Come On Up For The Rising

What do you do when you have a boatload of campaign cash and no real opponent?  You throw a big ass party, that's what you do.

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean will be holding a free campaign rally “A CITY RISING” on Saturday, June 4 (Noon to 1:30PM). The rally in support of Mayor Dean’s campaign for reelection will be held on the southwest lawn outside of LP Field near the Shelby Street Pedestrian Walking Bridge. The Dean campaign is asking people to sign up for free tickets online on their website at www.karldean.com.

Former Nashville Mayor and the 48th Governor of Tennessee Phil Bredesen will be making remarks and introducing Mayor Dean at this family rally that is scheduled to have live music, fun activities, food, and snow cones.

The rally will feature the musical stylings of one Danny Gokey, with perhaps a lyrically appropriate song for Dean's hopes for his next term:

A Fair Compromise for the DNC Delegation

Update:  Thanks to all of you who helped make it happen, we were able to pass the amendment to increase the Youth and LGBT goals to meet us halfway between the original proposal and last night's committee plan.  The amended delegate selection proposal passed with (near) unanimous approval. 


That was only part of the battle, next up is making sure we work extra hard to elect as many youth and LGBT on the district level so as to prove that some of the fears of the members were unfounded.


More later...

A few moments ago the TNYD sent this letter to members of the Tennessee Democratic Executive Committee regarding changes to the Youth and LGBT affirmative action goals for the 2012 DNC Convention. Essentially, the youth goals went from 22.9% and 20 delegates, to 14.8% and 13 delegates; LGBT went from 6.1% and 6 delegates to 4.9% and 4 delegates.

The Young Democrats are offering a fair compromise between the initial goals and the revised ones from last night. Please contact your Executive Committee members and urge them to support this compromise plan.  The meeting is at 7:30 CDT, so time is of the essence.

As leaders of the Tennessee Young Democrats, we'd like to start off by thanking the Affirmative Action Committee, the Delegate Selection Committee, and the TNDP Staff for the hard work they have put in over these past few weeks and months to come up with an inclusive plan that meets the goals of our state and national Democratic parties.

Deptartment of In Other News...

That race between Karl Dean and Michael Craddock?  Yeah...ain't gonna happen.

Though, in terms of the Mayor's re-election efforts this announcement doesn't have much more weight than if Bruce Casper were to leave the race, it does change the dynamics a bit in that the Dean campaign might be able to focus more on helping to re-elect and elect some friends and allies on the council. 

Define "General"?

There seems to be a bit of debate about how many signatures are required to get a charter referendum on the ballot.  The operating assumption had been for many that it was 15,700, or 10% of the November 2010 results.  I had thought it was 10% of the 2007 metro general election, but figured I was just wrong (it happens quite often, as you probably know).  Well, it seems I may have been right about this one.

Councilman Jamie Hollin has pointed to a Supreme Court decision from 1983, STATE EX REL. WISE v. Judd. The relevant language is as follows:

The Metropolitan charter, § 19.01, requires that a petition for a referendum on a proposed amendment be signed by "ten (10) percent of the number of the registered voters of Nashville-Davidson County voting in the preceding general election."

The issue is whether this reference is to a preceding Metropolitan general election (regularly held in August) or the previous state general election, which occurred in November, 1982. If the August 1982 or August 1979 Metropolitan elections are meant, facially the petitions contain a sufficient number of signatures. If the reference is to the state general election held in November 1982 (to which no Metropolitan offices were subject), the number is insufficient.[1]

The Chancellor held that since the subject involved is the amendment of the Metropolitan charter, the intent of the Charter Commissioners was to refer to the number of votes cast in a Metropolitan election rather than to the number in a state or national election. We agree. The charter, § 15.01, provides for Metropolitan general elections and refers to them as such. We think that the reference in § 19.01 under consideration here clearly is to municipal elections. The judgment of the Chancellor with respect to that question is affirmed.

Now, the case here refers to both August '82 and August '79 as "Metropolitan elections" as referred to in §15.01...but the August '82 election was a State Primary and County General election, something not referred to in that section of the Metro Charter. So one should logically assume that the judges were referring to the Metro General Elections, which are explicitly stated as being held every four years in August starting in 1971. Extrapolate that to today, and you've got August of 2007, in which about 101K people voting, which should mean that a referendum petition would require 10,100 people.

Update: I've been talking to Councilman Hollin who feels that because the court mentioned the August '82 state primary and county general in their decision, that the metric for this election should be the August '10 primary which had roughly 66K people voting.

While I see where he is coming from, and I think the Election Commission or a judge might agree to this, I do think its the wrong way to interpret their decision. That the Supreme Court incorrectly conflated a County general election with a Metro general doesn't, in my mind, take away from the fact that they expressly referred to §15.01 of the Metro Charter in drawing their conclusion. The election for County officers is established under 2-3-202 of the Tennessee Code, which is not mentioned in the decision, nor would it be in keeping with their language concluding that the Metro charter's definition in a previous section of what a "general election" is, should be the determining factor in deciding which number of signatures are required.

So, while Hollin may prevail in getting August '10 used as a metric, to me, the intent of the Supreme Court is clear that the Metro general election should be the standard with which the 10% figure should be established.  It is worth noting that the courts didn't decide which election, the August '82 or the August '79 should be used, simply that the petition met the requirements of both, and they didn't explicitly dismiss the August '82 county general in their ruling...had there been a discrepancy between the two, I am confident upon further review they would have gone with the August '79 metro general.

Is The Democratic Political Rollercoaster Heading Back Up?

Tom Jensen over at Public Policy Polling looks at the NY-26 results through the context of their national polling which shows an upswing for Democrats going into 2012:

There's going to be a lot of debate about whether Kathy Hochul's victory tonight means anything moving forward or not. I think it does. I think it is the first step toward the very real possibility that Democrats take the House back next year. Our national polling has been suggested that for almost three months now and this is the first tangible on the ground evidence backing that up.

