Summer Camps are Scary

Andrew Sullivan has a response from a reader who agrees with Glenn Beck that the idea of a youth summer camp put on by the Norwegian Labor Party is in some way "creepy" or Nazi-like:

I hate to give Glenn Beck any credence at all, but after my shock and revulsion of the massacre in Norway, both my wife and I thought it was bizarre that a political party has a summer camp. Can you ever imagine such thing in the US, and if it did exist, can you imagine how the other party would use it?

Can I imagine it? Absolutely. Meet the Teenage Republicans, who this week are scheduled to have a Teenage Leadership Conference where little conservatives from across the nation will put on their bestest Brooks Brothers suits and commiserate on how to destroy the evil liberal establishment.

Or last week, when the Young Democrats had their High School Leadership Academy to train and help connect up and coming politicos not yet old enough to vote.

Yes, young people are involved in politics...as they are in sports, religion, charity and all sorts of organizations that involve conscious forethought about something more than themselves. There is nothing creepy, disgusting, or wrong about this. We should be encouraging youth engagement in politics, not using it as a way to obfuscate or detract from the heinous mass-murder by a political ideologue who thinks his political opponents are so dangerous to him and his way of life that even the youngest among them are worthy of death.

Endorsements in 24

Earlier today Jeff Yarbro made the case for why you should vote for Sarah Tally in District 24:

I've known Sarah as a neighbor, fellow church member, and friend for almost a decade, and she's exactly the type of person that we want to see in our local government. She has already been making a difference for Nashville through her community service. Everyone who knows Sarah recognizes that she's smart, tough, and level-headed. But she also listens and looks for ways to bring people together.

Sarah has the right priorities for our world-class city. Rather than being distracted by petty politics, Sarah will focus on improving public schools, balanced growth, and building a safer community. She also has a quality that is simply indispensable on the Metro Council: She recognizes that building alliances and working collaboratively is essential to effectively representing the citizens of District 24.

Not to be outdone, Holleman has a rather lengthy list of current and former Neighborhood Association Presidents:

Jim Kelley, Richland-West End Neighborhood Association President
Bob Lyons, Whitland Area Neighborhood Association President
Svetlana Stepanovic, Sylvan Heights Neighborhood Association President
James Bristol, Woodlawn Area Neighborhood Association President
Will Johnston, Kenner Manor Neighborhood Association President
Michael Dyer, Patina Homeowners' Association President
Allen Decuyper, Richland-West End Neighborhood Association Past President
Bernard Pickney, Sylvan Park Neighborhood Association Past President
Bob Cooper, White Bridge Road Neighborhood Association Past President
Carole Kenner, Richland-West End Neighborhood Association Past President
Nathan Ridley, Cherokee Park Neighborhood Association Past President
Wendell Goodman, Sylvan Park Neighborhood Association Past President
Denise Hawkins, Whitland Area Neighborhood Association Past President
Tom Truitt, Richland-West End Neighborhood Association Past President
Steve Sirls, Richland-West End Neighborhood Association Past President
Susan Rodgers, Sylvan Park Neighborhood Association Past President
Revell Michael, Whitland Area Neighborhood Association Past President
Judy Hoskins, Sylvan Heights Neighborhood Association Park President
Nick Bailey, Sylvan Park Neighborhood Association Past President
May Dean Eberling, Lion's Head Homeowners' Association Past President

Making History With Renard Francois

Renard makes a closing case on why you should support him:

The role of an At-Large Councilman is to look at how the decisions made today will impact the entire county for years to come. As a candidate, I have talked to voters about a number of issues facing our community and consistently talked about how I will approach each issue based on three guiding principles – Accountability, Common Sense and Transparency.

When faced with a difficult decision, I will first ask myself what does common sense tell me to do – not what are special interests asking me to do. Second, I pledge to the voters that I will be transparent in the way I approach each issue – from public meetings to consistent communications with constituents. Finally, once decisions are made I will stand accountable to those on both sides of any given issue.

Thomas Jefferson once said “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” With your support and vote on August 4th, we can set Nashville on a new course. A course that provides a quality education for every child, creates economic development in every community and positions our city for future growth.

