Judge rules Sumner County Schools violated public records law, orders it to stop

Seated left to right: Citizen Ken Jakes, Sumner Schools attorney 
Jim Fuqua, school communications official Jeremy Johnson 
and attorney Todd Presnell listen to the judge’s ruling that  
the school district violated the Tennessee Public Records Act.

by Deborah Fisher, Reposted from Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, GALLATIN — Nearly 20 months after citizen Ken Jakes requested to see the Sumner County Schools public records policy, Sumner County Judge Dee Gay ruled today that the school district violated Tennessee Public Records law by withholding it. He ordered the district to stop its practices and adopt a new policy for dealing with public records requests.

The school’s attorney asked for a 30-day stay on the judge’s order, which Gay granted, while the school district considers whether it will appeal the judge’s decision.

The order was a win for Jakes, a frequent requester of public records. Jakes filed the suit April 9, 2014, after the school district told him they would not accept his records request which he emailed on March 21, 2014, and followed up with a phone message. The school district contended it could reject the request because it had a local policy that all records requests must be made in person or in writing and mailed through the U.S. Postal Service.

Gallatin News Examiner reporter Jennifer Easton 
gets reaction from Ken Jakes after his victory in court.

Sumner Schools has spent thousands of dollars defending its policy. Through February 2015, it spent nearly $83,000 for an outside law firm on the case. That doesn’t include the nine most recent months of work, including during the trial in July. The Gallatin News Examiner requested to see how much the case had cost the district to date, but the school district said it has not received any additional bills since February. It declined to explain why.

Jakes said he has spent about $10,000 of his own money to sue the district, maintaining all along that the school district was violating the Tennessee Public Records Act and intentionally making it difficult for citizens to get public records.

Judge Gay in his ruling on Friday sided with Jakes’ arguments, saying the law made it clear that governmental entities could not put form over substance in trying to regulate how a person makes a public records request.

“From the TPRA (Tennessee Public Records Act) and the BPG (Best Practices Guidelines on the Office of Open Records Counsel’s website), it is very clear to this Court that in the application of the TPRA that openness and the accessibility of non-exempt records are favored. It is also very clear that the law has placed no restriction on the form or the format of a request for inspection of public records other than: (1) a request for inspection or viewing cannot be required to be initiated by a written request; (2) any request for inspection of a public record shall be sufficiently detailed to enable the record custodian to identify the specific records.”

Judge Dee Gay, a criminal court judge, took the case after the Sumner 
County Chancellor was recused because he had family members employed 
by the school district.

…”Both the email and the phone message were ‘sufficiently detailed to enable the custodian to identify the specific records requested’ – a request for the records policy for the Board of Education. Under the TPRA, that is all that is required to make a request to inspect public records,” Gay said.

Read Gay’s ruling here: Judge Dee Gay’s ruling in the public records case against Sumner County Schools.

While Gay took the school district to task for its policy — at one point stating that, “We no longer live in a Pony Express world” — he declined to rule that the school district’s denial was willful.
If Gay had found the school district had willfully refused to provide the public record, Jakes would have been eligible for an award of attorneys’ fees. Instead, Gay noted that the school district’s attorney, Jim Fuqua, “sought the advice of the Open Records Counsel concerning the public records request for inspection in this case. The advice requested was whether the Defendant should accept the request for inspection of public records by email.”

…”The Court finds that there was no showing of an unwillingness to produce a particular record, but rather involved a question or concern of the proper procedure to follow by the Defendant in accepting a request for inspection.”

In Gay’s order, he gave the school district until March 1, 2016 to bring its open records request for inspection policy into compliance with the law.

Attorney Todd Presnell with Bradley Arant Boult Cummings represented the school district. Attorney Kirk Clements with Haynes Freeman & Bracey represented Jakes.
For coverage from the July trial, read:
Public records practices at Sumner County Schools under scrutiny at trial
Judge says Sumner County Schools denied public records request, but not willful

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Thank God for our Veterans

 by Ken Jakes, 

There are many men and women whose name I may not know.