I touched on this shortly before the 2010 elections when it was clear Democrats were about to take a beating. I looked at election performances pre-New Dael and found that large 2 year political swings were a norm in politics once before, and could be again:

[We] have an economy that is in flux and while there are some modest gains in private jobs and GDP growth, voters don't get a sense that things are really on the mend. Two, you've got a party advocating belt tightening during a bad economy. Three, voters are punishing the incumbent party for doing EXACTLY WHAT THEY SAID THEY'D DO if they took office, namely passing health care reform, Wall Street reforms, and cutting taxes for 95% of Americans (sshhh...don't tell, its a secret).

Long story short, Republicans will make gains this year, no doubt. But given the large degree of instability between party changes I have to wonder if this is stable lasting growth or, like our stock market, a symptom of instability with short bursts of gains and losses before we find an equalization. My point being, there is no immutable law of politics that says we have to have lengthy periods of time where one party controls the Congress...we had that for the better part of the 20th century, but over a longer time frame that appears to be somewhat of an anomaly.

Apparently Everybody is Wrong

Speaker Ron Boots Ramsey has a post up on Facebook in which he runs down the "accomplishments" of the legislature this year and extols the virtues of himself.  Now, you can go through the list of qausi-accomplishments and decide for yourself whether they are good or bad, but one line really struck out at me:

Everybody knows we have an illegal immigration problem in this country and President Obama has done nothing to help the states on this issue. That should not stop us from trying to fix the problem – and it hasn’t.

Interesting. Yes, unlawful immigration is a problem in this country and every industrialized nation. When governments create unnecessarily burdensome barriers between labor and the labor market, the former will find alternative routes in.

However, to say that "President Obama has done nothing" on the issue is preposterous. Not only has the number of undocumented immigrants (sorry Drew) coming into this country been on the decline in recent years, but the number of deportations for unauthorized aliens has increased rather dramatically since President Obama took office.  More importantly, the President has overseen a 70% increase in the number of deportations of criminal unauthorized aliens, folks who come here and commit crimes other than immigration violations.  

So not only has the President been working to stem the problems associated with an undocumented workforce, but he's been focusing our resources on getting rid of those who actually come to do harm to our society, not just make a better life for themselves and their family.  What Obama hasn't done, and what I think Ramsey's problem with him is that he won't simply cater to the fear-mongering and xenophobic tendencies of the GOP that seek to turn every brown person with a thick accent into public enemy number 1.  

Youth Delegation Goals Under Fire

I sat in on a YDA conference call this evening where the main topic of conversation is the effort by the DNC and YDA to see that youth delegates have a strong presence at the 2012 DNC Convention in Charlotte.  Many states have quality goals that are representative of the people who vote for Democrats in this state, Tennessee is currently one of those.

I posted earlier this month about the TNDP Delegate Selection plan, designed with input from over 20 members of an Affirmative Action committee designed to get us in compliance with DNC goals for Black, Hispanic, LGBT, disabled, and youth delegates.  The TNDP, for the first time ever, is poised to set a goal to have a youth delegation that is representative of the Democratic vote in this state.

Unfortunately, it appears that there are some folks within the party's executive committee and outside of it that don't support such goals.  At the TNDP Exec Committee meeting this past Sunday, the committee voted to create a new committee to review the plan instituted by the affirmative action committee (Democrats sure do love their committees).  Luckily, Chairman Forrester put in charge of this committee a co-chair of the Affirmative Action committee, Chris Anderson, who was instrumental in getting these youth inclusion goals to where they are.

This new delegate selection committee will meet tomorrow to make recommendations on the plan.  My understanding is that some of the old guard is fighting to either reduce or eliminate some of the youth inclusion, disability, or LGBT goals.  This is the wrong path to be taking.

While the youth numbers were arrived at by looking at the demographics of democratic voters, there is another important issue at play, and that is youth activation.  I can't tell you how many elected officials and party leaders I've talked to over the years who have talked about how they were convention delegates in their youth.  The fact of the matter is the DNC Convention offers the chance to reinforce budding activism and party spirit among young democrats who may have come to the party largely out of support for President Obama.  By introducing them to and immersing them in to the working parts of the Democratic party, it increases the likelihood they will come back energized to either help organize a political movement, YDA chapter, or perhaps even run for office.

I think part of the problem with these affirmative action goals is the same sort of problem many conservatives have had with affirmative action in the past.  Affirmative action is not a situation where an unqualified black person takes the job of a qualified white person, as many people I've talked to over the years seem to think.  Its looking at a group of qualified applicants, and where you have candidates of similar or equal value, you perhaps look to your demographics to see that it more represents the reality of the community.  This is all that we are asking.

All that many of us young democrats want is the chance to compete with people who might have built many friendships over the years that would lead to qualified potential delegates to be shoved aside for the "good ol' boy club".

My understanding is that after the delegate selection committee meets via call on Wednesday, a full Executive Committee decision will be made on Thursday.  If you care about fairness and inclusion, please contact your Executive Committee members to request that they keep the affirmative action goals that are already in place to make for a more diverse delegation to the 2012 Convention in Charlotte.

Update:  A reminder, the DNC and Party look at the comments submitted regarding the delegate selection plan.  Be sure to go to the TNDP site and either post a comment or email them to show your support for the goals presented. 

Send Cyrus to DC

Cyrus Shick has been selected to be one of only 48 High School Democrats nationwide who gets to participate in the 2011 YDA High School Leadership Academy.

For those of you who don't know Cyrus, he's a 15 year old political activist who has done more in the past few years to help this party than almost any other unpaid volunteer. He's dedicated himself tirelessly to helping Democrats across this state campaign and win.

The High School Leadership Academy is an intensive four day program that will provide Cyrus with information, training, and access to and from members of Congress, Democratic party officials, and experts in their respective fields.

A four day trip to Washington is expensive, so please help us reach our goal of sending Cyrus to DC. Any little bit helps, so please give whatever you can.

