DCRP extends the following on behalf of Marsha for Senate:

From Davidson County Republican Party:

Following our primary win, we are thrilled to share our new ad featuring an enthusiastic endorsement from President Donald Trump: Get the Job Done. President Trump states "... we need Marsha Blackburn... we need Marsha in the Senate..." and our campaign needs you! 

Get The Job Done | Marsha Blackburn for US Senate

 

We are asking for your help to share this ad with your friends, family, and neighbors. We need you to get everyone you know involved in the effort to send Marsha to the Senate, just as President Trump says. 

We have numerous volunteer opportunities available. Here are a few shifts we're looking to staff up for this week:

Saturday, August 11

• Door Knocking in Davidson County
• Shifts: 10AM and 1:30PM

Phone Banking - on going

• Sign up for training and you can call from home or our office

Saturday, August 18

• Door Knocking in Davidson County
• Shifts: 10AM and 1:30PM

We can't do it alone - we need your help knocking on doors, phone banking, and spreading the word via social media that Marsha will be a committed ally of the President. 

Please be sure to follow Team Marsha on social media:

• Facebook: Marsha Blackburn For Senate
• Twitter: @VoteMarsha
• YouTube: Marsha Blackburn for U.S. Senate
• Instagram: Team.Marsha
• Snapchat: TeamMarsha

Not sure how you can help? Please reach out! We are here to answer your questions.

Thank you for your dedication in helping to elect Marsha Blackburn as our next Senator from Tennessee! 

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NFIB, TN Business Roundtable, and TN Chamber to Host U.S. Senate Candidate Forum Aug. 15

Blackburn, Bredesen to address issues affecting employers, jobs

NASHVILLE, Aug. 9, 2018—The leading Tennessee candidates for U.S. Senate, Congressman Marsha Blackburn and former Gov. Phil Bredesen, will participate in a forum on Thursday, Aug. 15, covering a wide range of business topics.

The forum, co-hosted by NFIB, the Tennessee Business Roundtable and the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry, will be held at Lipscomb University’s College of Business and is open to the media. NewsChannel5’s Ben Hall will moderate the discussion.

The format will be an open interview with each candidate, followed by questions from the audience. There will be a media availability with each candidate following the discussion.

DETAILS

Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018

10-11:30 a.m. CDT

Swang Business Center

Lipscomb University College of Business

4 University Park Drive

Nashville, TN 37204

###

NFIB is the voice of small business, advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses, and remains so today. 

The Tennessee Business Roundtable (TBR) develops and advocates for pro-business public policy that optimizes the quality of life and well-being of all Tennesseans. Founded in 1983, TBR has partnered successfully with five Governors and hundreds of business, no-profit, academic, and government stakeholders to create and promote policies that have contributed significantly to the success of the Volunteer State’s economy and people, particularly in public education.

The Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry serves as the primary voice of diverse business and manufacturing trade interests on major employment and economic issues facing public policy decision-makers in Tennessee.  We also work to foster harmonious relationships between the various elements of the Tennessee business community and to serve as an umbrella organization for companies, trade associations and chambers of commerce to work together for the economic health of the state.

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Council Votes To Pass Overlay For Edgehill

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2018 Charter Champion Award honorees

 The Tennessee Charter School Center-  During the inaugural Tennessee Charter Schools Conference, the Tennessee Charter School Center (TCSC) recognized five distinguished education leaders and organizations that are catalysts in the classroom and within their communities. Congratulations to our 2018 Charter Champion Award honorees:

Bill Dunn

• State Representative Bill Dunn– Policy Champion of the Year- In 2018, Rep. Dunn successfully sponsored and stewarded House Bill 1870, critical legislation that ensures access to state reimbursement funds for charter school students with high cost special needs, to overwhelming approval on the House floor with an unprecedented 91 affirmative votes. 

• Memphis Academy of Science & Engineering (MASE)– School of the Year–MASEis looking to the future of innovation in education through their "STEM in Motion” program and the unique partnership they have developed with Smith & Nephew. 

Sarah Giblin

• Sarah Giblin, Principal, Valor Voyager Academy– Administrator of the Year – Since opening the doors in 2015-16 with a 5th and 6th grade class, Giblin’s leadership has led the school and its students to remarkable success including an average 49% growth on MAP testing in only three years, an 85% faculty retention rate, and every teacher in every grade level across all subjects rating a Level 5 on TVAAS.

