Witnesses Testify on First Day of Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act Trial

The dispute over the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act went to trial Monday.

Nashville attorney Jim Roberts said he expects Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Ellen Hobbs Lyle will issue a ruling by the end of this week.

As reported, Roberts is fighting the Davidson County Election Commission to get the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act referendum on the December 5 ballot.

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Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act Trial Date Set

The dispute concerning the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act will go to trial October 26 through October 28, per the orders of Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Ellen Hobbs Lyle.

This, according to Nashville attorney Jim Roberts. As reported, Roberts is fighting the Davidson County Election Commission to get the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act referendum on the December 5 ballot. He said Commission members are playing unfair games with him and the public.

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Campaign to Pressure Davidson County Election Commission Is off, For Now

Some of the same people who collected the signatures for the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act are holding off on pressuring members of the Davidson County Election Commission.

As reported, The Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act referendum, if approved, would roll back Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s 34 to 37 percent tax increase. As reported last month, the Nashville Election Commission voted three to two to neither approve nor reject the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act. They instead passed the matter on to a chancery court to guide them on how to proceed, and also moved the “conditional” date of the election from December 5 to December 15.

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Nashville Attorney Files Suit, Tells Davidson County Election Commissioners to Do Their Jobs on Taxpayer Referendum

  A Nashville attorney filed a motion Thursday to challenge members of the Davidson County Election Commission, who still refuse to put the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act referendum on the ballot for December 5, as originally intended. That man, Jim Roberts, on Friday explained what he filed with the Davidson County Chancery Court. “It’s real simple. Governments generally have two ways that they act. They either have ministerial duties, which means they do exactly what the law says or they have discretionary duties, which means they have a lot of discretion for when they make a decision,” Roberts said. “The Election Commission’s duties — once the citizens have gathered the petitions and once the signatures have been verified — include an obligation to put it on the ballot [and it] is ministerial. They don’t have a choice. That is just what they do. They are in this position now where they don’t want to do their job. It is not really any more complicated than that. They just don’t want to do it.” Roberts said his lawsuit asks for several different types of relief, one of which asks that the court direct members of the Election Commission to put the ballot on…

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Davidson County Election Commission Provides Tennessee Code Citation It Says Allows It to Move Date of Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act Referendum to December 15

Davidson County Elections Administrator Jeff Roberts on Thursday cited the portion of the Tennessee Code that the Davidson County Election Commission says permits them to move the prospective election date for voters to say yes or no to the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act from December 5, as prescribed in the petition, to December 15, as the commission voted to do in its September 25 meeting.

Roberts responded to The Tennessee Star Thursday morning.

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Davidson County Officials Will Not Cite What Gave Them the Legal Right to Change Date for Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act Referendum

Metro Nashville officials on Wednesday still refused to cite which portion of the Tennessee Code permits them to move the prospective election date for voters to say yes or no to the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act.

They had ample opportunity to respond to The Tennessee Star’s requests for comment Wednesday.

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Davidson County Election Commission Has Not Yet Identified Section of Tennessee Code That Authorizes Change of Date for Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act Referendum

  The Davidson County Election Commission has not yet specified the section of the Tennessee Code Annotated (the most recent compilation of all of the current statutes of the state) by which it has the authority to change the “conditional date” of the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act election referendum from December 5–the date specified for the election in the petition signed by 27,000 residents of Davidson County, verified by the commission, and certified by the Metro Clerk’s Office–to December 15. The Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act referendum, if approved, would roll back Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s 34 to 37 percent tax increase. At the September 25 meeting at which the commission voted to seek a declaratory judgment from the Davidson County Chancery Court that the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act was not legally sufficient and unconstitutional, chose not to set a referendum election date of December 5, 2020, as is their ministerial duty under both Tennessee law, the Metro Charter, and Tennessee Supreme Court precedent, but instead chose to set a “conditional” election date of December 15, 2020, Davidson County Election Commission Chairman Emily Reynolds made reference to an earlier comment by Davidson County Election Administrator Jeff Roberts as to the date…

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Davidson County Election Commission Cancels Meeting: ‘Since Nothing Is Urgent at This Point in Time We Made The Decision That It Was Not Necessary to Meet’

Members of the Davidson County Election Commission have cancelled a meeting they previously scheduled for Tuesday.