Ohhh, THAT'S What It Was About, Our Bad

I thought for a minute what could be more offensive...the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce giving the Republicans in the legislature and the Governor backing to claim that HB600, the bill to overturn the Nashville contractor non-discrimination ordinance, was about making it easier to do business, or coming out AFTER the Governor signs the bill to say that they now oppose it.  It took about a half second, and I came to the conclusion that the latter is more offense because it doubly insults our intelligence.

Because HB600/SB632 has turned into a debate on diversity and inclusiveness—principles which we support—we are now officially opposing this legislation in its present form.

Seriously, the TN Chamber wants us to believe that they just now realized that a Non-Discrimination ordinance was about the "diversity and inclusiveness"?  I think it seriously would've been less offensive if they just stuck to their guns.

TNYD Convention Update

Just wanted to update readers of the blog about the TNYD Convention and election.  We've got dates and locations set for the event.

The meeting portion of the convention, where yours truly will be running for President of the Tennessee Young Democrats, will be at the UAW Hall @ 151 Maddox Simpson Highway in Lebanon, TN from 12-3PM.  You can register for the convention here.

If you can't come to the convention, or you aren't technically a "Young Democrat" we are having a post convention celebration at the home of the Wilson County Property Assessor Jack Pratt and Kalee Kreider from 4-8PM. Tickets are $25 for the party and will include Beer, BBQ, and all the political speeches you can handle.

Finally, if you can't come but still want to throw a few bucks our way, that is always appreciated as well.

The Political Brain

This weekend the TNDP held its "Values Summit" for activists and party officials to get together and hear from various panels and speakers. While the word "values" was on the header, the primary theme of the discussions was more about how to talk about our values, in other words, framing.

While there were various panelists and presenters on the subject, the rock star of the event was Drew Westen (no, seriously, a short stocky psychology professor constitutes a rock star at events like this). Westen is the author of "The Political Brain," and his message was primarily that Democrats need to focus less on trying to convey facts, figures, and policy points, and instead focus on triggering various emotional networks that arise in people's brains.

While I tend to be pretty skeptical about "framing" discussions, and I think some of the numbers he and others pull out about how X framing polls 40 points ahead of Y can lead people to overestimate the impact of such language manipulation to result in electoral gains, he and his message is certainly more than preaching to the faithful, its backed up by some pretty hard scientific data which can't be summarily dismissed.

In the hour+ long conversation, there were some interesting (and perhaps controversial) statements, such as liberals should not use the word "undocumented immigrant" and instead use the prevailing term "illegal immigrant" because when people hear "undocumented immigrant" they automatically think its liberal code. He said a good way for Democrats to describe their immigration policy desires is to "turn illegal immigrants into tax paying citizens".

Some other points of note. Westen said Democrats should drop the LGBT label, and acronyms in general, as it sounds like a "gay sandwich". He noted that rarely if ever did George Bush use an acronym to describe his policies, such as NCLB vs No Child Left Behind, and that Democrats failed at capitalizing politically over the S-CHIP debates of the past because few outside of activists knew what S-CHIP was.

Westen also pointed out that the conservative welfare system, Heritage Foundation, etc.., spend a disproportionately larger amount of money, perhaps in the neighborhood of 20-1, compared to liberals on messaging and media training.

Ultimately, he had some really good points throughout his presentation and Democrats, liberals and those who are tired of being drowned out by the conservative messaging machine should probably take notice. I don't think its the end all and be all of politics (I'd say its maybe 20% or so of the formula), but its something that we as a party and an ideology need to invest in and get better at if we are going to go toe-to-toe in the increasingly truncated media environment.

Don't Say In Vitro

An amended version of SB49, formerly "Don't Say Gay," and amended to be "don't say anything but 'natural human reproduction'" passed the Senate today on a largely party line vote of 19-11 (3 members not voting), I'll let your imagination run wild with who the Democrat voting for it was...

Anywho, the amended language took out the word "homosexuality" and instead said that nothing could be taught in grades K-8 but "natural reproduction".  Sen. Berke and Stewart objected on the ground that this opens up sex ed to grades K-8, while Sen. Herron objected on the notion that it could limit discussion of abstinence (after all, it is a concept of human society not to get your groove on whenever the mood strikes).

Ultimately, in addition to theoretically banning the subject of homosexuality (though quite frankly sexuality and human reproduction are two different but related topics in my mind), it would obstensibly prohibit any discussion of new sciences in the past few decades that have opened up parenthood to many people who were biologically (or naturally) unable to reproduce.  

Feel free to watch the debate, it wasn't quite the show I had hoped it would be.

*I suppose I should point out that while this passed the Senate, the House companion did not pass, so it won't become law.

The Fear Mongers Ought To Look Inward

Sen. Bill Ketron is getting criticized by Ted Rayburn at the Tennessean for passing around an inflammatory and misleading video attempting to target Muslims in this state as radicals:

None of the distortions in this video should be accepted as fact by any lawmaker, or any thinking Tennessean, for that matter. If anything, this ploy shows that the existing legislation, even stripped of references to specific religions, is ill-conceived and wrong for Tennessee.

Please, Sen. Ketron, do admit to your constituents and the state as a whole what your motives are, to go to such lengths to bring about this bill. Is it special-interest money? A pet cause on which to hang your ambitions to higher office? Is it a personal fear and dislike of Muslims, as many have suggested?

And if this video fails to change minds, what’s next, senator? “Wanted’’ posters with photos of local Islamic leaders, and the distribution of lanterns and pitchforks to the general population?

Look, I as much as any level headed liberal American have a deep concern about radical orthodox religious beliefs creeping into our public sphere. However, when I look at Muslim politicians like Keith Ellison and Andre Carson, both of whom support equality for gay and lesbian Americans, and then look back at our Tennessee legislature and see a bunch of God-fearing Christian Republicans voting at every turn this session to strip away as many rights and protections from folks who aren't straight while Christian males...I have to wonder, why should I be afraid of a super-small minority of religious believers when the majority is the one trying to destroy the fabric of American life?

