry Johnson, District Attorney, who recently announced he is not seeking reelection to that post.
• Charles Robert Bone, general counsel of the Convention Center Authority. He is very active in the Democrat Party.
• Stuart Brunson, chairman/CEO of Aid & Assist At Home, a provider of home care to seniors and the disabled. He served as deputy governor under Phil Bredesen.
• Michael Burcham, President/CEO of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.
• David Fox, former School Board chairman.
• Bill Freeman, Real Estate Investor.
• Sheriff Daron Hall
• Jerry Maynard, at-large Councilman and the only African-American in the race. 

I am sure there are others who are thinking about entering the race. I would like to throw out three names of people I would like to see throw their hat in the ring:

• Tim Garrett, Councilman at-large and former state representative. He is a Democrat but considered  a more conservative Democrat. He is fair-minded, likable, fiscally responsible, has a wealth of knowledge and is capable. 
• Charlie Tygard, Councilman at-large. He is a Republican, has served on the Council a long time and is fiscally conservative. Like Garrett, he has a depth of knowledge of Metro Nashville.
• Lee Beaman. I am not even sure he lives in Davidson County. Beaman is a wealthy businessman, owner of Beaman motors and Beaman bottling. He is active in civic affairs and has charisma and almost everyone who has been in Nashville for any time has bought a car at a Beaman dealership. 

If anyone is running for Mayor, send me your press releases.  If you have someone who you would like to see run or if I left a potential candidate's name off this list, please leave a comment. Also, who are you supporting and why?

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Council committee Meeting on the poll book issue

To really understand what goes on in the Metro Council, one needs to know what goes on in committee. It is in committee that the hard work of the Council is done.  Here is a joint meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee and the Rules Committee, where the controversy over the electronic poll books are exploded.  This hearing takes place on Monday prior to the Tuesday night September 18th council meeting. This meeting is an hour long.

09/17/12 Joint Council Committee Meeting

Albert U. Tieche, Administrator of Elections, makes the presentation on the controversy surrounding the electronic poll books. How some voters accidentally got a Republican ballot and how this problem has already been resolved is fully explained. It is clear that the Election Commission had no control over the default to the wrong option. If in doubt about this issue, please watch this committee meeting. There was no conspiracy and no shenanigans. Tim Garrett makes an excellent point in explaining that the default would have been to Democrats had Democrats had a majority in the State House. In this committee meeting, Jerry Maynard is much more reasonable that he is the next night on the Council floor.

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Final update: What happened at the 9/18/12 Council meeting: Midtown rezoned, poll books bought

09/18/12 Metro Council Meeting

Meeting of the Metro Council on September 18th, 2012 More

Click on the above link to watch the Council meeting.  Below are the highlights with notation of where to go in the video to see the more interesting portions of the meeting.

It is announced that Juvenile Judge Betty Adams Green resigned effective the day prior to the Council meeting. The Council will fill the vacancy. Nomination for the office are to be in the clerk's office by September 25, and the Council will fill the position at the Oct 16th meeting. It will be interesting to see who the Council chooses to fill this vacancy. The Council gets lobbied hard on filling vacancies for these plum positions.

Three bills are pulled from the consent agenda.  This rarely happens. The three bills are Resolution 412 which would appropriate $400,000 from the 4% fund to purchase electronic poll books for the election commission, Resolution 412 which approves an agreements between TVA, NES and Metro for the purchase, interconnection, and operation of electricity generated by solar units installed at two fire halls, and Resolution 428 which authorizes the parking of vehicles at the former Stokes Middle School property.

Discussion of Resolution 410 (purchase of poll books) starts at 16:10. Budget and Finance had approved unanimously. Charlie Tygerd explains that the issues surrounding the controversy of problems with the electronic poll books were fully explained at the B&F committee and half the books have already been purchased and the new poll books save time and money.

Bo Mitchell who is running for a State House seat, gets a lot of TV face time grandstanding on the issue and says the B&F committee did not get adequate answers. He makes a motion to defer. Duane Dominy Speaks and says the answers to the questions raised by Mitchell were provided in committee. On a machine vote the motion to defer fails, 15 for deferral and 24 against.

Councilman Maynard attacks the integrity of the Election Commission and Charlie Tygerd defends the election commission. (This is good stuff. Maynard starts at 29:45; Tygerd at 33:25.) Tygerd gets frustrated and heated and does a great job responding to Mannard. Councilman Tony Tenpenny also takes to the floor revealing his frustration. Several other members speak on the motion and the resolution passes by voice vote. The way I see it, those who are attacking the election commission are simply not wanting to understand the explanation that were offered and are grandstanding.

Resolution 412 which approves an agreements between TVA, NES and Metro for the purchase, interconnection, and operation of electricity generated by solar units installed at two fire halls is discussed. Thanks to Charlie Tygerd, the questions I wanted asked were asked. (See it at 37:10) The return is a twenty year return on investment. That is a bad deal! Great job Councilman Tygerd! 