Courtney Harvey

• Courtney Harvey, Teacher, Memphis Business Academy High School–  Teacher of the Year– In addition to her student’s academic gains, Harvey serves as leader for the band’s majorette team, member of the school’s Culture Team, counselor and peer mentor for incoming TFA teachers, and helps all incoming staff with MasteryConnect by leading PLC training.

• Tennessee River Rescue Project, Ivy Academy Chattanooga–Community Impact Project of the Year– From old tires to plastic bottles, students, parents and staff of Ivy Academy have come together annually since 2013 to clean up the area at Jones Bay, where the school’s “Floating Classroom” is located. 

“There are some outstanding leaders, thinkers and doers supporting public charter schools across Tennessee. Whether they are on the front lines in the classroom or driving critical legislation on the Hill, we wanted to recognize the thoughtful, innovative, dedicated work they are investing to help students and families achieve and succeed,” shared Maya Bugg, Chief Executive Officer of the Tennessee Charter School Center. “Tonight, we celebrated five dynamic honorees for our Charter Champion Awards, but in our eyes, all of the dedicated education advocates, resource providers, leaders, and schools are winners, too!”

The Charter Champion Awards were presented during the 2018 Tennessee Charter Conference, the State of Tennessee’s inaugural professional development conference convening education leaders from Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville.

For more information on the Tennessee Charter School Conference, visit www.tnchartercenter.orgor view the full program of events and speakers here.

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What's on the 8/7/18 Council Agenda: Taking private property w/o compensation, Metro Tax dollars to Conexion Americas, Amending the Charter, a Conservation overlay for Edge Hill, .Fairgrounds and Soccer..

The Ridge at Antioch

By Rod Williams - Like a monster that won't die, this ugly bill keeps rearing its head.  Bill BL2016-219  on Third Reading, again,  is the bill to trample private property rights and kill an affordable housing development in the process.  This bill would cancel an approved Planned Unit Development and down zoning a persons property without their consent. This effort to pass this bill has been pending since June of 2016  If was first pushed by Karen Johnson and is now being taken up by Councilman Bedne.

If this bill passes the State of Tennessee has threatened to withhold future tax credits used to help finance affordable housing developments. I don't know why this development has not already occurred.  I can guess that with the threat of this hanging over the head of the developer, that it impacted the financing. Should this bill pass and the owner want to continue the fight, he probably has a winnable lawsuit to pursue.  This would most likely be considered a "taking" of property.  When government takes property the owner should be compensated and it should only be taken for a public purpose.  Government taking of property does not have to mean taking title.  To take away a right that one previously enjoyed may be a "taking" of property. This is a bill disapproved by the Planning Commission and will require 27 votes to pass. For more on this story see this  link and this.

This time the bill has picked up a lot of co-sponsors. I am very disappointed to see my friend Robert Swope sign on to this bill. He is the most conservative member of the Council and I seldom disagree with a vote he cast, but this bill is clearly a taken of property and is wrong. (update: I spoke to Robert, it assures me he opposes this bill and his name appeared as a sponsor in error.) If it passes I hope the owners take Metro to court and continue the fight.  
 

The Metro Council will meet Tuesday, August 7, 2018 at 6:30 PM in the Council chamber at the Metro Courthouse. Here is a link to the Council agenda and the staff analysis for those who want to watch the Council meeting and follow along.  Below is a summary of what is on the agenda.

Elections and Confirmation: There are 4 mayoral appointments to Boards and Commission before the Council for confirmation. Usually, these are confirmed without controversy, discussion or dissension.

Public Comment Period:  This is new for Nashville and is only the second meeting which has had a public comment period. Time  is dedicated to allow members of the public who have registered in advance to speak upon matters related to the Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County community. The only public comments we have had heretofore have been on zoning matters and, once a year, on the budget.  We have never had an open comment policy. This is common in smaller cities and I don't know how common it is in other cities the size of Nashville.  I suspect liberal activist will use this platform a lot.  I hope conservatives will also.  I would not be surprised to hear several people speak in favor of the proposed police citizen review board at this meeting.