District 24 Gets Downfall Treatment

Someone using the moniker "NotJasonHolleman" has uploaded a re-subtitled version of the classic Downfall scene with Hitler in the bunker finding out he's pretty well screwed. Mentions of John Summers and Emily "Em" Evans abound...

Dean Ain't Got Nothin' On His Momma

Councilman Jason Holleman responds to all the hullabaloo about his opponent's support from the Mayor with a Youtube video of his family and friends who are working to see him re-elected:

Dean's Doin' Machine

Well, I've complained about it enough, it appears that the Dean Team is getting behind some district candidates other than just Sarah Tally.

Tanaka Vercher and Page Turner are both challenging two GOP puppets in Duane Dominy and Robert Duvall respectively, and it looks like Mayor Karl Dean is stepping up to counter-balance the coordinated efforts of the state and local Republican parties seeking to use the metro council as incubators for higher office.

Mike Byrd has the fliers, and the typical kvetching about how Vercher and Turner must be puppets of Dean and incapable of thinking for themselves if he is endorsing them (with no reference to folks like Ron Ramsey who are fervently backing Dominy and Duvall).

While I may disagree with the intense focus on punishing Holleman, I do welcome a little push-back against the GOP establishment candidates on the metro council who represent overwhelmingly Democratic districts that aren't necessarily inclined toward the tea party inclinations of folks like Dominy and Duvall.

Burkley Goes Live With TV Ad

Burkley Allen, candidate for council district 18, is the first (so far as I can tell) district candidate to come out with a TV ad for their campaign. Of course, pickings are slim in the field of candidates who could even afford such a thing, district 24 is probably the only other one.

Renard Francois Talks Up Nashville

Metro at-large candidate Renard Francois talks up Nashville as an economic force to be reckoned with in his third mini-documentary about the issues facing Nashville.



See also: Investing in the Future and Building for Tomorrow

Turnout Mixed Throughout Council Districts

As the numbers come trickling in from the election commission regarding who has voted early, an analysis of district breakdowns show that a majority of voters are coming from areas of West Nashville such as Bellevue, Belle Meade and Green Hills, along with Southwest Brentioch.  Antioch and East Nashville, along with some of the higher African-American populated districts, are showing fairly low turnout so far.

The most voters as of Saturday were in District 25 and 22, with 269 and 260 voters respectively (numbers could be slightly off because of late moves / changes).  The least excited district is 10 in Goodlettsville with Doug Pardue and Danny Turner drawing about 31 people, or .37% turnout, as of Saturday.

Overall city-wide turnout has been about 1.18% for the first two days of early voting, with no real evidence to show that the district council races are the draw to the voting booth, as uncontested seats such as 23 and 34 are drawing far more voters than East Nashville districts such as 5 and 6 with a large number of contestants. 

Follow The Cheddar

Neighborhood activist and victim of Pam Murray lawsuit, Mike Peden, has posted the 2nd quarter financial figures online, this time including some of the PAC players in Nashville.

Looking through some of the reports here are some highlights.

The Firefighters Local 140 were pretty generous, giving about $1,000 per endorsed candidate and dispersing over $52,000 in the last quarter.

Building Nashville Together, a subsidiary of the Laborer's PAC, spent roughly $20K on polling and another $10K on canvassing and mailers in districts 16, 20, 22, and 28. Which might indicate those races are deemed to be winnable based on polling.

SEIU is sitting on a cool quarter million, though I'd seriously doubt they'll be blowing that all on the metro elections.  Their biggest donation (and only) donation to a Metro candidate prior to the deadline was SEIU member Gloria Jones who is running in District 2 against Frank Harrison and DeCosta Hastings.  Jones got $4,000 from the SEIU PAC.  Their other donation was to embattled County Clerk John Arriola for $500 in May.

Buffalo PAC, a group primarily focused on supporting and advocating for African-Americans, gave $2500 to Arnett Bodenhamer (former NAACP President) and strangely enough $2,500 to Karl Dean.  Now, that might be in part because Justice Birch is such a big supporter of Dean, but you'd think a group with not so much in the resource department might be focused on helping some of the other at-large and district council candidates, especially those like Vercher and Turner going up against white Republicans in heavily Democratic districts...but hey, its their money.