 Councilman Stein points out that the money has already been spend and all this bill does is enter into a contract to recoup some of the money already spend. On a machine vote, the resolution passes 37-2 with the two "no" votes being those of Tygerd and Duvall. If I had been in the Council, I also would have voted no. This measure was nothing more than a feel-good green project that was not in the city's best interest. The Council should have voted against this bill and sent General Services a message to stop the feel-good green stuff and only engage in green projects if they are good investments.

Councilman Evans explains her opposition to Resolution 428 which authorizes the parking of vehicles at the former Stokes Middle School property. (see 42:52) The resolution passes on machine vote 34-4-1

Each proposed charter amendment is considered separately.

• RS2012-279 by Tygard which would have Nashville’s mayoral, vice mayoral and Metro Council elections at the same time was withdrawn following a recommendation against the bill from the Council's Charter Revision committee. 
• RS2012-280 by Gilmore that would prohibit the Metropolitan Government from inquiring about a job applicant’s criminal history on the initial job application is withdrawn following a negative recommendation of the Council Committee. 
• RS2012-377 by Garrett, which would clarify the duties of the sheriff’s office passes. 

ORDINANCE NO. BL2012-237 on second reading amends the Metro Code to implement a number of the recommendations of the study and formulating committee pertaining to employee and retiree benefits and pensions. This ordinance basically curtails the benefits of employees going forward. This is a wise move. Many cities are going broke because of liberal defined benefit packages and retirement plans. The bill passes.

An attempt is made by Councilman Clairborne to amend the bill so that going forward, former council members would not be eligible for the subsidized health insurance unless they had served 10 years and then they would pay the same rate as retirees who had served 10 years. (see 1:09:15 for discussion) Councilman Clairborne withdraws the amendment after several council members raise objections that the amendment has not been to committee, but he promises to bring it back as a separate bill.

Prior to term limits there were not that many former council members; with term limits there is growing number of former members of the Metro Council. Claiborne's proposal should be adopted.

ORDINANCE NO. BL2012-241 by Dominy, on second reading to require the annual contract for services between the Metropolitan Government and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce for the Partnership 2020 economic development program to be approved by resolution of the council and would require 21 affirmative votes to be approved, is deferred for two meetings.

BILL NO. BL2012-195 which would rezone more than 1500 properties over a 450 acre area in Midtown (between Charlotte and West End from I-440 to downtown) passes. The discussion starts at 1:32:50.

Below are news reports regarding this council meeting.

Council approves Midtown rezoning
 also. approved purchase of poll books


by Michael Cass,The Tennessean, Sep 18, 2012

The Metro Council voted Tuesday to approve a 455-acre rezoning in Nashville’s Midtown area and agreed to put five proposed charter amendments up for public votes in November.

 The council also voted to appropriate $400,000 to buy controversial voting equipment for the Davidson County Election Commission, agreeing to honor a contract with a vendor over objections about the technology’s performance in the August primary.(link)

 Metro Council Purchases Controversial Voting Equipment
 from NewsChannel5.com

NASHVILLE, Tenn.- Metro Council Members exchanged some heated words over controversial electronic poll books during a meeting.

Despite the debate, the council voted to appropriate $400,000 to buy the equipment for the Davidson County Election Commission.  The money will purchase 200 machines and upheld a contractual agreement signed last year.

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Mayor Dean's Front Group Endorses 15 Candidates!

Mayor Karl Dean's "Building Nashville Together" has mailed voters a slick, heavy-duty, full-color piece with a slate of 15 Metro Council Candidates he is endorsing. Dean is not mentioned in the piece nor associated with it in this mailing.  It is paid for by Building Nashville Together, but everyone who is politically aware knows this is Dean's baby.  I got mine when I came home for lunch today.

The whole complete list of pictured candidates is a list of people I would suggest voting against, with the exception of Sandra Moore and that is only because her opponent is such a worthless human being that I think she is the lesser of the two bad choice. These candidates are the Mayor's lapdogs. We do not need 15 rubber stamps in the Metro Council.

Here are the Building Nashville Together picks:

Megan Barry, At-large
Jerry Maynard, At-large
Ronnie Steine, At-large
Brady Banks, District 4
Nancy Vanreece, District 8
Anna Page, District 16
Sandra Moore, District 17
Buddy Baker, District 20
Senna Brandmeir, District 22
Chris Harmon, District 26
Tanaka Vercher, District 28
Fabian Bedne, District 31
Markeith Braden, District 33
Bo Mitchell, District 35

Vote Against these Candidates!