Resolutions and bills on public hearing: There are four resolution and seventeen bills on pubic hearing. The resolutions are requesting  exemptions from the minimum distance requirements for obtaining a beer permit. The bills are rezoning request or related zoning bills.I do not even attempt to understand the pros and cons of every zoning bill and they generally bore me and are of interest to only the people in the immediate vicinity of the rezoning. At public hearings almost all opposition come down to (1) concern about traffic, (2) water runoff and potential for flooding, (3) overcrowding of local schools and impact on infrastructure, (4) detrimentally changing the character of the neighborhood. You will hear the same arguments over and over. I only call attention to bills that I think will have an impact beyond the immediate neighborhood or are bills that have already been to the Planning Commission and have been disapproved by the Planning Commission, or  for some other reason are of interest This is one of interest: 

Bill BL2018-1245 would apply a conservation overlay to 43 acres in the Edge Hill community. This is an attempt to slow the gentrification of this historically Black community near downtown west of 8th Ave., east of music row.  With this overlay in place most existing housing could not be torn down and replaced with two tall skinnys. Also substantial modifications or additions could not be made to homes. Where new construction was permitted, the new construction would have to comparable in style to the existing homes in the community. The community is deeply divided on this issue. The Planning Commission only approved this by a vote of 4 to 3 after two hours of heated public hearing. For more on the issue, read the Tennessean report, South Nashville community bitterly split over plan to restrict development.

Bill BL2018-1280 approves the plans for a non-hazardous liquid waste processing facility to be located at 2832 Whites Creek Pike. I don't know if this will be controversial or not but often people oppose any facility that processes waste.

Resolutions: There are 45 resolution on the agenda in addition to the resolutions on public hearing. Initially all resolutions except  resolutions on public hearing are on the consent agenda. A resolution stays on the consent agenda if it passes unanimously the committees to which it is assigned. Resolutions which receive negative votes in committee are pulled off of consent. Also any councilman may have a resolution pulled off of consent. Those remaining on consent are lumped together and passed by a single vote. Resolutions on the consent agenda are usually not controversial and tend to be routine matters, such as accepting grants from the Federal or State Government, entering into inter-agency agreements over mundane things, appropriating money from the 4% fund, settling lawsuits, or approving signs overhanging the sidewalk. Here are the resolution of interest:

Resolution RS2018-1314 proposes six charter amendments to be submitted to the voters for ratification. This will take 27 votes to be approved.

• Three of them are related the line of succession for the office of mayor and how a vacancy is filled. The staff analysis says one of the three is contrary to state law, so this will likely be deferred. 
• The fourth proposed amendment would require oaths of office for mayor, vice mayor, and members of council to include an oath to uphold the Charter of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville. Currently, such oaths reference only support of the Tennessee Constitution and the Constitution of the United States.
• The fifth proposed amendment would change the term limits for the offices of councilman and councilman at-large from two (2) terms to three (3) terms. It would also change “councilman” to “councilmember.” The attempt to expand term limits has been tried before and rejected by the voters.
• The sixth proposed amendment would update the Metropolitan Charter with general neutral references in place of masculine-only pronouns. References to “he” would be changed to “he or she,” “his” would be changed to “his or her,” “him” would be changed to “him or her,” “councilman” would be changed to “councilmember,” and “policemen”would be changed to “police officers.”  I oppose this. amendment. A "councilman" can be a female and a policeman can be a female policeman. I see no need to make this change. Also, I understand that the masculine singular pronoun may include females. If someone says, "Everyone brought his own lunch," I do not assume that the group only included males. I see no need to change the language to the awkwardly worded "he or she." 

Resolution RS2018-1319  appropriates $551,051.45 in Community Development Block Grant funds for sidewalk improvements in North Nashville. This is money that could instead be used to leverage the building of units of affordable housing.

Resolution RS2018-1328  would issue General Obligation bonds in the amount of $50 million, $25 million of which would be for demolition of existing fairgrounds buildings and $25 million would provide infrastructure for the proposed MLS stadium. There are also three bills pending also related to the fairgrounds land giveaway soccer deal and this will be deferred to track with those bills.

Resolution RS2018-1329,  Resolution RS2018-1330, Resolution RS2018-1331, Resolution RS2018-1332, and Resolution RS2018-1333  each appropriates $200,000 from various departments of Metro Government to various selected non-profits. Some of these, such as the Oasis Center and St. Lukes and Nashville Adult Literacy Council, I am familiar with. Others such as Nations Ministry Center and Moves and Grooves, I have never heard of.  I do not approve of giving Metro Tax dollars to non-profits. If it s contract for a non-profit to provide a service that is one thing, but to just give various agencies money, I do not think is appropriate.