But I want to proudly honor them and let their heroic record show.

That when asked to defend their Country, they each gave their all.

They gave their life and paid such a price, so freedom wouldn't fall.

To the family of each Veteran who laid down their life, may God heal.

The aching in your heart for the loss that I am sure you all must feel.

Though I may not know the name, of the loved one you have lost.

I know they preserved our freedom, and I know with a great cost.

May these words comfort you, and our Nation owes each so much.

For Veterans who would not stand down, even when times got tough.

America will always be the Land of the free, may its Flag forever wave.

Our Veterans have fought with honor,  this is the home for the Brave

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Who I am supporting in the race for Mayor, Vice Mayor and members of the Metro Council and how I am voting on the proposed charter amendments.

David  Fox for Mayor

Below is the list of who I am supporting in the race for Mayor, Vice Mayor and members of the Metro Council and my recommendation on the proposed charter amendments.

This is just a list. For commentary on why I am making the recommendations, I am making, you may want to put the candidates name in the search box and anything I have written about the candidate will pop up.

In some cases I feel strongly about the candidate and am enthusiastically supporting that person. In other cases, I have simply chosen the least bad of two bad candidates.

Tim Garrett for Vice Mayor

I have not endorsed in every district, simply because I did not know enough about the candidates to have a preference in some cases.

In the at-large race, one may vote for up to five candidates but I am voting for only one candidate and that is Ken Jakes.  To win a seat outright, without a runoff, a candidate would have to get 20% of the votes cast.  If no one gets 20% of the total votes cast for at-large seats then the ten people who got the most votes will be in a runoff.  With 26 candidates running, I do not want to dilute the strength of my vote so I am voting for only one candidate. There are other good candidates running however, who I would like to see elected, so if one wants to vote for more than one candidate I am listing some additional good candidates.

Ken Jakes for at-large

Here are my recommendations:

Mayor: David Fox

Vice Mayor:  Tim Garrett 
Council member at-large: Ken Jakes

Other good at-large candidates: Robert Duvall, Jody Ball,
Adam Dread, James Keeton, and Karen Bennett

District Council seats:

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

District 1: Lioniel Green, Jr. 
District 2: Carrie Searcy 
District 3: No recommendation 
District 4: Robert Swope
District 5: Scott Davis
District 6: Brett A. Withers
District 7: Stephen Clements
District 8: Chris Swann
District 9: Bill Pridemore

Carrie Searcy
District 2

District 10: Doug Pardue
District 11: Larry Hagar 
District 12: Steve Glover
District 13: No Recommendation
District 14: No Recommendation
District 15: Jeff Syracuse
District 16: Tony Tenpenny
District 17: Tony Watson 
District 18: Burkley Allen 
District 19: Amanda Harrison  
District 20: Frank Stabile
District 21: No Recommendation 
District 22: Sheri Weiner
District 23: Jim Roberts 

Robert Swope
District 4

Steve Clements
District 7

Cris Swann
District 8

Tony Tenpenny
District 16

Jim Roberts
District  23

Tony Watson
District 17

Amanda Harrison
District 19

Lonnie Spivak
District 35

Davette Blalock
District 27

Melissa Smithson
District 28

District 24: Allen Grant
District 25: Russ Pulley
District 26: No Recommendation
District 27: Davette Blalock 
District 28: Melissa Smithson
District 29: Karen Johnson
District 30: Write in a name 
District 31: Fabian Bedne 
District 32: No recommendation 
District 33: Sam Coleman
District 34: No recommendation
District 35: Lonnie Spivak

Charter Amendment 1: Effective August 2023, Council terms would be increased from two consecutive four-year terms to three consecutive four-year terms: Voting "yes."

Charter Amendment 2: Beginning September 1, 2019, this would increase the number of consecutive terms a council member could serve from two terms to three terms. Also, it would reduce the council from a 40 to 27 members and would reduce the number of districts from 35 to 24 and reduce the number of at-large council members from 5 to 3: Voting "yes."