Are Republicans like Ketron really worried about Islamic law creeping in because they think it'll destroy the secular America our founding fathers sought to build, or are they simply worried that Muslims will be getting in on a game they have monopolized for the past few decades?

That brings me to another point.  Its been about a month or so, but when Ketron first brought his anti-Sharia turned anti-??? bill to the legislature, he brought in some outside experts to speak on the matter.  One of those folks was Joseph Schmitz.  Schmitz is the son of John Schmitz, a California Republican and former Presidential nominee for the American Independent Party (see: George Wallace) who was so radical that the freaking John Birch Society felt a need to distance themselves from him.  Joseph Schmitz served as Inspector General for the DOD under Bush before leaving to get a cushy job with Blackwater.  Schmitz has gone around the country in an effort to expose the dangers of Sharia law...but ironically enough, this same anti-Sharia crusader was more than happy to see these laws put into action when one of Blackwater's planes went down due to severe negligence on the part of the pilots.  You see, in Islamic law, the company wouldn't be held liable for the actions of these pilots, whereas in American law you sure as shit bet they would be. 

I bring up Schmitz because it should be clear that the promotion of anti-Sharia and anti-Islamic ideology isn't so much based in a principled belief in the dangers posed to liberal democracy...rather, its just another tool in the shed of American right-wing political tactics designed to keep Americans constantly afraid of the next threat requiring the GOP to save them from.

If Republicans like Ketron really want to stick it to Islamic radicals, hows about just doing the opposite of what they would have done?  When given the opportunity to vote for the interests of the Taliban or vote for the interests of Americans wanting equal rights, try voting for the interests of Americans, comforting yourself in the knowledge that by doing so you lift up American values and reject the intolerance of the radical Islamic clerics you are railing against.

Matt Wiltshire to Head ECD

Mayor Karl Dean has announced that Matt Wiltshire, director of investment banking at Avondale Partners, will succeed Alexia Poe as Director of Economic and Community Development.

Wiltshire, in addition to his venture capitalism career, is co-founder of the Kitchen Cabinet with Jeff Yarbro.  A group of young progressive professionals who meet generally once a week month for breakfast to hear from various key leaders in Nashville and Tennessee.

Priscilla Eaton Pulls Papers in the 5th District

After Amy Bryson left the race for District 5, it appeared as if this election might come down to Scott Davis and Pam Murray, but one longtime resident of the district has other plans.  Priscilla Eaton, a 29 year resident who lives on Maxwell, has pulled papers in the race to replace Jamie Hollin on the council.

There are two factions in the district, those who support Murray who was ousted in the recall election two years ago, and those who don't.  Of those, while some have backed Scott Davis, others wouldn't support him for various reasons, chief among them, he backed Murray in the runoff election.

Now enter Eaton, a 68 year old African-American who along with her husband Larry were named as defendants in a multi-million dollar defamation lawsuit filed by Murray, and the dynamics of the race have shifted once again.  One can reasonably expect that many who supported the recall effort, and especially the victims of Pam Murray's lawsuit, will line up behind Eaton, who I'm told is a retired Master Sgt. with the United States Army.

Evans and Mitchell Draw Potential Challengers

[UPDATE] Joey Garrison informs us on Twitter that Edgerton has not qualified to be on the ballot, so Evans is safe, whereas Tonya Jones has qualified, so there will be a race in the 35th.

Going through the latest Metro Council candidate filings and it looks like two incumbents running for re-election might have some challengers.

Lynne Todd Edgerton, an environmental lawyer, pulled papers on the 13th of this month in District 23, home to Councilwoman Emily Evans, a frequent opponent of many Dean initiatives on the council.  City Paper reporter Joey Garrison told me via Twitter that he spoke with her last week and she said she was undecided, though my thinking is that generally, if you pull papers a week before the deadline, chances are you are probably running.  We shall see.

Also facing a tough re-election fight now will be Councilman Bo Mitchell.  Tonya Jones is [was?] the owner of a construction company and served on the Metro Planning Commission.  She was the commissioner who brought forth Councilman Tygard's failed proposal to redraw the district so that Mitchell was drawn into the 22nd (Crafton's) and Tygard had a district of his own.  Though Jones has given some money to Democrats, her voting history and alliance with Tygard indicates she is a Republican.  I'm told she was denied re-appointment to the Planning Commission in the council yesterday, but the minutes and video aren't online yet. [Update] The Clerk's office informs me that her appointment was deferred by rule, and council members Maynard, LaLonde and Mitchell objected to the suspension.

Right-wing Agenda Feels There Is No Room for Homosexual Agenda

Outfit not approved by agenda

The guy who suggested that Ann Coulter be nominated to the United States Supreme Court are out promoting Stacey Campfield's bill to bar classroom discussions of Glee before High School.

In a letter to legislators, Eugene Delgaudio of the group "Public Advocate of the US" urges passage of SB49, affectionately known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill. In his letter, Delgaudio uses the FCKH8 video as the example of those opposed to this bill, and says that SB49 "simply embraces mainstream values regarding 'heterosexuality' [his quotes] and appropriateness".

Hello Memphis

Earlier today President Obama spoke at the Booker T. Washington High School commencement ceremony where he gave praise to the students, parents, teachers and administrators who decided "not be defined by where you come from but by where you want to go, by what you want to achieve, by the dreams you hope to fulfill."

Obama gave many reasons why a good education is the key to global competitiveness and financial stability, but also why it can make for a better civic nature:

And finally, with the right education, both at home and at school, you can learn how to be a better human being. For when you read a great story or you learn about an important moment in history, it helps you imagine what it would be like to walk in somebody else’s shoes, to know their struggles. The success of our economy will depend on your skills, but the success of our community will depend on your ability to follow the Golden Rule -- to treat others as you would like to be treated.