Conexion Americas is slated to get $50,000. While Conexion Americas does some worthwhile things, they also provide services to illegal aliens and advocate on behave of illegal aliens. If I were serving in the Council, I would oppose this resolution. Metro should not be picking winners and losers among the various non-profits operating in this city.  If I was picking which non-profits to support, I would give to the Union Rescue Mission. Charity should be a volunteer activity, not having money taken from me against my will and given to an organization I may or may not chose to support. I can chose to give to United Way or not and I can chose to give money to Union Rescue Mission or Conexion American. I do not get to chose to pay taxes or not.

Resolution RS2018-1356  by Steve Glover expresses the intention of the Metropolitan Council to suspend action on any agreement related to any lease and redevelopment of the Nashville Fairgrounds until all necessary procedures have been completed. This would simply say that Metro would not make any decisions regarding the stadium and would not incur additional expenses regarding the stadium until the hurdles that stand in the way of the deal being approved are resolved. This is an attempt to not put the cart before the horse. This sounds like common sense, but I would expect it to be opposed by advocates of the stadium.

Bills on First reading: There are 24 bills on first reading. First reading is a formality that gets bills on the agenda and they are not considered by committee until after they pass first reading. They are all lumped together and pass by a single vote except in rare circumstances. I normally don't read them until they get to second reading. On this agenda there are several bills on First Reading related to the fairground. Here they are:

Bill BL2018-1289 approves the demolition of certain buildings and structures necessary for the construction of a new Major League Soccer Stadium at the Fairgrounds Nashville, and amending Title 5 of the Metropolitan Code to impose a privilege tax on the sale of tickets to events at the new Major League Soccer stadium. This is probably the best chance to still kill the stadium and land giveaway. It takes 27 votes to demolish buildings at the fairgrounds.

Bill BL2018-1290 is the bill to rezone the 10 acres at the fairground that is to be given to the stadium developer.

Bill BL2018-1291 declares the ten acres to be given away as surplus property and approves a ground lease for the property.

Bill BL2018-1293 approves a privilege tax on the sale of tickets to events at the new Major League Soccer stadium. 

I will have more to say on these bills when they get to second reading or in a separate post. 

Bills on Second Reading: There are eight. Here are the ones of interest.

Bill BL2018-1142  says that if a request for funds from the 4% fund is going to be spend in  single council district that that district councilman will be given advance notice. This sounds reasonable to me.

Second Substitute Bill BL2018-1202 would regulate "shared urban mobility devices," such as bicycles and scooters, and if establish a permitting system for them. This was prompted by the arrival of Bird Scooter in Nashville. This would establish a one-year pilot program for the scooter, impose a lot of cost, including a $35 per scooter and a whole lot of regulation. I initial reaction is that this is overkill.

Bill BL2018-1281 would require sexual harassment awareness training of Metro employees and contractors. The staff analysis says we do not know how much this would cost and that HR does not have the resources to track compliance.

Bill BL2018-1283 essentially says that Metro cannot use the proceeds from sale of surplus property to balance the budget.  While it seems to make sense that one should not use one-time money to fund on-going cost, as we did this year, I am not sure that this flexibility should be taken away. There may be times when the city needs to do that. 

Bills on Third Reading: There are 20. Most are approved zoning bills. I have discussed Bill BL2016-219  at the top of the page. Here are others of interest:

Substitute BL2018-1139 (as amended) is the Donelson Transit-Oriented Redevelopment Plan.   This has been worked on for a long time and is a complex bill.It would guide redevelopment around the Music City Star Donelson train stop and contains an affordable housing component. New authority from the state provides for this type of designation and this will be the first time that authority has been used.  This development hit a bureaucratic snag explained in this Tennessean article: $300M Donelson development stalled by oversight dispute. I assume that has now been resolved or this would not be back on the agenda. This bill is to be amended on third reading. For more on this complex bill, see the lengthy staff analysis.

Bill BL2018-1182 is a disapproved rezoning bill in Councilman Karen Johnson's district.  I am only calling attention to the bill because it is disapproved and will require 27 votes to pass.

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Phil Bredesen is still dead-set on trying to portray himself as a Republican

From Michael McAdams, NRSC Regional Press Secretary - Phil Bredesen is still dead-set on trying to portray himself as a Republican, releasing a new ad focused on courting GOP voters.

But no matter how hard he tries, Bredesen can’t change the fact he’s spent nearly half a million dollars funding left-wing candidates like Hillary Clinton and backing radical policies like government-run health care. In a state President Trump won by 26 points, voters want nothing to do with Bredesen’s Trojan horse attempt.