The rest of the figures have been pretty well reported on, District 24 and 18 are looking to be pretty expensive.  The Davidson County Republican Party has been making donations to some candidates, including Duane Dominy and Robert Duvall.

Get With The Plan, Stan

Councilman Ronnie Steine has released a mini-documentary/campaign ad touting his involvement with the Youth Master Plan:

Steine was appointed by Mayor Karl Dean as one of three co-chairs of the community task force that developed the Child and Youth Master Plan. Steine and co-chairs Cater, now a student at the University of Tennessee, and Renata Soto, Executive Director of Conexión Américas, brought together young people, parents, and community leaders to create a plan to ensure that our children have the support and skills they need for the future.

“Focusing on the needs of children and youth in our community is my passion and my life’s work,” Steine said. “I wanted to put the Child and Youth Master Plan at the center of my campaign in a meaningful way. My television advertising focused on the plan, I speak about it everywhere I go and now we’re releasing this short film to bring even more focus to the plan,” Steine said.

Tennessean Endorsements

The Tennessean editorial board released their council recommendations yesterday, with endorsements in all but two of the metro council districts and support for the five incumbent at-large candidates.  Districts 15, occupied by unchallenged incumbent Phil Claiborne, and 30, Jim Hodge vs Jason Potts, were the two unworthy of the Tennessean's nod.  Meanwhile, in some of the contested races, the Tennessean (affectionately known as the Deanessean by some) went with Priscilla Eaton in the 5th district race to take over for Jamie Hollin.  They backed Hans Schmidt in the 6th, David Glasgow in the 18th, and Sarah Lodge Tally in her race to unseat Jason Holleman. 



View a (more or less) complete list of organizational endorsements here.

Damned Red Tape

It appears that the "Friends of the Fairgrounds," AKA the Davidson County Republican Party, have been slowed down by the Metro Election Commission because of some pesky rules requiring PACs to file name a treasurer before being allowed to spend or raise money.

Of course, they've already got a well produced mailer and youtube video which, even if done for free, would constitute an in-kind contribution. But, regardless, once they do file a Treasurer's report they'll have to list their donors on July 28th, the next filing deadline before the election, but after early voting has started.

Here is the response from the Election Commission after I inquired about whether or not a "Friends of the Fairground" back had been set up:

A follow up letter of in of inquiry will be sent to the group you have inquired about, however, an individual did come to my office to get the paperwork necessary to file. They have been told to not spend or raise anymore monies until the treasurer’s form has been filed. The group will be required to file a pre-general election report on July 28, 2011, which is the same date as pre-general for the candidates.

Won't You Be My Neighbor

The Neighborhood Defense Fund, headed by former CM John Summers of Sylvan Park, has released their list of endorsed candidates, with a heavy portion of "no endorsements," especially in East Nashville where only Bob Borzak in the 6th District got support while 5, 7, and 8 couldn't find majority support from the coalition of neighborhood activists.



View all organizational endorsements here.

Local GOP and Fairgrounds Group Wed

It seems somewhat odd if you step back and think about it, the Mayor proposes using government owned land for private industry...something that Republicans nationally have long been in favor of when it comes to national parks or wildlife preserves, and yet, here the Davidson County Republican Party has made opposition to redeveloping the fairgrounds, and the accompanying ballot initiative, a central  tenet of the metro elections.

Now, I see why this is, because the fairgrounds long ago left being an argument about urban planning or private/public use of property, and has been supplanted by class warfare, especially in regards to the racetrack proponents.  Here we have liberal elitist Karl Dean trying to swoop up good ol' working class folk land and turn it into some office park with $5 a cup coffee shops and maybe a used record store to boot.

Whether or not it should be a partisan or conservative/liberal argument is irrelevant, because it seems that is how it has turned out.  Whether this will have a dramatic impact on the election is yet to be seen.  My feeling though is that if anyone is to benefit from this it'll be Ken Jakes, who has spent more money and has more visual support around the city than the other major conservative in the at-large race, Eric Crafton, who seems to be banking more on his Bellevue supporter single-voting him into office.

