Quarter 1 update on Who is contributing to the Kenneth Eaton campaign.

The candidate with no money.

I have examined Mr. Eaton's 1st quarter report which is for the period that ended March 31st, 2015, which had a report due date of April 10th.

Mr. Eaton began the quarter with a balance on hand of $0, had receipts of $0, and ended the period with a balance on hand of $0.

I am going to go out on a limb here and predict that Kenneth Eaton will not be our next mayor.

Below is my report on Mr. Eaton's initial campaign financial disclosure for the period that ended January 14th.

His financial disclosure for 1/15/2015 shows no money raised, no money spent and no money on hand.

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Who is contributing to the Kenneth Eaton campaign?

No one yet. His financial disclosure for 1/15/2015 shows no money raised, no money spent and no money on hand.

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The Mayoral Forum at Christ Chruch Cathedral: Several candidate express concern about Metro's pension liability; advocate change.

On Sunday night I attended the Mayoral Forum at Christ Church Cathedral. Afterwards, someone asked me who I thought stood out and honestly I had to answer, "no one."  All of the candidates gave good answers to questions.  There were some that seemed a little more polished than others, some projected more personality than others, but no one stood head and shoulders above the rest.

Christ Church Cathedral filmed the event and posted the below video. About the first 7 minutes of the video is blank and then there is a prayer and introductory remarks and the sound is not working properly. Each candidate gets an opening statement and unfortunately the sound is not working for several of the candidates opening remarks, so if you join the video at time stamp  11:39 you are not missing anything.

The candidates were asked to address issues of poverty and homelessness and affordable housing and how the city can work with the faith community. That is the primary focus of this forum but some other issues are also addressed.

After the forum there was a reception in the fellowship hall. I got to speak to four of the candidates individually.  One of the major concerns I have is what metro will do about its unfunded pension liability.  If we don't do something to get it under control it may freeze out funding for everything else.  If Nashville was to see a decline in our fortunes rather than continued growth, we could be forced to raise taxes even if we did not want to.  I wanted to know how the candidate felt about this issue and if they agreed it was an important issue facing our city. I also wanted to know if they would be inclined to support a transition from a defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan.

Currently, we have a defined benefit plan as do most cities but not very many companies. At one time most pension plans were defined benefit. A defined benefit plan says something to the effect that after x number of years being an employee, the employer will pay you x% of the salary you were making at retirement for the rest of your life.

A defined contribution plan says something like, the employer will contribute an amount equal to x%  of your salary every year you are employed into a retirement fund. Often, above the first amount which the employee does not have to match, the employer may match another x% of the employee's salary if the employee wishes to contribute more to his retirement. Often the investment options are limited to a few options with varying degrees of risk and return.

Some employees will do better under a defined contribution plan than a defined benefit plan, but others will not do as well. For the city, it removes future liability.  Transitioning to a defined contribution plan would not address our current $396 million unfunded pension liability but it would stop it from growing.

I asked my question of candidates David Fox,  Jeremy Kane, Kenneth Eaton, and Charles Robert Bone.  I was pleased with the answer from each candidate. Each said they would support a transition to a defined contribution plan. Each seemed knowledgeable of the issue. Now I can't recall which one it was, but one of the candidates volunteered we had to make changes in Metro's retiree health plan also. He said that liability also ran into the millions.

Even before I got my question out David Fox said, "I'm already there," and he expounded on the topic with enthusiasm. Jeremy Kane was also especially convincing. He relayed his experience as head of the Lead Academy charter school organization and said that Lead had already transitioned the non-certified personal (meaning people other than the teachers) to a defined contribution plan.  He said at first there was resistance, but now the teachers are asking how they can get in the plan. Charles Bone who has served as legal counsel for Nashville's Convention Center said the convention center has already transitioned to a defined contribution plan and it was something the city had to do.

I don't believe any of them were just telling me what I wanted to hear and none of them gave weasel answers. I believe they were each telling me the truth. I am pleased. Unfortunately, I did not get to speak to the other candidates, so if a candidate would like to email an answer to the same question, I will be glad to post that candidates comment.  If I failed to reflect any candidates position adequately, please feel free to set the record straight or if any candidate would like to expound on this issue, I will be glad to post your comments.

