Lonnie Spivak, chairman of the Davidson County Republican Party, said the Metro Nashville-Davidson County City Council should begin to discuss what its makeup would look like if a Tennessee law currently being challenged in the Tennessee Court of Appeals is allowed to take effect.
Last year, Governor Bill Lee signed SB87/HB48 into law, which requires that the governing body of a municipality or Metropolitan government “dissolve, combine, or reapportion districts or wards, as necessary, so that the number of members elected to the governing body does not exceed 20 voting members.”
The law would require that the 40-member Metro Nashville Council make the necessary changes to cap the number of elected officials to 20.
While the law was recently struck down by the Davidson County Chancery Court, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti appealed the ruling to the court of appeals, as previously reported by The Tennessee Star.
If the court of appeals reverses the chancery court’s decision, the plaintiffs—the Metro Nashville Government—may appeal the ruling to the Tennessee Supreme Court.
Spivak, noting the timeliness of the case given that Metro elections will be held in 2026, said he believes the court of appeals and state Supreme Court would expedite the case.
“[The courts] would have to expedite some of that because you’ll have to do redistricting and all that would have to be approved by the Metro Council. They have certain timelines that they have to meet as far as zoning and that kind of stuff,” Spivak explained on Friday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Spivak responded that he “hopes” the council is “laying the groundwork” to figure out what its new makeup would look like under the state law cap of 20 members.
“I hope they’re laying that groundwork because there’s a 50-50 chance right now that they’re going to lose,” Spivak said.
“We have two years until the next Metro election. So I think by early next year, we’d have to know which way this is going to go. The Metro Council, if they lose their appeal, would have to start drawing up districts and agree on what number that’s going to be because all of that has to be done and in place with enough time for the candidates to file and ballots to get out,” Spivak added.
Spivak said whichever way the Metro Council decides to go with its new makeup in terms of new districts if obligated by state law, the council would still be heavily controlled by Democrats.
“If the attorney general ends up winning on this, the makeup of the Metro Council will depend on whatever makes the most sense for the Democrats to win the most seats. That’s how it’ll end up. That’s what it is. They may decide to do 20 districts, but draw them in a way that conservatives may win one seat,” Spivak admitted.
“If you win elections, it has consequences. That’s the same with the state and their redistricting and the federal government with their redistricting. If you’re in the majority, you have the ability to draw those lines,” Spivak added.
Aside from the Metro Council makeup, Spivak discussed the importance of the case challenging the state law, explaining that if the Metro Government succeeds in its challenge, that will set a “precedent” in litigation moving forward separating Nashville from the state.
“If the attorney general loses this case to Metro Nashville, then I think it will severely limit the actions they will be able to take in the state going forward. It will limit the legislature’s ability to govern the cities because if they lose this, then they can always just run to that chancery court and say they’re violating this portion of the Constitution and there will be a precedent for it,” Spivak warned.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
THERE ARE OTHER SERIOUS GOVERNING issues that the GOP & AG should take a look at regarding Metro Government.
Since the US Supreme Court ruled on the Baker vs Carr case, the power was given to the State Legislative Branch ( the House) to draw the State & Federal District lines every 10 years based on the 10 year Census. It’s referred to as the ONE MAN..ONE VOTE Rule.
Why wouldn’t that same ruling apply to local Legislative bodies as well?
Another problem in Metro Davidson County that needs to be addressed is about their requirement for Elected Council Members to be Termed out after two terms.
The Rookies barely know who, what or how to start addressing Constituent issues, unless they maybe worked in the complicated Bureaucracy at a previous time. So with Mandatory Term Limits, the Electorate no longer gets to decide who stays & who goes, & when they go. It becomes advantageous for Mayor to select who he wants to run in a particular District, & use the abundant government resources & the adoring Media to assist in winning an election.
According to the Metro Charter ( aka governing document), the Voters were charged with the “hiring” & “firing” of their elected Representatives in Metro. That gave Voters the power to remove a Council Member who did a bad job for his District. On the other hand, if the Member did a good job, they reelected them as many terms as tgey wanted. Like any job, experience makes one more effective. Now all we have are a bunch of controlled Rookies. With Mandatory Term Limits, the People lose thier Power.
NOW you basically have the Administration selecting who they want to be elected in your District. With mandatory term limits, the Council members are LAME DUCKS from the Start. The DEEP STATE BUREAUCRATS can drag their feet on Districts, or ignore Districts based on HOW THEY VOTE in Council. Now the Council Reps become subservient to the Mayor & his cronies.
The Metro Council Members used to be able to call Department Heads directly in order to get a road or drainage problem in their District fixed. Once mandatory term limits on Council was implemented, the Mayor (Phil Bredesen at the time) issued an Executive Order requiring all calls from Council Reps to be directed through the Mayor’s Office.. That way the Mayor could decide whether the Councilmans request would be granted, that is if he voted on the Mayor’s upcoming legislation.
MANDATORY TERM LIMITS SHOULD BE REVERSED IN ORDER FOR THE VOTERS TO GET THEIR POWER BACK.
Another negative issue created by Bredesen, is he issued an Executive Order allowing Metro Employees to reside outside Davidson County. Not only does it affect the tax base, but they cannot vote for the Council that approves the budget which pays their salaries, healthcare & pensions. This may not even be legal. When you think about it, why would they work hard or even give a damn for the county they don’t live in. They cannot vote on the WEF inspired, multi-Billion Dollar “Tranportation Plan” that Mayor ( Democrat Socialist of America member) has on the November ballot.
Someone needs to look at the Constitutionality of all these issues, including Mandatory Term Limits on the Legislative branch.
METRO IS DOOMED FOR FAILURE IF THESE ISSUES ARE NOT REVERSED
THANKS
FORMER METRO BUREACRAT