Tag: David Briley

Carol Swain Considers Whether to Run a Second Time for Nashville Mayor

Chris Butler

Former Nashville mayoral candidate Carol Swain might run for mayor of Nashville again. But put heavy emphasis on the word “might.” Swain said it all depends on how much money she raises. Swain announced on her Facebook page Monday she’s only considering a run and nothing is definite. But she has already filed the Appointment of Treasurer, which permits her to start raising money. The race is scheduled for Aug. 1. The filing deadline for the race is May 16. “We must raise substantial money before I feel comfortable officially announcing. If we fail to reach our preliminary fundraising goal, all early donations will be returned,” Swain said on Facebook. “Please note you don’t have to live in metropolitan Nashville to contribute to my campaign. What happens in Nashville doesn’t stay in Nashville. It affects every city and town in the state and ultimately the entire nation.” Swain, of course, ran for mayor last May in a special election to fill out the remaining term of disgraced former mayor Megan Barry. According to Ballotpedia, she lost that election to then-interim Mayor David Briley. Briley got 54 percent of the vote, while Swain got 23 percent. Last time around, Swain told…

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Metro Nashville Promises to Pay For Non-Tuition Expenses For Select Technical, Community College Students

Jason M. Reynolds

Nashville is launching a new scholarship to make higher education completely free for some students, Nashville Public Radio says. Nashville GRAD — or Getting Results by Advancing Degrees is one of the first local government efforts in the nation to target non-tuition expenses, and it will help students at two colleges in Nashville beginning fall 2019. Those colleges are Nashville State Community College (NSCC) and TCAT-Nashville, NewsChannel 5 said. The program will work with Tennessee Promise for graduating high school seniors and Tennessee Reconnect for adults, both of which waive tuition for community and technical schools, NPR said. A recent study by the Tennessee nonprofit Complete Tennessee found even though tuition is covered through these programs, many low-income students still struggle to complete their degrees because they can’t afford textbooks, transportation and certifications, says Indira Dammu, education policy advisor for Nashville Mayor David Briley. Reports conflict on when the program will begin. NewsChannel 5 said Fall 2019. The mayor’s office says Spring 2019. The program will be handled through a fund that will include an annual commitment from Metro Government and, at full implementation, will serve more than 3,000 students annually, NewsChannel 5 said. Briley committed to including up to $1…

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Nashville Police May Get New Community Oversight Board

Chris Butler

Nashville Mayor David Briley does not plan to fire Police Chief Steve Anderson. Additionally, a November referendum calling for a community oversight board over Nashville police is apparently still a go. This, despite the members of the Nashville Fraternal Order of the Police expressing disapproval with the proposal. According to U.S. News & World Report, members of the group Nashville Organized for Action and Hope want Briley to fire Anderson after the July killing of Daniel Hambrick. In that case, a video camera recorded a Nashville police officer, Andrew Delke, shooting Hambrick in the back as he ran away from him. Delke said Hambrick had a gun but he wouldn’t drop it. According to NOAH’s website, a coalition of different community organizations and labor unions in Nashville make up the organization. Briley’s spokeswoman Judith Byrd gave The Tennessee Star the mayor’s written statement on Anderson. “The chief has agreed to work with us on the policing project, and I have his full cooperation in identifying ways to better police the community. I have his commitment to see this through.” Nashville FOP spokesman James Smallwood told The Star in an emailed statement that Anderson should stay. “While the FOP and Chief…

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Nashville Metro Council Member Steve Glover Complains of Threats . . . From the Mayor

Chris Butler
Steve Glover

A Nashville Metro Council member is tasked with challenging the mayor and holding him or her accountable, when needed, but current council members evidently don’t hold that kind of sway. At least not now. That’s because current Mayor David Briley makes threats, said Metro Council Member Steve Glover. “In this city, we get threatened all the time by the administration. If you don’t vote this way then we (the mayor’s office) will not do something for you,” Glover told The Tennessee Star. “I got $500,000 to start doing improvements on Central Pike under the Karl Dean Administration. You tell me. Do you see anything starting out there yet? You will not. I’m not going to throw other council members under the bus. I know they get threatened all of the time. We hear ‘If you don’t support me then I’m not going to make this project happen for you in this district. I’m good at withholding the money on this or that. I have the money to do these projects.’” Glover said he will not work that way. As reported, Glover has spoken out against Briley, including, most recently, the way he planned for a Major League Soccer stadium. No…

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Nashville Mayor David Briley to Run for Full Term in 2019