Charter Amendment 3: The would require that on any Metro tax-payer funded project with a value of over $100,0000 that the workforce employed by the project consist of a least 40% residents of Davidson County; Voting "No."  

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Ken Jakes Election Night Party

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A Report from Caffeinated Conservatives: What the at-large candidates had to say.

From Stephen Clement, host of Caffeinated Conservatives:

Hi everybody,

Our coffee talk with 6 candidates went well yesterday, and I wanted to report back what our candidates had to say for themselves. They were given 5 minutes to introduce themselves, and then we went to questions. These summaries are written to the best of my note-taking ability and memory. Please contact the candidates if you have any questions or comments for them.

Also, as I give points to those who choose to take the time to talk to us, I would like to point out that: 

- Don Majors was invited and did not respond 

- Sharon Hurt said she would be out of town on business

- Erin Coleman sent a representative, as driving on Saturday would violate the Sabbath for her. She reportedly contemplated walking from West Nashville, but her representative convinced her to let him just drive over.

What makes them awesome, as they said it:
Ken Jakes - wants to bring small business principles to the way the Council runs the city. Ken has been a government watchdog for years and will use his position to help root out corruption and waste.
John Lasiter - wants to focus on getting the basics right: better roads, sidewalks, transit, drainage, and fiscal management. No shiny new projects on his watch. He stated that he is a fiscal conservative and a social liberal, but that last part essentially has no impact on what the Council does. He loves everybody.
Bob Mendes - originally from Chicago, he built his own law practice, served on the Nashville Electric Service Board, and has drafted legislation for the Council in the past. While on the NES board, he helped outsource their internal auditing process, which found more cost savings opportunities for rate payers.
Phillip Hostettler - started his political career early by winning a string of student offices, once served as a Opryland horse-mounted police officer, and is conservative.

Jason Holleman - has served on the Council in his district since 2007, where he voted against the AMP, against the Convention Center, and sponsored legislation to save the Fairgrounds. He is a lawyer, and he believes that his experience on the Council (particularly in the mainstay of Council work, being zoning and land use) will be invaluable to the incoming class of Council people.
Erin Coleman (her representative Paul Nye) - she is a fiscal conservative, believes in focusing the Council's efforts on things that actually work for everybody instead of nice-to-haves that aren't a real benefit. She served in the US Army as an engineer officer and has deployed to Iraq.

What do they think about the future of transit:
Ken Jakes - we should sync traffic lights to ease congestion, and work with CSX to build our light rail capacity to move people to/from outlying communities likes the Music City Star does.
John Lasiter - thinks the AMP presented the wrong kind of idea and would rather focus on making what we have work better.
Bob Mendes - spoke about a multi-modal approach, including light rail, more bus service, giving everyone a bus pass to get them to try it, and not being afraid to try out ideas so we can see what works. Thinks we need to really push park & ride programs.
Phillip Hostettler - interested in copying the efficient practices of private companies like Uber, Lyft, and Blue Bus (who can take you to Atlanta for $4).
Jason Holleman - wants buses to be equipped with credit card swipers so everyone can use it, like the Music City STAR, and instead of using the $200 million the Mayor wanted for the AMP on building a deluxe line for a small part of town, he'd rather spend that $200 million to upgrade service for the entire county.
Erin Coleman - no statement given.

Are you for reducing the Council size and extending term limits, as in the proposed Charter Amendments?
Ken Jakes - yes on reducing, no on term limits.
John Lasiter - is torn on the issue and doesn't like the way the amendments are written. For instance, reducing the Council size will make each Council person responsible for more people, but the Council does not pay enough to be a full time job.
Bob Mendes - yes on both.
Phillip Hostettler - no on both.
Jason Holleman - yes on both.
Erin Coleman - no statement given.

What do you think about innovative businesses like Uber and Lyft? (this is a litmus test to see how free market a politician is, as the taxi companies and unions tried to get the Council to hamstring any competitors to their monopoly of the professional driver industry)

Ken Jakes - loves it.