Regardless, here's the list of Republicans and a couple token Democrats (oddly enough Jason Holleman is not on this list despite his successful moves to stall fairgrounds redevelopment) (via Michael Cass).



View all organizational endorsements here.

Dirty Tree Hugging Hippies Endorse

The Sierra Club has released their list of endorsements for the Metro Council. Of the endorsements of note, they dual endorsed in the 8th and 18th, and skipped 12 others with one potential endorsement pending. Nothing too terribly surprising otherwise, except maybe Republican Josh Stites in the 13th and Travis Danker in the 28th (most people have seen it as a race between Duane Dominy and Tanaka Vercher).



View all organizational endorsements here.

Haslam Apparently Makes Great Waffles

The TNDP has drawn up a report card for Gov. Bill Haslam and, as you might imagine, the results weren't great for our Republican governor.

Ain't China Grand

As Union City suffers the loss of their biggest employer, Goodyear, resulting in the loss or dislocation of nearly 1900 jobs, you would think this would be the time for that city's representative to be at home, in the district, at least giving the appearance of caring and trying to help his constituents.  If you thought that, you would not be Rep. Bill Sanderson.

No, instead of being there yesterday when Goodyear closed early, Rep. Sanderson has been off on a legislative tour of China with his son and 14 other state reps.  Luckily for us, Sanderson is blogging his way through his trip guided by "Jay-Jay or [sic] cute china-girl guide".  While mesmerized by the size and scale of the city he's in [I think Shanghai], he was impressed by how "very, very clean" the city is and how the "Chineese people are very pretty. All skinny and health concious."

On his next blog entry he notes the impressive scale of construction and marvels at how China, that communist country we've all been told to fear, has "the arts, convention centers, culture. I [don't?] see them being denied anything."  Yeah, totally, Chinese people have everything, except for those minor wants of free expression of religious and political beliefs.  Sanderson again gushes over what he has seen:

There is something to say for this economy and this government. Things run very smooth and efficient. China is nothing like I expected. From standard American eating places and hotels to the "home-grown" Chinese business, they have taken what we do and are now doing it better. I see no repression or un-happiness. Shanghai is nothing like I could have imagined.

I'm not re-posting this simply to point and laugh at what an idiot Sanderson sounds like (but, let's all pause for a moment to do just that). There are a couple underlying problems here.

1) Sanderson's view of China as the happy and prosperous mecca of cute Chinese girls is not reflective of the whole, and you would think a rural representative might understand this. Rural china, much like rural America and Sanderson's district, boasts high unemployment, a diminished quality of living, and lack of opportunities.  I would hope that as Sanderson is going through the big cities of China he pauses and asks about how the other half lives, as that might be somewhat informative to his job representing rural Tennessee.

2) From a broader political standpoint, he should understand that China hasn't grown to be the powerhouse it is by adopting a rigorous and uncompromising adherence to laissez-faire capitalism.  The Chinese government has invested in infrastructure, directed resources to growing industries, adopted environmental standards to maximize their energy usage...in other words, they live in a planned capitalist economy, not the chaotic and unregulated free for all that American conservatives seem to be advocating.  Perhaps when he comes back to America and demagogues "big government interference" he'll think back to his trip to China and understand that they aren't hand-cuffing their industry and economy to rigid utopian ideology, and perhaps neither should we.

The Hollin and Byrd Show

Councilman Jamie Hollin and blogger Mike Byrd sat down and talked metro politics on various issues, including Hollin's much talked about reaction to co-Mayor Jim Gotto and Phil Claiborne after they used a procedural maneuver to block a resolution praising high school students who got out and protested the Legislature's eventually successful efforts to block municipal governments from deciding what is included in their contracts with private parties.

Demolishing the Past or Building the Future?

The Tennessean had an article this morning about plans to "demolish" the Highland Heights turned KIPP Academy in East Nashville's 5th district.  The article reads as your traditional development vs. historical preservation debate, until the very end which states, "The building’s original gym and a classroom wing will be restored and used," as well as "preserves the existing building’s historic front entrance."