Chris Butler

Nashville Mayor David Briley announced Tuesday he’s running for reelection. What’s uncertain is who and how many people will oppose him. The Tennessean floated names such as at-large council member John Cooper, real estate executive Bill Freeman, and council member Steve Glover. No one in Briley’s office returned The Tennessee Star’s request for comment Tuesday. Cooper, in an email, told The Star he has no timeline. “Am listening to people to decide what to do,” Cooper said. “Our financial situation will be the big issue for next year and the years to come.” When reached Tuesday, Glover, a Republican, said he has no interest in running for mayor, but he is interested in running for an at-large council position. “It would be a challenge for a Republican to be elected as the mayor. It would be a hard fight for a Republican to be elected in this city, but I do believe a conservative Republican could be elected for an at-large seat and if we sit down and work we can get conservatives,” Glover said. “I don’t care if you’re Republican, independent or Democrat, we need conservatives on the council on this next go-round that will sit down and say…

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Nashville Metro Council Member Glover: Voters Don’t Want More Taxes for More ‘Stupid Stuff’

Chris Butler
Steve Glover

Nashville Mayor David Briley and many members of the Metro Council, as a collective, act as though the 2011 referendum on the Nashville Fairgrounds never happened, said Metro Council member Steve Glover. As reported, if all the shiny details get finalized, a Major League Soccer stadium will likely go up on that property. But there’s that one little problem — dating back to 2011. There was a referendum that year where voters, by a margin of 73 percent, said to just leave the fairgrounds alone, as is. But Metro officials act as though it’s OK to ignore the voters’ wishes and do their own thing, Glover said. “This is something people need to understand. The MLS didn’t come to us and say ‘We need to be at the fairgrounds.’ This was Megan Barry’s administration who said ‘We want this, and this is where you will go. You will go here,’” Glover said. “The administration basically told the people of Nashville ‘We don’t care what you voted for. This is what we’re going to do.’” None of Glover’s 39 colleagues returned messages seeing comment Thursday, and neither did anyone from current Mayor David Briley’s office. For their part, Metro officials think…

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Metro Council Member: Nashville Taxes Go Up if Unions Get Their Way

Chris Butler
Steve Glover

A Nashville Metro Council member says if members of various labor unions get their way on the proposed Major League Soccer stadium then Davidson County residents could see a tax increase. Metro Council member Steve Glover said that’s why it’s past time for city officials to tighten their finances and focus only on the essentials. Glover made his remarks to The Tennessee Star one day after several of his colleagues held a press conference with members of the group Stand Up Nashville to demand certain benefits. That happens through what is called a Community Benefits Agreement. A similar agreement in Cincinnati appeared to require only MLS resources. Whether the proposed Nashville agreement involves the taxpayers stepping in or whether it’s all on MLS officials to accommodate their demands with their own resources is unclear. But if taxpayers get involved then the ramifications of that, according to Glover, are a no-brainer. “There is no other way to do it, other than to raise taxes,” Glover said. According to their website, Stand Up Nashville is a coalition of community organizations and labor unions. This groups wants Metro officials to build the proposed new Major League Soccer stadium in the city — but they…

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OFF THE RECORD: Moonbeam’s Husband Bruce Hangs the Barry Albatross Around Briley’s Neck

Chris Alto

Bruce Barry, Vanderbilt professor and cuckold of felon former Mayor Moonbeam Megan Barry, tried helping David Briley’s no-energy campaign for mayor with a column in the Nashville Scene on Tuesday. If elected, Briley will continue Moonbeam’s, big government, progressive policies and insider dealings administration. In that typical long-winded way ultra-liberal elitists pontificate, Barry-the-Briley-surrogate launched an irrelevant attack on Nashville mayoral candidate Carol Swain wherein Bruce tries to prove that Swain misused a single word and he can see that needle in the haystack. What we do know about Bruce the Goose is that he was good for at least two years of turning the other cheek while Moonbeam traveled internationally  with her bodyguard and did those early morning cemetery meditation sessions with the same bodyguard. But during that entire time Moonbeam never ever once misused a single word. She just didn’t mean most of them. Even when she was lying to everyone around her – except of course not to her staff who arranged her travel and approved the bodyguard expenses on behalf of Chief Anderson. But according to Bruce, Carol Swain misused a single word – a red flag that Bruce warns is a red flag that Ph.D. Swain is incompetent.…

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Cha-Ching! Metro Nashville Council Members Want to Hike Property Tax Rate by 16 Percent

Jason M. Reynolds

Nashville property owners may be carrying lighter wallets soon as some members of the council want to raise property tax rates by 50 cents. Councilman Bob Mendes has proposed the tax hike as a way to pay for government employee cost-of-living raises and for schools and make up a budget shortfall, NewsChannel 5 reports. He wants the bill to come forward next week and pass before the Memorial Day weekend. Councilwoman Sharon Hurt and Councilman Bill Pridemore have backed Mendes’ plan, The Tennessean reports. The plan would raise the combined property tax rate in the Urban Services District from $3.155 to $3.655 per $100 of assessed value, a 15.9-percent hike, and the General Services rate by 49 cents from $2.755 to  $3.245. A home appraised at $250,000 in the Urban Services District would pay about $319 more per year in property taxes. Mendes’ justification is that last year Metro lowered the rate to a low of $3.15 following a reassessment, NewsChannel 5 said, and added Nashvillians would want to honor the city’s obligations. The council has made budget mistakes that have lead to the problem and will study across-the-board budget cuts next year. The budget must be approved before July 1. Mayor…