“It doesn’t matter how many campaign ads Phil Bredesen runs, he’s not going to make Tennessee voters forget that his first vote will be for Chuck Schumer and Schumer’s liberal policies,” said NRSC Spokesman Michael McAdams. “Bredesen has spent decades supporting Democrats and if he’s elected to the U.S. Senate, that’s not going to change.”

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First Tuesday presents Scott Golden

From Tim Skow:

WOW ....What a week WE had !!

1ST TUESDAY welcomes Tennessee’s Republican Party Leader

 YES!! .... 1^ST TUESDAY is on TUESDAY,  August 7th. 

Republican Party State Party Chairman SCOTT GOLDEN comes to 1ST TUESDAY. 

Now with a guns loaded, a full slate of candidates including 2 Middle-Tennessee STARS in BILL LEE and MARSHA BLACKBURN to motivate the team and drive the turnout ... Scott is charged with leading the parade till Election Day in just 3 months !!!  

WE ... have a lot at stake !  Keeping a KEY battleground US Senate seat, an epic battle the DEMs believe they can win for GOVERNOR of TN ... Holding Speaker Harwell's seat while 2 former Nashville Mayors must turn out every live [and maybe even some dead Nashville DEMs ] ....to the polls.  

WOW.. what a fight this will be across Tennessee  !! 

Not only are these high profile races for Governor, for the US Senate in 2018 and for State House District 56 in play....  but 30% of the seats in the Legislature are going to change hands !

THIS IS ‘’YUUUGGGEEE’’ …and the fights all across Tennessee start on TUESDAY ....

at 1ST TUESDAY 

Doors at Waller Law [511 Union -27^th floor] open at 11am. Lunch at 11:30.  Scott start shortly after Noon with what will surely be an intense Q & A concluding at 1:00pm SHARP!

PLEASE ... pass the word, invite your friends and get ready for what will be a critically important meeting! 

Event is $20 for Members and $25 for Guests. Secure seating for you and your guests at:  www.1sttuesdaynashville.com  .... 

PLEASE ... secure your seats ASAP ...as we need to put a lunch order in Monday at 5pm.

[Remember ..IF…..the ‘’Guest’’ icon gives you trouble, use the $25 ‘’DUES’’ till the new site comes up]

Join us for insights into the battle to hold Nashville’s ONLY seat in the State House, the significance of electing the 1ST Hispanic Republican man to the Legislature and MANY more battles that matter !! 

See you at 1ST TUESDAY on the 1ST TUESDAY, August 7th !!

Tim Skow

Host of 1ST TUESDAY

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Primary Elections Confirm Tennessee’s Bi-Partisan Support for school choice

by Rod Williams, Aug. 4, 2018- There are times when finally a consensus forms on an issue and it becomes settled.  Such seems to be the case with school choice. Not that there is still not disagreements about how much school choice and how fast it should be implemented and not that there is still not phony arguments made that charter schools drain money from district schools. However, on the basic question of if there should be school choice, school choice has won.

Tennessee Federation for Children PAC, a pro-school choice political action committee put out a press release today noting that advocates of school choice prevailed across geographical areas and political parties in this weeks election.  Jesse Chism, a Democrat supportive of school choice won the crowded Democratic primary in House District 85. 

In District 23 in the Republican primary Mark Cochran, an advocate of school chose, defeated Trey Winder who had the support of the National Education Association.  In other primaries in both parties, incumbents who support school choice beat back challengers. In the governor's race both Republican Bill Lee and Democrat Karl Dean support school choice. In our own school board races, no one was running as an avowed opponent of school choice. 

School choice was for many years a cause advocated by the libertarian right. Economist Milton Friedman was a voice crying in the wilderness advocating for school choice when no one was listening. Gradually, over time, school choice was tried and attracted advocates. Now, it is no longer identified as only a conservative cause and as many advocates can be found among liberals as conservatives. That is a positive development and means that the trend is not likely to be reversed when Democrats regain power. School choice is no longer an ideological position. The teachers unions are a powerful force in the Democrat party, but they are out of touch and Democrat candidates have not allowed themselves to be dictated to by union interest.  The teachers unions have failed to stop the move toward school choice.