John Lasiter - loves it.

Bob Mendes - loves it.

Phillip Hostettler - loves it.

Jason Holleman - likes it, and thinks this opens the issue for discussion on overall regulation of the professional driver industry.

Erin Coleman - loves it.

What do you think about an inclusionary zoning mandate, as currently pushed by the Council?
Ken Jakes - against it, doesn't want the government taking away property rights.
John Lasiter - was shocked to find himself in 100% agreement with Ken Jakes on something. He is fine with incentives, but not mandates.

Bob Mendes - for it, as he helped draft the bill the Council is using, and pointed out that the government puts restrictions on all of our property rights all the time. Pointed out that he wants incentives, not mandates.
Phillip Hostettler - against it.
Jason Holleman - he's for it.

Erin Coleman - torn on the issue.

Are you for or against the proposed local hire Charter Amendment?

Ken Jakes - for it.

John Lasiter - torn on the issue.

Bob Mendes - torn on the issue, as he would like jobs to go to local workers first and not out of towners, but given the restrictions on the Charter Amendment, he thinks its overkill to amend our Charter for an issue that impacts maybe 900 workers.

Phillip Hostettler - for it.

Jason Holleman - torn on the issue.

Erin Coleman - torn on the issue.

Are you for two-term Metro Council members being able to keep Metro health care insurance for life? (this is heavily subsidized by the taxpayers, to the tune of $1 million per year)

Ken Jakes - against it.

John Lasiter - for it.

Bob Mendes - against it.

Phillip Hostettler - against it.

Jason Holleman - against it.

Erin Coleman - against it.

I hope you have found this helpful in picking which At-Large candidates you would like to vote for this election.

Stephen Clements & Terry Torre
Caffeinated Conservatives

Stephen Clements is himself a candidate for Councilman in District 7. 

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What Happened at the Council Meeting of July 7th? Housing and Rent control advances, Council members keep life-time health insurance, more tax giveaways.

The big news of the night is that the Council voted to advance the form of housing price and rent control that goes by the good sounding name of "inclusionary zoning."  It passed, but eleven members voted against it.

To read my analysis of this meeting and to get your own copy of the agenda follow this link. At the time I did my analysis, the Council staff analysis had not been published and I did not have benefit of reading the staff analysis prior to the council meeting. To get your copy of the council staff analysis follow this link.

At over four hours long, this is a long meeting.  If there is anything I think worth watching, I will note the timestamp and you can go to that point in the video to watch the action.  If you want to watch the meeting however, and not devote four hours, you may want to watch it in double time and then slow it down when you hear something interesting. I can usually watch a meeting in double time and not lose much content. To do that click on the video, then click on the "YouTube" logo and you will be asked it you want to watch the video on YouTube. Do that. Then click on the gear. If given the opportunity to watch it in time and half or double time, you will see that option. If not, follow this link and click on "HTML5" unless you get a message saying "the HTML5 player is currently used when possible." Go back to the video and you should now be able to watch it at faster speeds.

There are 33 bills on public hearings and I do not even attempt to understand them all. I only report on bills that have wider implications than one neighborhood or for some other reason I consider important. Below are the meeting highlights:

BILL NO. BL2015-1098  on public hearing which concerns '“Community Education' siting" and would allow schools to locate in zoned districts where they are not now permitted and would relax the lot size requirements for a school is deferred indefinitely.  I think this is a good bill and is one to watch. Included in this is a provision that schools could now be established in IWD districts (Industrial Warehousing/Distribution, intended for a wide range of warehousing, wholesaling, and bulk distribution uses). The bill also provides for "adaptive reuse," meaning a school could be located in an existing building, regardless of lot size, that was not originally intended for a school. On the face of it this seems like a good thing to do. Why not allow a school to locate in a relocated church building or an empty mall? Some people in the Greenhills area are opposed to any relaxation of the current school siting requirements because they are concerned that Hillsboro High will relocate and the valuable land which is now Hillsboro High will be redeveloped. They want to make it very difficult for Hillsboro high to relocate simply because they oppose new commercial and multifamily development in Greenhills. Council member Evans, the bill sponsor ask the bill be deferred to the first meeting in August. Councilman Bedne ask instead to have the bill deferred infinitely. The sponsor says she is Ok with that. She can still bring it back up. The motion to defer indefinitely passes.