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Diane Black: Passing the $9 Billion Nashville Transit Plan Will Hurt The Tennessee Economy

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Diane Black discusses the transit plan

In a weekend interview with WSMV, Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06), a candidate for the GOP nomination for governor, said that in her opinion, passage of the $9 billion transit plan up for a public vote on Tuesday would hurt the Tennessee economy. “It would cause the cost of living to go up substantially, and you know who this hurts? And do you know who this hurts? The low-income folks,” Black said. Today, the Volunteer State boasts some of the lowest tax burdens in the nation, which many economists point to as the reason  why people from across the country are choosing to relocate here. But Black warns all that could change should the transit proposal pass. “Why would we want to do something that would cause the taxes to be the number one highest tax of any city in the entire country?” she asked rhetorically. A decade ago, voters in California passed a similar measure, with the goal to better connect the northern and southern cities in the state. However, delays, poor planning, and budget overruns have increased costs to taxpayers seven-fold. “California has their transit system – it started out ten years ago at $10 billion,” Black noted. “It’s now over $70,…

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New Poll on Nashville Mayoral Election Shows David Briley Below 50 Percent, Carol Swain in Second Place

Tennessee Star Staff

A new Tennessee Star Poll first reported by host Brian Wilson on 99.7 FM WTN’s Nashville’s Morning News on Monday morning shows that Acting Mayor David Briley has a large lead over former Vanderbilt professor Carol Swain, who is currently a distant second, but that he is substantially below the 50 percent mark he needs to reach in the May 24 election to avoid a runoff election. When asked “If the election was held today, who would be your choice for Mayor of Nashville?” poll respondents answered as follows: 43 percent said Acting Mayor David Briley 9 percent said former Vanderbilt professor Carol Swain 7 percent said former radio talk show host Ralph Bristol 5 percent said Metro Council Member At-Large Erica Gilmore 3 percent said State Rep. Harold Love 1 percent said Jeff Obafemi Carr 32 percent said they were undecided The Tennessee Star Poll of 607 likely voters in Nashville/Davidson County was conducted by Triton Research over a two day period between Thursday, April 12 and Friday, April 13 in an automated telephone (IVR) survey and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. If no candidate has more than 50 percent of the vote on May…

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WTN’s Brian Wilson to Break Story with Results of Poll on Nashville Transit Plan at 7:05 AM This Morning

Tennessee Star Staff

Brian Wilson, host of 99.7 FM WTN’s Nashville’s Morning News, will break a story on the results of a new Tennessee Star Poll on the Nashville Transit Plan that is on the May 1 ballot for approval or rejection by Nashville/Davidson County voters at 7:05 a.m. this morning, Monday April 16. You can listen to today’s broadcast of Nashville’s Morning News here. The Tennessee Star has provided these results to Wilson on an exclusive basis prior to the publication of the full details of the poll in The Star at 7:30 am. The Tennessee Star Poll, conducted over a two day period between April 12 and April 13, will be the first poll to give details of attitudes among likely voters in Nashville/Davidson County about the merits of the $9 billion transit plan whose fate they will determine at the ballot box on May 1. The long, twisting road to the May 1 Nashville/Davidson County voter referendum began in January of 2017, when Gov. Bill Haslam introduced the IMPROVE Act to purportedly fund road construction in the state by increasing the gas tax by 6 cents per gallon and the diesel fuel tax by 10 cents per gallon. Tucked away…

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Nashville Mayoral Candidates React to Tennessee Supreme Court Decision to Move Special Election Date Up to May

Tennessee Star Staff

Several of the 14 candidates who will be on the ballot in the special election for Mayor of Nashville reacted on Tuesday to the news that the Tennessee Supreme Court has decided that the date of the election should be set between May 21 and May 25, rather than on August 2 as previously determined by the Davidson County Election Commission. “The Supreme Court has ruled, and I’ll be ready for the election,” Acting Mayor David Briley said in a statement, Fox 17 reported. “I appreciate all the support I’ve already received, and I’m looking forward to a strong campaign over the next six weeks,” Briley added. “Congratulations to Chief Justice Bivins and the Tennessee Supreme Court for its unanimous decision upholding the rule of law in Tennessee,” former Vanderbilt professor Carol Swain, who earlier in the day received the endorsement of conservative author and film maker Dinesh D’Souza for her candidacy for Mayor of Nashville, said in a statement. “I especially applaud former NAACP President Ludye Wallace for his courage and leadership on this critical matter,” she added. “We the People can individually and collectively ‘Be the People’ who change colonies, states, and nations,” Swain noted. At-Large Metro Council member…

