Certain members of Nashville’s elite, who have a lot at stake in the upcoming mayoral race, reportedly are working hard to prop up Nashville incumbent Mayor David Briley as he seeks another term in office.
This, according to the Nashville-based NewsChannel 5 of Nashville.
“Some of Nashville’s most influential business leaders gathered at the offices of billionaire John Ingram hoping to reset the mayor’s campaign as it heads to a runoff election. We watched Friday morning as Briley and his security detail arrived outside Ingram’s Belle Meade office for a meeting of Briley’s strategic finance committee. Ingram, who hosted the meeting, is also co-owner of Nashville’s new soccer team, which is the beneficiary of a $250 million development deal with the city for a new soccer stadium,” the station reported.
“Briley supported that controversial stadium deal, and his administration helped push it through the Metro Council. Reports say it was those contentious negotiations that led Ingram and others to start a new political action committee called ‘A Better Nashville’ to support business friendly candidates.”
As reported in June, the PAC formed to influence this year’s Metro election.
Briley’s opponent in the general election, John Cooper, has questioned economic incentives, and he also voted against the Major League Soccer stadium deal.
As NewsChannel 5 reported, the recent meeting “does not appear to be related to the political action committee, A Better Nashville, despite Ingram’s ties to the PAC.”
“NewsChannel 5 saw several high profile business leaders leaving the meeting including Titans CEO Steve Underwood, Capitol View developer Jeff Haynes, of Boyle Investments and Walker Mathews, principal of RC Mathews Contractor,” the station reported.
“Also seen at the meeting were retired banking executive Ron Samuels; Turner Nashe of Innertainement Delivery Systems; Alan Thompson of Ragan Smith Associates; Chip Howorth of S+H Engineering; Matt Anderson of Greenlight Media; Jane Alvis, who runs her own public affairs company; as well as Metro’s recently retired chief operating officer, Rich Riebeling.”
As The Star reported last week, Cooper got 35 percent of the vote in the primary election as he seeks to replace Briley. Briley, meanwhile, got 25 percent of the vote, according to the Nashville Election Commission’s website.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “David Briley” by David Briley. Background Photo “Nashville City Hall” by Nicolas Henderson. CC BY 2.0.