This, one day after The Tennessee Star demonstrated that Metro Legal Director Bob Cooper said something incorrect at a recent Election Commission meeting.

Cooper incorrectly stated that election commissioners had more than just a “purely ministerial” role taking on the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act.

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Metro Nashville Legal Director Bob Cooper: 1949 TN Supreme Court Case Was About ‘Statewide Referendum Election Where the Constitutionality of the Referendum Was in Question’

In his testimony before the Davidson County Election Commission’s September 25 meeting, Metro Legal Director Bob Cooper cited a 1949 Tennessee Supreme Court decision, Cummings v. Beeler, as a “template” the commission could follow if it chose to accept a third option he outlined as a possible course of action– to “file a lawsuit in Davidson County Chancery Court seeking a declaratory judgment on whether the amendment should be placed on the ballot or should be rejected.”

Cooper stated the Cummings v. Beeler case was about “whether it [The Tennessee Secretary of State’s Office] could hold a statewide referendum election where the constitutionality of the referendum was in question.”

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Democrat Dictator Nashville Mayor John Cooper Defies Rule of Law, Intimidates Election Commission to Shut Down Property Tax Referendum

  The Nashville Election Commission voted three to two on Friday to neither approve nor reject the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act, but instead passed the matter on to a chancery court to guide them on how to proceed. In contrast, “the commission unanimously approved a charter amendment by [Metro Council Member At-Large Bob] Mendes, approved by Metro Council, to go on the ballot if a special election is held. The amendment, if approved by voters, would effectively override the petition initiative and reinforce the city’s existing provisions in the charter,” The Tennessean reported. As The Tennessee Star reported last month, the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act referendum, if approved, would roll back Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s 34 to 37 percent tax increase. Cooper imposed the tax increase to make up for lost revenue after he shut businesses down during the COVID-19 outbreak. The referendum would also limit property tax rate increases to 2 percent every year, unless voters specifically approved it. Cooper, as reported, opposes the referendum and wants voters to reject it. Had commissioners approved the referendum as submitted then voters would have decided during a Saturday, December 5 referendum. But on Friday, as attorney Jim Roberts predicted last week, commissioners moved…

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Attorney Warns That Mayor John Cooper and Others are Privately Seeking Ways to Sabotage the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act

Members of the Metro Nashville Election Commission met privately Friday, and at least one of the five commission members refused to say what they discussed, even though it was government business.

Nashville attorney Jim Roberts told The Tennessee Star Saturday that he suspects commission members met to discuss ways to undermine the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act. As reported last month, this referendum, if approved, would roll back Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s 34-37 percent tax increase. The referendum would also limit property tax rate increases to 2 percent every year without voters approving it. Voters are scheduled to decide during a December 5 referendum.

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Mayor John Cooper Warns the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act Will Doom the City, but Taxpayer Advocates Fight Back

Nashville Mayor John Cooper warned this week that the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act, if enacted, will disable the city, but the group that fought for it said Cooper’s time and energies are best spent helping taxpayers.

As The Tennessee Star reported last month, the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act would roll back Cooper’s 34-37 percent tax increase and limit property tax rate increases to 2 percent every year without voters approving it.

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Attorney Jim Roberts Explains What Is Happening with the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act and the City’s Fairground Litigation

Live from Music Row Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. –  host Leahy welcomed attorney Jim Roberts to the newsmakers line.

During the third hour, Roberts described the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act and gave directions on how to download and sign the petition which would but a referendum on the Metro government to stop non-core spending without a vote. Also, Roberts gave a brief rundown on the Nashville Fairground’s current lawsuit.

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Carol Swain Describes Grassroots Movement to Stop the 32 Percent Property Tax Increase Proposal

Live from Nashville, Tennessee Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.– Leahy was joined in studio by former Vanderbilt professor Dr. Carol Swain.

Towards the end of the second hour, Swain further describes elements of her recent meeting with Mayor John Cooper and notes that any Democrat mayor at this point in history is stifled by constituency groups and high levels of deep corruption. She advocated for listeners and citizens of Nashville to sign the petition for the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act.

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