So, forgive me if I'm wrong, by rebuilding some sections and renovating others, doesn't that still constitute a renovation project and not a demolition?  I spoke with Councilman Jamie Hollin to get his thoughts on this $10 million project in his district.  While nobody could confuse Hollin as a "shill" for Dean, Hollin was nonetheless not sparing in his praise for the project and Dean's efforts to get this school building renovated and updated.  Hollin noted that in addition to needing a better school environment for the kids, this project would also bring a needed place for community meetings in the district as well as be one of the few major construction projects to be brought into the 5th.

DCYD's Celebrate Their Democratic Heritage

The Davidson County Young Democrats' annual heritage day celebration is going to be this Thursday July 14th.

The Davidson County Young Democrats are excited to honor Mayor Karl Dean at our annual Heritage Day celebration on Thursday, July 14th at 5:30 p.m.! We'll have great food, drink, and celebration as we honor our Mayor the day before early voting starts.

Take a look at the official invitation here, and please pass it along!

It's easy to go ahead and purchase tickets ahead of time, and we're eagerly looking for sponsors.

DEA Has An Addiction Problem

The Drug Enforcement Administration, after rigorous study, has found (as they have always found since its inception) that Marijuana is a scurrilous and dangerous drug that is 1) highly addictive, 2) has no known medical usage, 3) has a lack of acceptable level of safety for medical use.

In other words, people who smoke weed continue to smoke it.  Despite the fact that 90 million people live in states that have legalized the use of marijuana for medical reasons, the powers that be in the DEA still see no legitimate use for the stuff as treatments for medical problems.  Finally, because marijuana is a plant, and users control their dosage as needed, it makes it difficult to be studied in the traditional double-blind highly controlled way that medical doctors have become accustomed to.

So, Marijuana continues to remain a schedule I drug while cocaine and meth are schedule II.  Does this make sense to anyone outside of the DEA, politicians, and the rest of the prison-industrial complex?

Imagine Their Consternation, Its Easy If You Try

A group of District 24 residents are airing their grievances against Councilman Jamie Hollin Jason Holleman in a letter being sent to residents of the district. Their gripes center around a White Bridge Drive to Woodlawn Drive connector and what they perceive to be a lack of leadership from Holleman on the issue. In contrast these neighbors; Belle Newton, The Penningtons, Glenn Jones, Laura and John Cooper, Crews Johnston, and Jennie Bowman, feel that Sarah Tally will be the listener they need to represent their issues.

Of course, the 24th is no stranger to people being angry at their councilman. Prior to Jason Holleman they had John Summers, who took quite a lot of heat from neighbors over a proposed historic overlay and in protest district lawns were cluttered with pink flamingos.

But all of these issues can be hashed out tomorrow as Holleman and Tally face off for a debate/forum from 6-8PM at the Montgomery Bell Academy’s Paschall Theater. The moderator of this discussion will be Pat Nolan.

The Listening Leader

Councilman Ronnie Steine is the third at-large contestant to go up on the airwaves with a television ad, this time focusing on his work to implement and youth master plan.

“Focusing on the needs of children and youth in our community is my passion and my life’s work,” Steine said. “I wanted to raise up the Child and Youth Master Plan in a meaningful way in the course of my campaign to elevate community awareness of the importance of the document and the urgency surrounding implementation of the 14 recommended outcomes it contains.”

Teachers Back Council Candidates

The Metro Nashville Education Association has released their list of candidates backed for the Metro Council. The at-large endorsements mirrored the DCDP straw poll, with the usual three along with Viviane Wilhoite and Sam Coleman picking up support.

District council breaks a bit with the typical Democratic-union endorsements...former GOP School Board member Steve Glover got the backing of the Nashville teacher's representatives while Karen Johnson (and the rest of the district 29 candidates) were left high and dry.

Candidates Emerge To Take Torrence's Job

As Criminal Court Clerk David Torrence announces his "retirement" after his European-style leisurely work ethic came to light, candidates connected to the Metro Council are starting to emerge.

The most obvious is Michael Craddock, who unsuccessfully challenged the incumbent Torrence in last year's county primaries and lost by 31%. From what I can find, Craddock's experience for the job is __________.