SUBSTITUTE BILL NO. BL2015-1120  on public hearing is a bill that would expand where one may build secondary dwelling units. It passes. This would amend the zoning code to create a Detached Accessory Dwelling Unit (DADU) Overlay District. I think this is a positive development and it is one way to increase density and increase the stock of affordable housing. While I oppose price fixing to increase affordable housing, I do think increasing the stock of affordable housing is a worthwhile goal. Also, if Nashville is to grow and avoid massive urban sprawl and if Nashville is going to ever have adequate mass transit, and if we are to afford the services we want and need, without massive tax increases, we need greater population density. Some, however, raise the issue of parking, road capacity, sewer capacity and maintaining the character of existing neighborhoods as reasons to oppose greater density.

One of my favorite public figures and a Council member at-large member candidate, Ken Jakes argues against it, saying it could change the character of neighborhoods across Davidson County. The sponsor explains that this is only a tool and this overlay would have to be applied to a neighborhood and passed by the Council.

BILL NO. BL2015-1121 which would permit "Artisan manufacturing" in a whole bunch of zoning districts that now permit manufacturing passes. No one speaks in favor or opposition.  It would allow people to live and work in this districts and sets standards such as parking requirements and screening requirement for loading docks when such would adjoin residential areas. To me, this seems like a positive development.

BILL NO. BL2015-1139 is one of the bill that advances housing price control known as "inclusionary zoning." This directs the Planning Department to create rules and regulation that implement "inclusionary zoning" and directs that such rules set a goal that 14% of the units in any new development or renovation of existing developments or conversion of existing rental developments to for-purchase units, be set aside as "affordable."  It define "affordable" as affordable to someone making 60% or less of the area median income. "Affordable" means that one's house payment for rent does not take more than 30% of one's income.  The effect of this is that the cost all new developments would increase and development of new residential property would be slowed and prices of all new development would increase. The final rules established by the Planning Commission would have to go back to the Council for approval. It is my understanding that State law would have to be changed before Metro could do this, however that is not certain.

Several people speak in favor and in opposition. Those in support include representatives of NOAH and VOICE, Kay Bowers who is with a non-profit housing group, Dinah Gregory, Director of Planning and Coordination with Metro Social Service and Rev. Bill Barnes a long time activist for progressive causes for whom the Barnes Fund is named. Several speakers mention that this implements a goal of NashvilleNext.

Among those speaking in opposition is Council member at-large candidate Ken Jakes (see time stamp 53:26), He says no government should ever tell one the price for which they must rent or sell their home. Other opponents include a spokesman for the Greater Nashville Apartment Association and the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors. Marty Heflin a teacher of Real Estate Finance at the Owen School of Management at Vanderbilt University gives examples of how inclusionary zoning has failed to achieve its goals in other locations where it has been adopted and actually led to higher home prices(time stamp 59:27). He point out that with inclusionary zoning total housing developments go down and it pushed all housing prices up and acts as a tax on development and leads developers to build outside the county instead of in the county.

The bill is substituted with a version that is slightly less bad than it was originally. The original said the Planning Commission was to come up with rules and regulations that required a 14% set aside of affordable units; the substitute says they are to develop a plan that has a goal of 14% affordable units.  Council member Sherri Weiner speaks in opposition to the bill and speaks in favor alternative bill 1147 which in my view is also a bad bill, but not as bad as this bill. Bill 1147 does not mandate or set a goal of 14% set aside. Under 1147 instead of requiring developers to build affordable housing, the Planning Commission could incentivize developers to do so. Councilman Tygard and Evan unsuccessfully try to persuade their colleague to remove the goal of 14% from the bill.