There are other issues I feel strongly about, such as education, and sidewalks, and metro's pro-gay and political correctness policies, overextending our bond commitments, mass transit and traffic, and managing growth, but I think there is no issue more important than our unfunded pension liability. We must address it and stop it from growing.

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The Tennessean reports "Kenneth Eaton to run for Nashville mayor again."

Kenneth Eaton to run for Nashville mayor again

Kenneth Eaton finished with just a few hundred votes in the 2007 race for Nashville mayor, but he’s giving it another shot nonetheless.

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Kenneth Eaton Announces Candidacy for Nashville Mayor in 2015

Kenneth Eaton

Press Release - Automotive and real estate entrepreneur and innovator, Kenneth Eaton, a Nashville Native and local business owner for nearly 40 years, announced his candidacy for Mayor of Nashville in the 2015 election today.

Eaton for Mayor has appointed a Treasurer to start raising money, a step in becoming Nashville's next Mayor for the August 2015 election, Kenneth knows now is the time for conservative budgeting and opening our arms to further business and artistic development in Nashville. Eaton believes we will all thrive if we motivate our decisions based on the will of the Taxpayer. He also knows once he’s got his hands on the Davidson County budget we can easily correct the current administrations Laissez-faire, almost (and on occasion definitively) wasteful budgeting, at the same time he intends to reduce the debt built by this administration and ensure the underfunded programs in this community are reinvigorated with the assistance our city government once provided for them.

 

Kenneth States, “Monitoring the city budget over the last 10 years, it’s obvious Nashville is thriving as a tourist destination; But this tourism focus is negatively impacting our tax payers and neglecting the needs of our citizens.  The city is also faced with high debts, unfunded programs, and currently counting on future income to ensure we stay on budget to fund these issues; or what is commonly known as ‘passing the buck’. The current administration wants to pass the buck to our children and their children.”

Kenneth Eaton, won the straw poll as the Best Choice Mayor Candidate from the Davidson County Republican Party.

 

Kenneth Eaton, is opposed to the 175, million dollar AMP bus transit system. He sees it as a waste of taxpayer money, and possibly a detriment to the layout and design of our unique city.

Kenneth Eaton, is for keeping the historic Tennessee State Fair Grounds in place for the taxpayers use.

 

Kenneth Eaton's Business Background:

 

Over the past 39 years Kenneth’s business experiences include investments in several different business partnerships, his main focus has always stayed in automobiles and real estate.

Kenneth Eaton recently owned and operated over 100 pieces of investment, commercial and rental property, and has bought and sold over 20 million in Real Estate in the area. Kenneth Eaton's Automobile Dealership had sales in excess of 75 million a year and employed over 75 employees, Kenneth Eaton's new car dealership's won several awards for being the top Dealer in the TN market, and awarded the top customer satisfaction award for sales and service.

Kenneth Eaton's mastery of large-scale business operations, show he has the qualifications to run a business with a large-scale income, and a large number of employees. He knows how to develop and maintain management teams that ensure employee productivity and happiness. Kenneth knows how to reduce the waste in overhead and expenditures, as well as stop unnecessary spending.

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This is why we need a business person running this city, Kenneth Eaton is that business man.

“A Business Man, Not a Politician”

Kenneth Eaton

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Kenneth Eaton says stop the AMP spending, responding to Councilman Tygard's Open Letter.

In this open letter from Kenneth Eaton, candidate for Mayor, he responds to Councilman Tygards open letter challenging mayoral candidates to state their position on the AMP. What is at stake is whether or not the city should spend an additional $6 million or so to study and design the AMP when most think the project is dead.

Re: Charlie Tygard
open letter 　
11/7/2014 　

Dear Councilman Tygard,

Thank you for your well-wishes for my campaign to become Nashville's next Mayor, and I can only hope the Council members I work with are people of your high caliber. To Answer your question about halting the spending of unspent AMP appropriations in one word; YES.

To use a few more words, I not only want the Metro Council to stop spending money on the AMP until after the 2015 election, I want the unspent funds taken back, applied to our growing debt, and no more money to be spent on the AMP at all. I never supported the AMP, and while Nashville's public transportation and traffic problems are many, the AMP solves none of them.

As Mayor, I will incentivize Metro employees to save taxpayer dollars, not squander them. 　

Thank you, 　
Kenneth Eaton
Mayor Candidate,2015
Kenneth@kennetheaton.com 615-255-0121

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