I would like to see ever greater school choice. I support charter schools, tax vouchers, and education savings accounts. I wold also like to see regular public schools become more like charter schools with more local school autonomy and competition between schools.  One is not required to go to the closest doctor or church or grocery store, why should children be assigned to a certain school?  In fact, in Nashville and many other places one no longer has to send their child to the district school. Every winter, Metro Schools have a School Choice Festival in which parents can learn of the options available and apply for admittance to schools other than their district school. That is good as far as it goes, but it should go further.

Those who believe in the benefits of competition and the morality of options should continue to advocate for greater school choice.  Allies in this fight may now come from liberals as well as conservatives. In some rural areas the major opponents of school choice may be from conservatives who simply oppose change.  In some urban areas, the leading advocates may be Black parents who are tired of having their kids forced to attend failing schools. School choice has opponents and proponents in both political parties, but it appears what school choice has been won is not likely to be lost and the prospects for more school choice looks good.

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Bill Lee, the nice guy, won!

Congratulation to Bill Lee on a stunning upset victory in the Republican primary for governor last night.  I did not expect it. I did not vote for Diane Black but I expected her to win the nomination and she came in a distant third with only 23% of the vote. She started the race with much more name recognition than her opponents, got the endorsement of Vice President Mike Pence, and spend the most money. I assumed she would win.

Maybe last night's election results will make politicians rethink the wisdom of getting in the gutter and slinging mud. The wisdom is that politicians engage in dirty campaigning and attack ads because they work.  This time they didn't.  Diane Black was the worst offender by attacking her opponents over insignificant nit-picky stuff, such as that Boyd had not contributed to the Trump campaign and that Bill Lee gave a small amount of money to Democrat candidates such as Megan Barry in the past. She attacked both Lee and Black for being "moderate."  Diane Black started the attack ads but Boyd responded with attack ads of his own and also engaged in attack ads against Lee.  Lee, by contrast, never attacked back.

I voted for another candidate in this campaign although from the first I was supporting Black. I did not make up my mind in this race until the day before election day. The attack ad that caused me to finally decide I could not vote for Diane Black was when she exploited a situation in which Lee Company had to lay off someone who was in the military reserves. Reading the details of what really occurred, it seemed to me that Black crossed a line in dirty campaigning. The Lee Company did nothing wrong in that situation. I finally decided that Diane Black crossed a line and I just could not vote for her.

I know politics can be a dirty business. However, it doesn't have to be.  Lee's victory shows that you do not have to fight fire with fire. It shows you do not have to be as dirty as your opponent to win an election.  Lee's victory shows that nice guys do not always finish last. 

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TNGOP 2018 Unity Rally

I received the following in an email and it is posted to the TNGOP website, so I assume the invitation is to everyone.

RSVP here.

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TNGOP Statement on Nomination of Bill Lee for Governor

August 2, 2018 - Nashville, Tenn. - Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Scott Golden released the following statement:
"We congratulate Bill Lee on his victory tonight as the Republican nominee for governor, and we commend the other candidates on a hard-fought race. Bill has the experience, skills, and temperament to be a terrific governor, and he will unify Republicans ahead of the general election victory this November. We look forward to working with Bill across the state to ensure he is the 50th Governor of Tennessee."

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The Metro Council: The good, the bad and the term limited. Opportunities for new faces.

There is no such thing as a conservative or liberal pot hole and most of what the council deals with are things like pot holes. Nevertheless, the ideology of the Metro Council matters a great deal. The first way it matters is in insuring our city is financially well-managed.  The city has taken on a tremendous amount of debt and Nashville is the city with the most long-term financial debt in the nation. Not even counted in our debt obligations is health care obligations to Metro retirees. We have no trust fund for this obligation.

While we are not in a serious crisis yet we have laid the ground work to have a serious crisis should something happen, such as another 9-11, such as another great recession, another flood like that of 2010, or if we should lose a sports franchise. It may be that we could face a financial crisis even without something momentous casing it. If Nashville's growth just slows and we are no longer the hottest city in America and if property values began to moderate, we may be unable to pay our bills without massive tax increases. We are acting as if the good times will last forever.

Also, we have been irresponsible by letting our reserve fund balances drop below recommended levels. Should we have an economic downturn and need to dip into a rainy-day fund and not have the sufficient reserves, then bond rating agencies could lower our bond rating, causing borrowing to cost us much more. With an increase in the cost of borrowing, it would take a greater portion of Metro's tax receipts to pay debt service.

Also, we have handed out a lot of corporate welfare in the form of tax increment financing (TIF) or Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) or other enticements, so while we have had tremendous growth, we have not seen that growth swell the city coffers the way it should.