The bill passes by a vote of 27 for and 11 opposed. As soon as the information is available, I will post how members of the Council voted. To see the full discussion of the bill see time stamp 16:14-1:37:26.

BILL NO. BL2015-1169  on public hearing, which would apply a "contextual overlay" to about 78 acres in Councilman Westerholm and Anthony Davis's district to allow accessary dwelling units, is disapproved by the planning commission because their had been insufficient community awareness of the proposed change. Several speak in favor and in opposition. Arguments in favor are that it will expand affordable housing. Arguments against are that it will lead to developers tearing down existing homes to build bigger homes so they can then also build bigger accessory units, a general opposition to greater density, a desire to preserve the character of the neighborhood, and that it will lead to destruction of trees.  I favor this type rezoning. Greater density reduces urban sprawl, provides units of affordable housing, and grows the tax base. Change like this however, should not occur without residents of the neighborhood being informed. The bill is approved and referred back to the planning commission.

RESOLUTION NO. RS2015-1515 by Charlie Tygard requests the Davidson County Delegation to the Tennessee General Assembly to introduce and support the necessary legislation to require full-time Davidson County elected officials to submit an annual report to the Comptroller detailing the dates they worked. A recent report in The Tennessean revealed that many elected officials often do not work. This was discovered by an examination of when they used there swipe card to gain access to their office. This is again deferred.

RESOLUTION NO. RS2015-1568 request the Tennessee Department of Transportation and the Davidson County Delegation to the Tennessee General Assembly to take the necessary action to plant vegetation or erect a barrier to block the view of the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue from Interstate 65. I think this is a waste of effort. I don't like the statue myself, but do not think we should waste effort trying to hide it. The resolution passes on a voice vote. There are a few audible "no's" but no one ask for a roll call or to be recorded as voting "no."

BILL NO. BL2015-1129  on second reading, which would establish a Codes Offender School much like we have a traffic violations school or a "John's School" for those arrested for solicitation of a prostitute, passes.

BILL NO. BL2015-1211 on second reading ,which would reduce the life time health insurance benefit for members of the Metro council who have served at least two terms in the council, fails. Currently, for any member who has served two terms, the Metro government pays 75% of the health insurance premium for the former council member and his family for the rest of his life. Back when this passed, it applied to few members because without term limits there were simply not that many former member who were eligible for this benefit because their were fewer former council members. There was a lot less turn over in the council. With term limits there are a lot of former Council members who have served two terms. This bill would reverse the ratio; the city would only pay 25% and the council member would pay 75% of the premium. I support this bill. Councilman Claiborne makes an excellent presentation but the bill, on a roll call machine vote, fails. When the record is a available I will post how members of the Council voted.  To see the discussion, see time stamp 3:38:34.

BILL NO. BL2015-1212  on second reading would prohibit the sale of single cans or bottles of beer by off-sale permit holders located within 100 feet of a facility that provides food to homeless persons. I oppose this type of bureaucratic micro-management. The bill is deferred one meeting.

BILL NO. BL2015-1127 on third reading is a tax give-away deal to benefit American General. It passes on a machine vote.

BILL NO. BL2015-1143 is a bill which authorizes The Industrial Development Board  to negotiate and accept payments in lieu of ad valorem taxes with respect to CHS Realty Holdings III, LLC. What this means is that the city, though this board, funds the construction of the building and actually owns it for a certain number of years and as a tax exempt entity they do not pay taxes. However, the company for which they build the building pays something in lieu of taxes but not anywhere near what they would pay if they were paying taxes. This is one of the means by which the city entices companies to locate in Nashville. It provides that the company for whom this building is being build pays nothing during the period of construction and continues to pay nothing until 2019 and then pays only 40% of what they would otherwise pay until 2028, then they pays 75% through 2027, at which time they would began paying 100% of their tax bill. There is more to it than that. The company must hire a certain number of people to keep this deal. There are benchmarks of employment for different periods. It passes on a machine vote. Once available, I will post how members voted.

