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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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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Clements for Council, A little about me.

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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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