Also, in my view, our priorities are wrong. We fund a lot of frivolous, unnecessary stuff while skimping on police, fire, and schools. Our schools are next to the worst in the state and getting worse, not better. We need a council that will prioritize spending. We have to make choices.

Another way, that it matters who serves in the Metro Council is that our Council occasionally passes memorializing resolutions favoring illegal immigration, opining on the parts per million of acceptable CO2 in the air, urging an end to the mythical gender pay gap, and any number of other liberal feel-good measures. These do not have the force of law but I do not like the Council expressing itself on national policy best left to our elected US representatives.

Other ways in which the Council promotes a liberal agenda is by efforts to thwart the will of the people by destroying the fair grounds. In a public referendum the public voted to keep the fairground by a vote of about 70% yet the city still seems determined to chip away at it.

Below is a chart showing how members of the Council voted on two crucial issue and showing who is "term limited" and ineligible to run for reelection. The two issues in this chart shows how members of the Council voted on a proposal to raise property taxes and how they voted on  making the ballot language on the transit referendum reflect the true cost of the proposal. I view these two votes as the most important votes cast by members of this Council.                          

District	Term  Limited?	Current Council member	voted for tax increase	Voted for  Transit  Transparency *
1		Hall	not serving	not serving
2		Decosta Hastings	yes	yes
3		Brenda Haywood	yes	yes
4	Yes	Robert Swope	NO	yes
5		Scott Davis	NO	NO
6	Yes	Bret Withers	yes	NO
7		Anthony Davis	yes	NO
8	Yes	Nancy Van Reese	NO	NO
9	Yes	Bill Pridemore	yes	NO
10		Doug Pardue	yes	yes
11	Yes	Larry Hager	NO	yes
12	yes	Steve Glover	NO	yes
13		Holly Huzzo	NO	yes
14		Kevin Rhoten	NO	yes
15		Jeff Syracuse	NO	NO
16		Mike Freeman	NO	NO
17		Colby Sledge	yes	NO
18	Yes	Burkley Allen	yes	NO
19		Freddie O'Connell	NO	yes
20		Mary Corolyn Roberts	NO	yes
21		Ed Kendall	yes	xxx
22	Yes	Sheri Weiner	NO	yes
23		Nina Johnson	yes	yes
24		Kathleen Murphy	yes	NO
25		Russ Pulley	NO	NO
26		Jeremy Elrod	NO	NO
27	Yes	Davette Blalock	NO	xx
28		Tanaka Vercher	NO	yes
29	Yes	Karen Johnson	yes	NO
30	Yes	Jason Potts	yes	NO
31	Yes	Fabian Bedne	yes	yes
32	Yes	Jacobia Dowell	yes	yes
33		Antionette Lee	yes	NO
34		Angie Henderson	NO	yes
35		Dave Rosenberg	NO	yes
At Large		Jim Shulman	NO	yes
At Large		Erica Gilmore	yes	yes
At Large		Bob Mendes	yes	yes
At Large		Sharron Hurt	yes	yes
At Large		Jon Cooper	NO	yes

* On February 6, the Metro Council voted to approve Mayor Barry's transit improvement program (Bill BL2017-1031 (as amended) which would put the referendum question on the ballot. As presented the bill listed the price tag as  $5.3 billion. On the night of final passage, the bill was amended to reflect the true cost of $8.5 billion. This column is a list of how council member voted on that amendment. Those voting "yes" voted for the referendum to reflect the $8.5 billion cost.

The Fairgrounds
Other important votes that indicate who the "good" councilmen are is  RESOLUTION RS2017-910, the $225 million bond issue for the $275 million soccer deal. It passed by a vote of 31 to 6.  Those voting against the resolution were John Cooper, Steve Groper, Holly Houzo, Larry Hagar, Mina Johnson, and Dave Rosenberg. 

Auto Emission Testing
Resolution RS2018-1171  was a resolution which would continue the auto emissions testing program in Nashville even though the State says we may discontinue it, passes. Voting No (7): Cooper, Swope, Hagar, Glover, Rhoten, Roberts, and Rosenberg.