BILL NO. BL2015-1146   on third reading is a bill which would allow "free-floating car-sharing vehicles to be exempt from the limitations imposed on vehicles lacking a residential parking permit when parking in a residential parking permit area."  There is a new service that allows members of a car sharing enterprise to get a car and drive it where they need to go, which may be on the street near there home where cars that park there are supposed to have a sticker saying they are allowed to park on that street. A member of this car sharing program may, for instance, take the bus to work but need to run an errand on their way home and they find an available car on their smart phone app and drive it home. This is a good innovation which helps make it possible for more people to survive without owning a car. I am pleased to see the city accommodate this innovation. It passes.

BILL NO. BL2015-1147 is another one of the bills to advance rent control and home price fixing called "inclusionary zoning." The planning commission would have six months to come up with a specific proposal to implement this form of housing price control. That proposal would then have to come back to the council for approval.   While this bill is not as bad BILL NO. BL2015-1139 it is still a bad bill. It is deferred two meetings.

To see The Tennessean's coverage of the council meetings see the below link:
Affordable housing bill advances in Metro Council
Metro Council asks state to block view of I-65 Forrest statue

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Support Ken Jakes- Fund raiser this Thursday, June 25th.

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Who is running for Mayor and Council and who I am supporting. (update # 9)

This is update #9 on who is running for Mayor, Vice Mayor and seats on the Metro Council. Since the last update on April 12th, the filing deadline and the deadline for withdrawing from the ballot has come and gone, so this list is now a final list of who is running. Several people whose name appeared on a previous list as a candidate are not on this list.  That most likely means they picked up a qualifying petition and then changed there mind and did not submit the petition. That is not uncommon. Also, since the last update, a lot of new candidates whose name was not on a previous list are now candidates and their names will be on the ballot. Some people picked up and submitted qualifying petitions in the last days before the deadline. On the August 7th ballot there will be seven candidates for mayor, two for vice mayor, 26 running for councilman at-large and 88 seeking district seats.

Since the last update, the 1st quarter campaign finance report date has come and gone, campaign signs dot the landscape, candidates are going door-to-door and a several candidate forums take place each week. In the mayors race the airways are being bombarded with advertisements and some council at-large candidates have started radio and TV advertisements.  The campaigns are well underway and early voting starts in a month. By this time, we should know who are the serious candidates.

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. (I will be posting more links soon with update #10)

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) 
• 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 the 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. (link. link). 
• David Freeman, local businessman and major fund raiser for the Democratic party and the Obama presidential campaign. (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. I may be adding more  acceptable candidates when I next update or I may endorse other candidates but 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,
• Jody Ball,
• Karen Bennett *. currently a member of the Metro Council representing District 8. She is a member of the Republican Party State Executive Committee. (link)
• Al Carota (link)
• Eric Coleman, President of YAD consulting.
• John Cooper, He is the brother of Congressman Jim Cooper.
• Elizabeth Dachowski
• Adam Dread*,  (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.
• 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,
• 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, I assume this is the same Martin Holsinger who is a member of the Green Party who once ran for the State House. If not the same person, please correct me. (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,*
• 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,
• 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 some one 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
• 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)
• Jerry Stange,
• 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 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)
• 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,

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) 
• 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 turnout of the Council this time. we need to keep some experienced councilmen in office.
• Rod McDaniel,

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
• 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,
• Jeff Syracuse,  (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.
• Mick Freeman.

District 17.

• Christopher Cotton, an attorney and Vice Chair of the Davidson County Democrat Party (link)(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, (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 
• Amanda Harrison, (link) (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,
• Frank Stabile (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 Kindal,
• 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) (link)

District 24.

• Allen Grant, (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)
• Luseni Bangalie Kromah
• Jimmy Mitchell

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,

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. (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

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 ask 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 ask good questions in committee. (link) 
• Ronald A. Haskins, I have heard favorable things about this candidate. I am still undecided in this race.
• 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,  former Councilman.
• Jimmy Gafford,

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 I am enthusiastic about.  (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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