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At-large Councilman Jerry L. Maynard II, License to Practice Law Suspended

At-large Councilman Jerry L. Maynard's has had his law license suspended for 18 months by the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee. The suspension is retroactive to the date of a temporary suspension on January 25, 2010. Below is the text of the suspension notice:

BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
OF THE SUPREME COURT OF TENNESSEE

PLEASE NOTE
YOU MAY SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE INFORMATIONAL RELEASES, FORMAL ETHICS OPINIONS, NEWSLETTERS AND ANNUAL REPORTS ELECTRONICALLY BY SIGNING IN AT THE BOARD’S WEBSITE
www.tbpr.org/Subscriptions

10 CADILLAC DRIVE, SUITE 220
BRENTWOOD, TENNESSEE 37027
TELEPHONE: (615) 361-7500
(800) 486-5714
FAX: (615) 367-2480
E-MAIL: ethics@tbpr.org
Website: www.tbpr.org

RELEASE OF INFORMATION

RE: JERRY L. MAYNARD, II., BPR# 17473
CONTACT: KRISANN HODGES
BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
615-361-7500
July 1, 2011
NASHVILLE LAWYER SUSPENDED

On June 29, 2011, the Tennessee Supreme Court suspended Jerry L. Maynard, II, of Nashville,
Tennessee, for eighteen (18) months retroactive to January 25, 2010, the date of Mr. Maynard’s temporary suspension from the practice of law.

The Board of Professional Responsibility filed a Petition for Discipline against Mr. Maynard pursuant to Rule 9 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Tennessee alleging that he was engaging in the unauthorized practice of law. Mr. Maynard was suspended for noncompliance with continuing legal education (“CLE”) on September 1, 2006; however, he continued to work while suspended as General Counsel for a health care provider until 2009.

Mr. Maynard’s actions violate Rules of Professional Conduct 5.5(a), Unauthorized Practice of Law;
8.1(b), Bar Admission and Disciplinary Matters; and 8.4(g), Misconduct.
Maynard 1950-5 rel.doc

The document is not yet available on the web but if anyone would like the pdf version, email me and I will send it to you.

This is not the first time Mr. Maynard has been in trouble with the Board of Professional responsibility. In 2004 he was censored. Below is the text of that action.

BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
of the SUPREME COURT OF TENNESSEE

RELEASE OF INFORMATION

RE: JERRY L. MAYNARD, II, BPR #17473
CONTACT: SANDY GARRETT
BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
615-361-7500
August 18, 2004

NASHVILLE ATTORNEY CENSURED

On August 12, 2004, Jerry L. Maynard, II, of Nashville, Tennessee, received from the Board of Professional Responsibility a Public Censure. Maynard was given notice of the censure and did not request a hearing.

The censure arose from Maynard’s filing a notice of hearing date for a client on March 15, 2004 in the Chancery Court for Davidson County, Tennessee. At the time Maynard filed the notice of hearing, Maynard was administratively suspended for Continuing Legal Education noncompliance on November 14, 2001 and administratively suspended for non-payment of fees since September 10, 2001. Maynard’s filing a notice of hearing date while administratively suspended violates Rules 1.16; 3.3; 5.5 and 8.4 of the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct.

For these violations, the Board publicly censures Maynard.
SG:mw
Maynard 27173 rel.doc
1101 KERMIT DRIVE, SUITE 730
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 37217
TELEPHONE: (615) 361-7500
(800) 486-5714
FAX: (615) 367-2480
E-MAIL: ethics@tbpr.org
WILLIAM W. HUNT, III
CHARLES A. HIGH
SANDY GARRETT
JESSE D. JOSEPH
JAMES A. VICK
THERESA M. COSTONIS
DISCIPLINARY COUNSEL
LANCE B. BRACY
CHIEF DISCIPLINARY COUNSEL
LAURA L. CHASTAIN
DEPUTY CHIEF DISCIPLINARY COUNSEL
BEVERLY P. SHARPE
CONSUMER COUNSEL DIRECTOR
To view this document in its original format,follow this link.

On Mr. Maynard's campaign website he brags about his practice of law, and has this to say:

Inspired by Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and the impact an attorney of integrity could have on a community, Maynard chose to enter law school. He earned his Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Jurisprudence from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana..

Maynard began his legal career at Cincinnati's largest law firm, Dinsmore & Strohl, representing a number of Fortune 500 clients. He represented a variety of industries including banking, real estate, healthcare, construction, commercial lending, and faith-based nonprofit organizations. Next, Maynard joined Meharry Medical College in Nashville, TN as the Director of Legal Affairs and Risk Management, serving on the executive leadership team that completed $118 million dollars of capital improvements to the campus. Maynard later joined and became a partner at the law firm Manson, Jones & Associates.

I do not think Mr. Maynard should be using his record as a lawyer as a qualification for office. This pattern of an inability to stay out of trouble withe the Board of Professional Responsibility calls into question Mr. Maynard's fitness to serve on the Metro Council. 

In fairness to Mr. Maynard, I will be contacting him about this issue and will give him a chance to respond and will post his response if he replies.

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