The other candidate who has been floated by the press and some council members is that of Howard Gentry, the former mayoral candidate and current CEO of the Nashville Chamber Public Benefit Foundation. He's served as Vice-Mayor and as court officer and law clerk in the 1980s.

While between these two I'd certainly back Gentry and would be pleased with his appointment to the job, one has to wonder if the Council is going to do due diligence to make sure the person getting the job is well qualified, and not just the one with the most political connections.

These are rather important jobs and with the media controversies surrounding Vic Lineweaver and now David Torrence, one has to wonder if the job itself is somewhat obsolete as a highly paid elected position with few enumerated functions or daily requirements.

From my understanding, Vice-Mayor Diane Neighbors will announce the position at the next council meeting or one after, and the candidates will get polled by the Bar Association by its members and it will eventually go to the Rules Committee chaired by Councilman Adkins. What's not clear is the level of vetting, questioning or searching for well qualified applicants would be done by the council for this position, perhaps in a similar way that the Metro Election Commission held hearings to interview applicants for the Election Coordinator.

I suppose what I'm getting at is that this well paid job, which can be very important, should go to the best qualified candidate, not necessarily the one with the best relationships on the Metro Council. Howard Gentry may fit that bill, I'm less sure about Craddock, but there should at least be an appearance and attempt at some level of impartiality by the council on this matter.

Those Execs Look An Awful Lot Like Campagin Staffers...

Megan Barry joins Renard Francois on TV as the second at-large council candidate to cut an ad.



In a press release, Barry explains her re-election run. “I have enjoyed my work with my colleagues on the Metro Council, Mayor Karl Dean, and other elected and appointed officials in Nashville. Together with community leaders and the citizens of Nashville, it is critical that we continue our forward momentum as a community. That’s why I am standing for re-election.”

Realtors Announce Endorsements

Another day brings with it another round of candidate endorsements by an interest group, this time the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors (pdf). The only one that really sticks out would be that of Pam Murray, the councilwoman who was ousted in 2009 by Jamie Hollin in a special recall election, who most certainly did not threaten to sue GNAR if they didn't give her the endorsement...

Karl Dean Scores Upset Victory at DCDP Straw Poll

Last night Mayor Karl Dean stunned the crowd of assembled Democratic women and their supporters as he narrowly defeated candidates Bruce Casper and James Keeton at the Davidson County Democratic Women's picnic and the Democratic Party's straw poll hosted at the Ellington Agricultural center in South Nashville.

"We went into this event thinking we were ten points behind or more," said a campaign aide speaking on the condition of anonymity. "I think this shows that our campaign strategy and message is beginning to shine through in what we expected to be a very tough race."

Also winning at the straw poll was Councilwoman Megan Barry, who is herself both a women and a Democrat, followed by Ronnie Steine who had earlier admonished the crowd that he need not be their first choice to win, so long as he wasn't their sixth...in the end, they heeded his calling and made him their second. Jerry Maynard rounded out the list of incumbent at-large candidates, and district council members Viviane Wilhoite and Sam Coleman came in 4th and 5th respectively.

Press Release or News Article?

I've done my fair share of posting press releases before, but from what I can tell this WATE article is nothing but. While positioned as some sort of "gotcha" article about how Julia Hurley's fundraiser violated campaign finance law, it really simply serves to inform readers that.

1) Campaign contribution limits have increased from 1,000 to 1,400 per person.

2) You can give that twice per campaign cycle, once for the primary and once for the general election.

3) If you are interested in sending Hurley a contribution for this amount, here's the address!

Rising Like The Phoenix From The Ashes of its Former Self

Mayor Karl Dean has TV ad #2 coming out which focuses on their theme of Nashville Rising under his administration and after the flood:

As Woods Might Say, Biz Pigs Make Endorsements

The Nashville Business Coalition, the political arm of the Nashville Chamber, has announced their endorsements for Metro elections.  Shockingly, they endorsed Karl Dean, as well as all five at-large incumbents plus Renard Francois. 

Interestingly enough, the well-to-do power brokers snubbed some of the Republicans on the council such as Robert Duvall and Duane Dominy in favor of their African-American female Democratic challengers Paige Turner and Tanaka Vercher.  I suppose this further emphasizes the non-partisan nature of metro elections, especially in comparison to the SEIU endorsements last week.