Read the whole transcript here, video is below.

Proponents of Fairgrounds Redevelopment to Challenge Referendum Petition

UPDATE: From the dept. of I shouldn't skim...I misread the article, Hollin has to sumbit 15,700 signatures, that isn't neccessarily the amount he has. I was under the impression that they only needed 10 percent of the voters from 2007.

Joey Garrison has the details on a move by Neighbors for Progress, a group of residents close to the Tennessee State Fairgrounds who would like to see redevelopment of the land and the ending of racing at the site, to potentially challenge the petition being filed today to add a referendum to the ballot which would require the city to keep racing and fair activities alive at the sight unless 27 members of the council approve changes.

Councilman Jamie Hollin, who is a key driver of the initiative, claims to have 15,700 signatures ready to be submitted, or 150% of the 10,100 signatures required to get the measure on the ballot.  While its no secret that many of the vocal opponents to plans that would get rid of racing were from Nashville's surrounding counties, it seems unlikely that 1/3rd of the signatures will be invalid...but stranger things have happened.

District 5 Race Narrows

District 5 candidate Amy Bryson is leaving the race, and the state, behind in order for her husband to pursue a new job opportunity out of state. 

During my campaign I have had the pleasure to meet many neighbors, small business owners and several department heads of Metro Government. I provided wish boards for neighbors to record the improvements they’d like to see in District 5, and have enjoyed speaking to small business owners and their concerns on the Gallatin SP, future opportunities for our District and working on understanding all different departments of Metro. AmyBryson5.com will be revamped to provide information, contacts and comments regarding District 5; I hope those in the district, whether neighbor or business owner, will use and support it.

That leaves Scott Davis and Pam Murray as the two primary contenders for this seat. While other candidates have pulled papers, both Davis and Murray have qualified and begun actively campaigning. Murray was ousted from this position roughly two years ago when now Councilman Hollin waged a successful recall race that was decided by a handful of votes. She is now currently suing Hollin and others for millions in damages over that recall campaign and alleged defamation of character.

Sarah Tally Announces for District 24

It looks like Councilman Jason Holleman is going to have to work for it this year if he's going to stay on the Metro Council for the next four.  Sarah Lodge Tally has announced that she will in fact be running against Councilman Jason Holleman in the District 24 council race this August.  Tally is the daughter of Nashville lobbyist Dick Lodge, and she was an outspoken proponent of Jeff Yarbro's primary campaign against Sen. Douglas Henry, who was backed heavily by Holleman.

“I'm excited about what’s happening in Nashville and in District 24, in particular, and I want to help shape our community's growth over the next four years. This District needs a responsive leader who will listen to the varied interests of residents and businesses and who will advocate for every neighborhood. We need someone who can find common ground and bring people together to facilitate balanced growth, support our school system, and improve public safety,” said Tally. “My conversations with neighbors in every corner of the District – from Sylvan Heights to Whitland, White Bridge Road to Whitworth – have only confirmed that my vision matches that of the district's residents.”

The other interesting factor in this race is that Tally's campaign manager is Russell Riebling, the son of Metro Finance Director Rich Riebling who often takes the brunt of the tough questioning from council-members who are on opposite sides of an issue with Mayor Dean. 

While the filing deadline for Metro elections isn't until next week, Tally is getting in the race rather late in the game, as early voting starts in just about two months time, which means she'll have to raise and spend quite a bit of money between now and then if she is going to overtake incumbent Holleman.

[Updated] Holleman responded to news of this announcement with the following, "I have listened carefully to the many diverse interests in my district over the last four years, and I am proud of my responsiveness to my neighborhoods' needs and my record on the Council.  I love serving my community, and I will work hard again this summer to earn the privilege to continue representing my constituents."

Read the full release below:

David Briley Opens Up Home to Dean

Yesterday, to a crowd of about 50 people or so, former Councilman and Mayoral candidate David Briley endorsed his former competition for the office, Karl Dean.  Briley, in introducing Dean, joked about how both of them supported different candidates in the 2007 election, but that in this election "we have one candidate who has experience, who has vision, and has shown he can lead a community through difficult times."

The event was attended by numerous candidates, including three of those looking to take over Mike Jameson's spot in the 6th district; Peter Westerholm, Hans Schmidt, and Dave Rich, as well as district 7 candidate Anthony Davis, district 8 candidate Nancy VanReece, and district 5 candidate Scott Davis.  In addition, current council-members at-large Ronnie Steine and Megan Barry came out to show their support.  Two other councilmen in attendance were Mike Jameson and Jason Holleman, who were last week part of a Tennessean article about a progressive and conservative alliance of council-members regularly opposed to Dean's initiatives.

During his speech to the crowd, Mayor Dean spoke of his accomplishments and goals for the city going forward, including the Highland Heights project that he outlined at a recent neighborhood meeting.  "Charter schools are not a panacea, but we have to be open to innovation, and Kipp works," Dean told the crowd. "We can bring in the resources of the government to renovate this building, which is in deplorable condition, which has asbestos and all sorts of things, and run a first rate school that will improve the neighborhood and also the school."

South Carolina Economy Not Collapsing Over Amazon

A blogger with Process Story in South Carolina emailed me to tell me that rumors of South Carolina's demise over Amazon.com moving out were greatly exaggerated:

After our House voted against giving Amazon the tax deal it was looking for -- in addition to other incentives proposed by the state and Lexington County -- the online retailer said it would look for somewhere else to go, and naysayers talked about how it would hurt our economy because a deal brokered by former Gov. Mark Sanford wasn’t continued by current Gov. Nikki Haley.

It didn’t happen. Since Amazon packed up and looked to cast its lot elsewhere, Amy’s Kitchen is bringing 700 jobs to Greenville. Michelin is investing $200 million and creating 270 new jobs at its facility, and Walmart is bringing in an additional 4,000 jobs to the state. Not to mention the goodwill from established businesses in South Carolina who are seeing the state try to treat everyone fairly.