Civil Forfeiture
Another important vote concerned civil liberties. RESOLUTION RS2017-920 approved two agreements between the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Metro Nashville Police Department. These agreements govern the participation of DEA Nashville District Office Task force participants in the United States Department of Justice Equitable Sharing Program. In my view civil forfeiture is an evil practice in which metro should not participate. Both liberal and conservative civil liberty advocates included the ACLU and organization such as The Institute for Justice oppose civil forfeiture.  Dave Rosenberg sponsored the bill. Unfortunately it was approved by a vote of 16 to 15 with four abstentions.

Those voting against it were Cooper, Anthony Davis, Kindall, Blalock, Shulman, VanReece,Mina Johnson, Bedne, Scott Davis, Allen, Murphy, Rosenberg, Withers, O'Connell and Elrod.

The above is only a handful of votes the council has cast in the last three years out of hundreds, but I think these are some of the most important to distinguish who are the "good" council members who deserve to be reelected. Those who I think meet the criteria as a "good" councilman have their name and district highlighted in green in the above chart. Some of these I have highlighted have cast other votes I disagree with, but these I think are some of the most important votes.

The members highlighted in red in the above chart are the council members who I hope can be defeated if they chose to run for reelection. Those whose names are not highlighted, have a mixed record and I am undecided as to my opinion of them. Some of this categorizing of who the "good" councilmen are is subjective, of course.

In any event we have a very liberal council. We avoided a tax increase this year, but I suspect many who voted against raising taxes will be in favor of a tax increase next year. I am sure the reasoning of some of the council members in voting against a tax increase was that it would lessen the chances of the transit referendum passing and some simply followed the leadership of Mayor Briley.  The Council has never passed a tax increase not advocated by a mayor so voting against a tax increase was not a courageous act but a relatively easy vote.

Moving forward, I want to see more a more conservative council. We must get our financial house in order or we will face a crisis down the road. Also, if we do not economize and prioritize we will face a situation in which our essential pubic safety services are stressed and emergency response time will increase.

In saying I would like to see "conservatives" elected to the Metro Council, I am using the term very loosely.  Of course, I wish we had a council of all Republicans who were well-grounded in  conservative principles, but that is not going to happen. I would be pleased if we had people elected who were not likely to vote for a tax increase, who wanted to reduce corporate welfare, who respected private property rights, and who wanted to save the fairgrounds.  You will notice that I have colored John Cooper green in the above chart. He is a Democrat and the brother of Congressman Jim Cooper but he is a fiscally responsible member of the Council. He is a "good" councilman. When it comes to seats on the Council I really don't care what the person thinks about President Trump, or NATO or moving the embassy in Israel, or any other number of national or social issues. They can be liberal on the big issues if they are conservative on the local issues and I will be happy. They can be a Democrat but if they vote the right way on local issues, I don't care about their party label.

If you are reading this and ever thought about running for pubic office, I encourage you to think seriously about running for council. The best opportunity is to run for one of the seats where the  incumbent is term limited and ineligible to seek reelection. However, if you live in a district where the incumbent voted for a tax increase and voted against transparency on the transit ballot initiative and voted against the fairground and you believe those votes were contrary to the way the voters in his district feel about the issues, the incumbent may be vulnerable.

In addition to how an incumbent voted on crucial issue however are other factors that may make an incumbent vulnerable. The two that I think may be as important as how they vote on the weighty issues is their responsiveness and availability and how they handled zoning issues.  If people complain that the incumbent is arrogant, or they never see him or he doesn't return phone calls, he may be vulnerable.  Unfortunately, sometimes members of the council are blamed and often unfairly blamed for zoning that occurred in their district. If there is widespread dissatisfaction with an incumbent due to dissatisfaction with rezoning that has occurred in a community, the incumbent may be vulnerable.

The next election for Metro Council will be August 2019 and if there is a runoff in any district the runoff will be between the top two contenders the following month. Elections for Council  are non-partisan.  While August 2019 is a long way off, it is not too early to start laying the ground work now, especially if one is not well connected to donors or if one has weak credentials.  Please do not let lack of money or a weak resume deter you from considered a run for Council.  Fortunately, Council district are still small enough to where a person of modest means who is willing to work hard can still get elected.

If you are someone who is predisposed to oppose tax increases, who believes we must improve our cities financial management, who is concerned about corporate welfare, who believes in government transparency, and  has supported saving the fairgrounds, then you may be the type of person needed to run for the Metro Council. If you would like to discuss the potential for mounting a campaign, tips on how to raise campaign money, how to mount a winning campaign strategy and more, I would like to talk to you and introduce you to some people who might help you.  Please email me at Rodwilliams47@yahoo.com.

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