On the heels of At-Large Metro Nashville Council member, mayoral candidate, and progressive Erica Gilmore’s bombshell announcement Monday morning that she no longer supports “Let’s Move Nashville,” the $9 billion dollar transit plan proposal on the ballot before Nashville voters on May 1, fellow mayoral candidate, conservative Carol M. Swain lauded the decision, saying she was “very pleased that Erica Gilmore has changed her mind” and will now vote against the costly – and controversial – measure.
“I am very pleased that Erica Gilmore has changed her mind from supporting the Barry-Briley Transit Boondoggle to joining me and others in seeing the wisdom in opposing it,” Swain said in a statement, adding:
I am voting NO.
I am confident that as Nashvillians look more closely at this costly scheme that won’t repair our roads or relieve our traffic congestion, they will come to the right answer, just like my friend Erica has done.
Swain and Gilmore – along with nine other candidates – are running to be the next Mayor of Nashville in the upcoming special election to replace disgraced former mayor Megan Barry. Barry resigned in early March after it was learned she used taxpayer monies and the resources of the Mayor’s office to carry on and them cover up a years-long affair with her security chief, Rob Forrest. The former mayor pleaded guilty to a felony on the morning of her resignation.
Acting Mayor David Briley was sworn in the day Barry resigned.
Briley is a declared candidate for mayor in the special election and has declared his support for the $9 billion transit tax plan. Last week, Briley announced that he has raised $400,000 in the first three weeks of his campaign.
The Metro Nashville election commission deemed the date of the special election to be August 2. However, that date is in dispute after mayoral candidate Ludye Wallace sued, saying that a plain-reading of the law requires the date be either May 1 or May 26.
What a class act! It sounds like Dr. Swain is exactly to kind of person that Nashville and America needs to get everybody on the same side. A Uniter-in-Chief