Of course, much of the groundwork for these announcement had been laid long before the Amazon controversy, so whether there is a causative effect is debatable.

Ultimately, for state's like South Carolina and Tennessee, losing Amazon distribution facilities won't be the end of the world for there states...it may deal a bigger blow to counties and local economies that would've benefited from the extra jobs and revenue.

Arbiter of Progressivism Strikes Back!

Mike Byrd, a blogger who has repeatedly shown a complete lack of journalistic ethics or integrity, takes me to task for a post in which I made an incorrect statement, listened to criticism, and corrected the post based on said criticism.  The Byrdman Speaketh:

Braisted vouchsafed an audience with Hollin whereupon learning that his information was wrong. Instead of writing the standard "Correction," Braisted wrote an update indicating to me that it was Hollin, not the blogger correcting misinformation. Note the mealymouthed wording

Let's help me help ya out Mikey to make up for the reading comprehension skills you evidently lack. Here is what I said. "After a lengthy and informative conversation with Councilman Hollin, he rightfully corrected this statement about Craddock actively working to oppose the contractor NDO."  You see Mike, that sentence credits Hollin with pointing out the correction, and the word "rightfully" is to indicate that I agree with the correction.

The next sentence, reinforces this point; "In fairness, he didn't speak out on the matter as some of the other conservative council-members did."  Soooo...your problem is what exactly?

The rest of his post blathers on about how Charlie Tygard supports Karl Dean, and somehow because someone I disagree with and don't like supports Dean, that makes him no worse than Craddock whose words and actions (not those of his supporters) are what I and many other progressives/liberals find to be objectionable.  I'm not playing some BS guilt by association game with Craddock, I'm playing the guilt by being Craddock game. 

Do We Really Have To Import Islamaphobia?

As if there weren't enough people in this state with an irrational fear of Islamic culture, the right-wing Dutch representative Geert Wilders will be speaking tomorrow at Pastor Maury "I Like To Stab Old Women To Death" Davis' church in a right-wing expose on the dangers of Muslims.

Wilders will be speaking as part of a star-studded panel of folks who think Muslim immigration is designed to destroy the host country.  He will be joined by Sam Solomon, a former Muslim who says that immigration of Muslims is a religious conspiracy designed to infiltrate and take over the Western culture.  In addition Bill Warner, an aging physicist who claims to have developed a mathematical formula to show that Islam is more of a political system than a religious one, will be expounding his philosophy as Steve Gill serves as the master of ceremonies.

All in all seems like some good ol' fashioned grade A Muslim bashing will be taking place at the Cornerstone Church in Madison tomorrow.

High-Schoolers Stand Up For Reason

It looks as if some area high school students were a bit tardy to class today as they gathered at the capitol to protest Rep. Stacey Campfield's homophobic agenda to make it a crime for teachers to discuss in any way the topic of homosexuality. 

Ford Pens Op-ed Calling for Relief for Struggling Americans

Former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. gets his empathy on for that most belittled and beleagured form of American, the multinational oil company.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Ford takes to task the Obama administration for "demonizing" big oil and putting in place a regulatory structure that he says has effectively put a moratorium on deepwater drilling.

In the year since the Deepwater Horizon spill, the Obama administration has put in place what is effectively a permanent moratorium on deep water drilling. It stretched out the approval process for some Gulf-region drilling permits to more than nine months, lengths that former President Bill Clinton has called "ridiculous."

Since October of 2010, 6 new deep water drilling permits have been issued out of a 30 ongoing requests. During this same time, 30 "revised new well" permits have been issued out of 40 requests. What does this mean? Simply that the Department of Interior has been going through systematically and methodically to make sure that the wells being drilled are as safe as possible both for the crews and the surrounding environment.  To say that the Obama administration is demonizing or punishing big oil, neglects to mention that domestic oil production overall is higher than its been in any year since 2003.

After a decade or more of gutted regulatory framework, the Obama administration is having to work overtime to check the shoddy work of its predecessor, while simultaneously ensuring that any new permits it grants are done so to prevent the kind of environmental catastrophe as we saw with the Horizon spill.

There is not an ongoing moratorium. There is not an effort to end or kill offshore oil drilling. There IS an ongoing effort by this administration to not repeat the same mistakes we made in the past...fast-tracking permits and failing to regulate an industry whose mistakes can hurt millions of people. 

Ford has a few suggestions for the administration going forward:

First, let's conduct a comprehensive review of existing policies, rules and restrictions and root out any that needlessly hamper energy production at home. Do the existing environmental rules, for example, accurately reflect the industry's technological advancements in the ability to safely recover oil and gas supplies?

Right, well, you see, the administration has been going through a process of comprehensive review of policies...hence the delay in new permits being issued. Of course, the review requested here isn't to ensure the safety and security of the people of the Gulf Coast, its to ensure the profits of the oil companies.

Second, let's develop the skills we need to find new and better ways to recover domestic supplies of energy—and to develop next-generation fuels to secure the future. That means encouraging more students to study math, science and other disciplines this industry needs.

Done and doing it.

And third, let's stop demonizing Big Oil to score political points. It does nothing to encourage the new talent, new ideas, and new entrepreneurs who are most likely to make breakthroughs in new sources of energy.

Right. The promise of making shit tons of money is being outweighed by thems feewings getting hurted.

Here's the thing.  We will never, ever, not in a million years, be able to offset the amount of oil we import from foreign countries through domestic drilling...at least to any noticeable degree.  Oil prices are based on a global marketplace of speculators buying and selling pieces of paper, not on the supply we have, so cutting corners to fast-track oil drilling permits will not lead to cheaper gas for struggling Americans.  The only feasible way we can increase energy "security" and reduce our dependence on foreign oil is to find and invest in alternative means of energy.  Now, unless or until we find a way to cost-efficiently split hydrogen from water in an energy-efficient manner, there are not going to be any easy or magic solutions.  Coal, natural gas, nuclear, even solar and wind power have their drawbacks and negative consequences.  