All told, NBC endorsed in 31 out of 35 council districts, snubbing the 8th (Bennett v. VanReece), 23 (Emily Evans), 31 (Bedne v. Widrig) and 35 (Mitchell v. Jones).  Also, Sarah Lodge Tally picked up her first PAC endorsement against incumbent Jason Holleman.

View a list of all the Nashville PAC endorsements (that I could find) here.

Mayor Gotto Wins Again

Self-appointed co-Mayor Jim Gotto, along with his deputy Phil Claiborne, succeeded in halting a resolution designed to raise taxes kill babies give props to some high school students who exercised their 1st amendment rights. Jamie Hollin, a man not typically known for his reserved and deferential nature, responded:

Honorary and memorializing resolutions are for us council members to recognize someone for their civic engagement. No matter the cause or issue. No matter if it’s popular or unpopular. No matter if it’s a winning or losing cause. It’s the one limited opportunity we have to show our appreciation in a formal manner. We, as a group, recognize just about anyone for their civic participation. Moreover, it’s a professional courtesy amongst us all in recognition of our respective sacrifices in serving our constituents. I have written here in the past on how these students inspired me.

Jim Gotto and Phil Claiborne objected. Claiborne wasn’t a surprise considering his legislative prowess. Gotto was the surprise considering his years on the Council and years in age and experience. So, what did their acts accomplish? Well, let’s look and see. They both voted against BL2011-838 (3 times), they voted against the 2009 ordinance for Metro employees, and Gotto was a co-sponsor of HB 600. Same sex marriage is prohibited in Tennessee and BL2011-838 was overturned by HB 600. Homophobia has worn the war, even the last battle. And they supported it. Yeah for them! Way to go guys. You won! You won! You won!

But wait. You won the war and the battle. The only thing left for you to do was poke your finger in the eye of high school students from some of the best high schools in Nashville. Now, you’ve done that too. Congratulations! You both now have a perfect score in the category of Best Bigot. Before, I thought it was just a difference of political philosophy or public policy. Now I know you will stop at nothing to see to it that your views prevail. You couldn’t keep 21 from adopting BL2011-838, but when only 2 are needed, you’re there ready willing and able for the cause of discrimination.

And The Elephant Sat Silently

Last night folks coming to the 5th District Metro candidate forum at the East Nashville police precinct expecting some sort of fireworks were sorely disappointed as the candidates and questions posed were so deferential it sparked moderator Joe White to comment on how nice and cordial all the candidates were to one another, and at one point candidate Scott Davis got up and hugged both of his opponents.

Perhaps it might normally be a good thing for political candidates to get along, the facade last night masked what is obviously a very contentious race, and didn't at all reflect the fact that one of the candidates, Pam Murray, had sued one of her challengers and numerous people in the room for a million dollars each.

While Murray has dropped some of the defendants from her lawsuit, and today is the deadline imposed by the judge for Murray to come up with something, anything really justifying her lawsuit against Councilman Jamie Hollin and others, I can't understand how moderators and candidates didn't think it was important to discuss publicly how Ms. Murray would be able to effectively represent a district in which her constituents might be afraid of a punitive lawsuit should they criticize her.

Regardless, as for the issues discussed at the forum, all the candidates supported the Metro contractor non-discrimination ordinance that was recently overturned by state Republicans and is being challenged in court.

All of the candidates pointed to their experience and activism within the district, while Murray pointed to her years on the Metro Council as reason why she would be the best qualified to navigate the legislative process.

Of the few moments of interest, one that raised a few eyebrows was when both Pam Murray and Scott Davis said that gentrification was a good thing because it brought in new people to the district, and Murray said that she was largely responsible for this due to zoning changes she promoted. While welcoming new people into the district isn't necessarily controversial, embracing the term gentrification as a good thing probably is.

At the end of the day none of the candidates really disagreed much at all on any of the issues. If I had to rank the performances, I'd say Scott Davis and Pam Murray were both about tied, while Priscilla Eaton, a longtime neighborhood activist and victim of Murray's lawsuit, had a lackluster performance.