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Game On: Erica Gilmore’s Entry Into Special Election for Mayor of Nashville Means Front Runner David Briley Not a Shoo-In

Tennessee Star Staff
Erica Gilmore runs for Nashville Mayor

Nashville Metro Council Member At-Large Erica Gilmore’s announcement on Wednesday that she is a candidate for Mayor of Nashville in the special mayoral election was greeted with a polite but terse acknowledgement from the campaign of the only other credible candidate currently in the race, Acting Mayor David Briley. “We welcome Councilwoman Gilmore to the race,” was all Hannah Paramore, Briley’s campaign treasurer, had to say about Gilmore in a statement issued after her announcement. Paramore went on to tout Briley’s qualifications for the job he temporarily holds, but wants to make more permanent: In just a few short weeks, David Briley has brought focus to the job of managing the city, tackling challenges and making progress on opportunities that will benefit all of Nashville. He has delivered a steady, guiding hand when it was needed to regain public confidence. David Briley is the right person to lead our city, and I am confident that the widespread support that is rapidly forming behind David will result in his winning the special election.” Briley is considered the front runner in the race, thanks in part to the backing of much of the Nashville business community, and his greater ability to raise money. Few political observers…

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Briley Promises More of the Same Support for ‘Progressive’ Politics, Including $9 Billion Transit Plan

Jason M. Reynolds

Megan Barry, the public face of the proposed $9 billion light rail transit plan may be gone from office, but don’t expect the issue to die. The Metro Nashville Democratic mayor resigned in disgrace March 6 after pleading guilty to felony charges following the revelation of her extra-marital affair with her chief bodyguard, former police Sgt. Rob Forrest. The Tennessean reports that new Mayor David Briley has also been a staunch supporter of the light rail transit plan, which is set for a May 1 referendum. The newspaper calls him a progressive liberal Democrat who has long wanted to be mayor. The newspaper says, “In the weeks ahead, he will take the torch on Barry’s May 1 transit referendum on raising four taxes to pay for a $5.4 billion transit plan with light rail.” The Tennessean uses the $5.4 billion estimate, the figure transit supporters like to throw around. NewsChannel 5 reported that after Briley was sworn in, he said he plans to hold a series of town hall meetings to talk about a variety of issues — including transit, which he called his first priority. “It’s the most important thing that is confronting our city right now and I’m committed to working…

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Nashville Business Coalition: Let’s All Support David Briley and Not Have A Contested Election to Select a New Mayor in August

Tennessee Star Staff

Nashville Business Coalition (NBC) asked on Wednesday that residents of Nashville forego the opportunity to choose among competing candidates in the special election to select a mayor to serve out the remaining year of former Mayor Megan Barry’s term in August. On Tuesday, Vice Mayor David Briley was sworn in as Mayor of Nashville after former Mayor Megan Barry resigned in disgrace after pleading guilty to a felony. “The business coalition, which operates a political action committee, wasted little time after the resignation of former Mayor Megan Barry on Tuesday to get behind Briley, voting Wednesday morning to back the former vice mayor,” The Tennessean reported on Wednesday morning. The Tennessean also reported these comments from NBC’s chair of the board of directors, Nancy Stabell: “We encourage all qualified candidates to give the voters of this great city ample opportunity to do what they have done so very well over the last quarter century — elect a great mayor,” said Nancy Stabell, the coalition’s chair. “We simply don’t believe that there is sufficient time between now and the August special election to allow voters that opportunity. “Additionally, continuity of leadership over the next 18 months is absolutely critical to sustain Nashville’s success, and…

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Attorney: August 2nd Davidson County Mayoral Election Date Would Violate State Law

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In the wake of the resignation of Nashville Mayor Megan Barry on March 6, 2018, a special election to fill the balance of her term is required by Tennessee law. Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) Section 2-14-102 establishes the timing and procedure for scheduling a special election in the event of a vacancy in a municipal office such as Mayor of Nashville: (a) Special elections shall be held not less than seventy-five (75) days nor more than eighty (80) days after the officer or body charged with calling the election receives notice of the facts requiring the call. An election for an office shall be held on the same day in every county in which it is held. (Emphasis added.) (b) (1) If it is necessary to hold a special election to fill a vacant seat in the United States house of representatives, a vacancy in a county office, or a vacancy in any municipal office, and the date for such election, as established under subsection (a), falls within thirty (30) days of an upcoming regular primary or general election being held in that district, the governor, or the county election commission, as specified in § 2-14-103, may issue the writ…

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