Ultimately, we gotta start getting used to these higher energy costs.  There isn't an "American solution" to this problem.  There isn't really even a solution.  We are pushing up against peak oil, the oil we've got is costing more and more to find, recover, and process.  So the key to future growth is going to be through conservation and alternative sourcing.

More Than Just a List of Names

The Dean campaign is apparently not letting their steering committee lists slip away into the land of lost press releases.  Instead, they are sending out letters to voters in the targeted communities, highlighting Dean's accomplishments and goals for those particular areas.

One example of this is a North Nashville Steering Committee letter which lauds Dean's support for projects in this area as well as various programs to improve minority participation in government business:

Mayor Dean wants to see North Nashville prosper. He has been working with community leaders on economic development projects like the 28th Avenue Connector, which will bridge communities too long divided and the Gateway to Heritage project. Furthermore, under Dean’s leadership, Metro provided $1.8 million of a $10 million dollar commitment as part of a private/public partnership for the development of a Museum of African American Music, Art, and Culture on Jefferson Street. The museum will be a fitting tribute to the role African-Americans have played in Nashville’s history and a major source of tourism for the area.

In 2008, Mayor Dean began implementing the recommendations from a Disparity Study completed in 2004, which found “evidence of discriminatory barriers” to minority- and women-owned businesses participating in the procurement process of Metro Government. The Mayor’s Office proposed an ordinance to amend the Metropolitan Procurement Code to include a Procurement Nondiscrimination Program. From that work, the number of women and minority owned businesses that work with the city continues to significantly increase. A good example is the Music City Center Workforce Development Program that works with many community based organizations such as JUMP and the Urban League to help individuals qualify for jobs. Mayor Dean supports equality and inclusion.

So while I may have dismissed the committee as simply a list of supporters, it could be that the campaign is actually working with those allies in their neighborhoods to try and get perspectives from outside an insulated campaign structure. If it does work out that way, it could be a benefit not only to the campaign, but to the areas of Nashville that otherwise might feel a bit neglected at times.

Don't Be H8ING On The Homos

A national campaign urging people to FCKH8 has picked up on our state's ridiculous efforts to purge the word gay (really the topic) from public schools. 

An Embarrassed Tennessean

Councilman Jamie Hollin, the sponsor of the Contractor Non-discrimination ordinance and a constant presence up on Capitol Hill during the efforts to rescind it, says that while he's a Tennessee born and bred, he's just a wee bit embarrassed for his home state after the efforts of the Tennessee legislature:

SB 632/HB 600 was advocated by the Family Action Council of Tennessee, the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and the National Federation of Independent Business to retroactively rescind BL2011-838 granting workplace protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. It’s certain passage will mean Nashville’s ordinance is overturned. And, no other city in Tennessee can do something similar in the future. Sad indeed. The pending legal challenge will take awhile.

Governor Haslam will likely sign it based on his public comments. Or, let it become law in 10 days without his signature. Unlikely. Embarrassing either way.

It wouldn’t be as embarrassing if any of the arguments in support of the legislation held even a drop of water. They don’t. It’s been a campaign for the record books contrived on homophobia.

The man makes a good point, and its taken to heart...I hope he might understand as well why some of us would feel the same way if a certain homophobic councilman made his way to the top spot in Nashville's city government.

Yesterday Michael Cass confirmed what was already assumed by many, that Hollin was working to help Michael Craddock become Nashville's next mayor.  Now, its no secret that there isn't much love between Hollin and Dean, but while the mayor might've been a bit slow walking up to the plate on the Contractor NDO, Craddock was actively working to oppose this*, and other measures intended to give gay men and women a certain level of protection in their jobs.


Everything about Craddock indicates a deeply homophobic man.  Why Hollin, who clearly has a disdain for this element of our political society, would actively work to help make the man mayor, is beyond me.  Perhaps he understands the futility in the goal and simply wants to send a message to Dean, I don't know, but it like there is a bit of cognitive dissonance in play here.

*Updated: After a lengthy and informative conversation with Councilman Hollin, he rightfully corrected this statement about Craddock actively working to oppose the contractor NDO. In fairness, he didn't speak out on the matter as some of the other conservative council-members did. He has, however, actively opposed other pro-gay rights measures on the council.

Stacey Campfield, All Around Great Guy

A reader sent in this picture of a business card and/or flyer extolling the virtues of Knoxville's State Senator Stacey Campfield, with such highlights as "slumlord" and "compares gays to bestiality".  The card contains Stacey's personal cell phone number if anyone wants to thank him for his service to Knoxville's homophobic wingnut element.  Its apparently making appearances on UT's campus.

Byrd Strikes Out at Heartless Dean Round Two

Now, I love me some ellipses...use them all the time...too much some might say...but when I use them, I generally try to use them to connect two somewhat related thoughts.  Poor use of this particular form of punctuation?  Most certainly, but it is what it is.

When Mike Byrd uses them, especially in relation to the Mayor, it should throw up a red flag to see what this Mayor Hater is hiding.  I already pointed out yesterday's post in which Byrd purposefully distorted a comment by Mayor Dean to fit his idea that he was pandering to anti-federal government Republicans.  Now, he's using it to show Dean didn't care about Nashville during the flooding.

What Byrd put:

80 to 90% of the city is untouched by the flood, so there are whole areas of the city where you wouldn't know anything happened. The areas that were hit were hit hard and our hearts go out to the people who were heart by it .... [But] we're still Music City. We're still a great tourist destination. We're open for business.

What was said:

Renee Montagne: Let's play another clip from a Nashville resident. This is from Justin Mundie.

Mundie: Economically, all of our tourist stuff has been under water and we don't have a state income tax so a lot of our tax base comes from that. A lot of people without flood insurance have been flooded. Its just really overwhelming to think about how long its going to take the city to recover from this.

RM: Mayor Dean I gather that you've already invited tourists back?

Dean: Yeah I mean Downtown, other parts of the city...[used because of trailing thought]there are probably 80-90% of the city is untouched by the flood. There are whole areas of the city where you wouldn't know anything happened. The areas that were hit hard and our hearts go out to the people that were hurt by it. Downtown, the major tourist area, the Country Music Hall of Fame is re-opening today, the Honkey-tonks are thriving, the Grand Old Opry which was at the Gaylord property at Opryland hotel has come downtown, they are going to be at the Historic Ryman or War Memorial Auditorium. So we are still Music City, we're still a great tourist destination, our art museum is open. So, we're open for business, people who had planned to come to Nashville and need to come to Nashville and people who are thinking of coming to Nashville ought to come.

We're clearly going to need help, we are going to need support to get the economy back up and running and moving and that's what I want to see happen. But you can still go downtown, and I think today its going to clean up even more, so its still the place to be in my mind.

So, was this Dean saying that the problem isn't big? No. This was Dean responding to a direct question about tourism and whether or not people can come to Nashville. Perhaps Mike Byrd would rather have Dean played it up like we were Haiti after the Earthquake and people should keep their distance...I'd imagine that many small businesses that depend on tourism appreciate the Mayor giving an honest assessment of our situation and what is or is not available to the traveling public.

World's Smallest Violin Playing for Amazon

Should the legislature require that Amazon.com collect sales taxes from Tennesseans? No.

Is it fair to ask Amazon.com to collect sales taxes from Tennesseans?  Yes.

Confusing?  Perhaps, but I imagine its confusing for legislators to.  In the battle over whether or not to require Amazon to collect sales taxes on items sold to Tennesseans, I don't think there is a clear cut right and wrong.  On the one hand, the state did apparently make a deal to allow them to come into our state and we'll look the other way with regards to the amount of business they do with Tennesseans.  On the other, the online retailer is clearly a thorn in the side of physical retailers and small businesses who not only have to compete with Amazon's larger purchasing power and ability to cut down prices, but also their unfair price advantage when people factor in sales taxes (especially in a state like Tennessee with such a high one).

Amazon is clearly taking advantage of the economic downturn and the all important drive to create jobs.  They play a coy game of saying their retail operations are separate from their fulfillment operations, thus making them a huge national presence but a non-existent state presence in the eyes of state tax authorities.  They know legislators are put between a rock and a hard place with regards to the explaining to business owners in this state who do pay their fair share, why Amazon is different and special, or they have to tell the unemployed people who might get these jobs why they drove this company away.

Ultimately, we should maintain the tax deal with Amazon.  They already sell, tax free and often freight free, to Tennesseans with tax impunity, so the argument that a fulfillment center in Tennessee will further hurt Tennessee businesses is pretty weak.  While it may feel good to tell the mega-online retailer to kiss off, it doesn't really help our state finances, or the state's unemployed.  But some day the free ride for Amazon will have to come to an end, whether it be because of Congress' actions or a more friendly court. 

Mike Byrd Channels Sean Hannity

Mike Byrd over at his blog does a nice bit of selective editing to try and make the Mayor sound, as Byrd called him, "GOP-ish" and said he was "campaigning against the federal government.

Here's what Byrd posted:

Standing inside Hartman Park, on the north side, Dean told a small crowd of revelers who truly made for such a speedy recovery, in true Tennessee fashion.

"It wasn't the federal government .... It was the people of Nashville!

Here is what Mayor Dean actually said:

"It wasn't the federal government. It wasn't the state government; it wasn't the local government," the mayor said. "It was the people of Nashville! It was the neighbors helping neighbors. It was the neighbors helping strangers."

Quite a difference, no? What Byrd did there was dishonest and shows just how little substance there is behind his hatred of Karl Dean. There is a huge difference between giving praise to volunteers for making a real difference, and "attacking Washington DC on the stump" as Byrd described. 

TNDP Delegate Selection Plan Release

The Tennessee Democratic Party has released a delegate selection plan for public comment that will decide the makeup of the delegation going to the 2012 DNC Convention in Charlotte.  From a presser:

“This plan provides Tennessee Democrats a blueprint for getting involved and making their voice heard in the 2012 presidential election cycle,” said Chip Forrester, Chair of the state party. “We advocate for open, accountable government and we hold ourselves to the same standard so we’re looking for citizen feedback on the plan before the rules are adopted by the state party executive committee.”

The plan has set ambitious demographic representation goals that skew towards a more diverse delegation than we've had in the past.

African American: 28.2% or 26 delegates
Hispanics: 3.7% or 3 delegates
LGBT: 6.1% or 6 delegates
People w/ Disabilities: 14.9% or 14 delegates
Youth: 22.9% or 22 delegates

In other words, 7 of the 78 pledged, elected district or at-large delegates would go to middle-aged straight white guys if all the representation goals were met. Which may be somewhat reflective of the Democratic vote, but certainly not reflective of the Democratic legislative delegation.

The breakdown for District Reps is 58 total (53 delegates and 5 alternates):

	Delegates			Alternates
District	Males	Females	Total	Males	Females	Total
1	2	3	5
2	3	3	6
3	3	2	5
4	2	3	5
5	4	3	7	1		1
6	3	3	6		1	1
7	3	3	6	1		1
8	3	3	6		1	1
9	3	4	7	1		1
Totals	26	27	53	3	2	5

Feel free to peruse the other rules and regulations suggested.

Craddock Turns Volunteer Appreciation Into Campaign Rally

The Craddock for Mayor campaign was in full force at a North Nashville volunteer appreciation celebration this weekend to commemorate the one year anniversary of the floods that engulfed a great number of homes and businesses last year. 

Sources tell me that Karl Dean's campaign was under strict orders not to turn this event into a campaign rally, but apparently Craddock felt no such compulsion to keep politics out of these events.

You can see the footage taken by News 2 here.