CAPITOL VIEW
By Pat Nolan, NEWSCHANNEL5 Political Analyst
October 20, 2023
INSIDE POLITICS LOOKS AT THE TWO BIGGEST ISSUES THAT ARE DOMINATING THE NEWS; THE DISCORD BETWEEN NASHVILLE AND THE STATE CONTINUES TO CREATE CROSS CURRENTS; THE FIRST POLL OF THE 2024 TENNESSEE U.S. SENATE RACE; WHAT THE NUMBERS SHOW; A SIGNIFICANT PLEA DEAL IN THE TRUMP ELECTION CASE IN GEORGIA: BIZARRE TO THE END
INSIDE POLITICS LOOKS AT THE TWO BIGGEST ISSUES THAT ARE DOMINATING THE NEWS
This week on INSIDE POLITICS, we focus on the two stories that have dominated the news the past couple of weeks.
One is the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that threatens to expand to other parts of the Middle East.
Our other focus is the shutdown of the U.S. of Representatives in Washington because the Republican majority, for the second time this year, can’t find a Speaker of the House to run the body. That is creating several major challenges both nationally and internationally for our nation as the stalemate is headed into its third week with no solution or end in sight.
Vanderbilt History and Political Science professor Dr. Thomas Schwartz is our guest to discuss these two issues, which in some ways are intertwined.
It is always great to have Dr. Schwartz join us!
Our conversation will air on the regular weekend schedule for INSIDE POLITICS on NEWSCHANNEL PLUS.
Those times include:
7:00 p.m. Friday.
5:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
1:30 a.m. & 5:00 a.m. on Sunday.
THE PLUS is on Comcast Cable channel 250, Charter Cable channel 182, and on NEWSCHANNEL5’s over-the-air digital channel 5.2. We are also on DISH TV with the rest of the NEWSCHANNEL5 NETWORK.
One option for those who cannot see the show locally, or who are out of town, you watch it live with streaming video on NEWSCHANNEL5.com. Just use your TiVo or DVR, if those live times don't work for you.
This week’s show and previous INSIDE POLITICS interviews are also posted on the NEWSCHANNEL5 website for your viewing under the NEWSCHANNEL5 PLUS section. A link to the show is posted as well on the Facebook page of NEWSCHANNEL5 PLUS. Each new show and link are posted early in the week after the program airs. I am also posting a link to the show each week on my Facebook page.
THE DISCORD BETWEEN NASHVILLE AND THE STATE CONTINUES TO CREATE CROSS-CURRENTS
When Nashville took its case to court recently as a part of four different lawsuits about new state laws that Metro says are an unconstitutional overreach, the city argued that, besides the state taking over our International Airport (which they have no experience of how to do), the new law also gives them pretty broad land use development and zoning powers, not just in and around the airport but also in the flight paths all over the county.
While the state downplays all this, Metro says it is an unprecedented power grab that only applies to Nashville. That violates the Home- -Rule provision of the Tennessee Constitution and therefore is unconstitutional.
There are three other similar lawsuits in the courts over the size of the Metro Council and control of the city’s Sports and Tourism Commissions. They are major impediments to repairing the fractured relationship between our state and local governments.
Regardless, there are many areas where Metro and the State work well together. That includes the new Broadway Bridge Viaduct, which was fully reopened this week after a major renovation. The Bridge is a major access point in and out of the downtown. With new Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell in attendance, he and Governor Bill Lee traded compliments and indicated they could meet together, as soon as next week, to talk more about the city-state relationship.
The city and state are also cooperating in a potential relocating of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center from downtown near the State Capitol to the redeveloping East Bank. The State Building Commission has approved $200 million in state money towards the project if TPAC officials can raise $10 million on its own, and if it can overcome concerns that the new performing arts center will cut back on the number of affordable housing units being built on the East Bank.
But there are still areas of concern between Metro and the state. Some members of the new Metro Council are still unhappy with the state legislature’s refusal to reform gun laws. That was part of an extended debate Tuesday night before the body approved a $3.4 million state grant to help pay for Resource Officers in every Middle and High School in Davidson County. The matter had been deferred twice by the previous Council as well as by the new Council at its first meeting two weeks ago. Some council members want the debate to continue.
At the same meeting, the Council confirmed Mayor O’Connell’s choices to be Finance Director and Legal Director, positions considered historically to be the most important in his cabinet. Both Finance Chief Kevin Crumbo and Legal Director Wally Dietz have previous experience in their posts during the administration of former Mayor John Cooper.
Another issue from the previous Council seems ready to resurface. It’s license plate readers. Last year, the Council approved a six-month trial of the heralded crime-fighting tool. But opposition in the Council continued with some progressive lawmakers saying the readers are an invasion of privacy and unfairly target minorities. After a long debate, the last Council voted to make the license plate reader program permanent and expand it county-wide.
But the details to do that are not yet approved, even though the readers used for the six-month trial program remain in place. The readers are not being used, although I have seen a sign at the White Bridge Road and Charlotte Avenue intersection that says they are working.
To clear up any confusion, there will be an ordinance on second reading at the next Council meeting on November 7 to remove the readers until the new permanent reader system and their locations are approved. But will the vote to approve this bill (it will take a 21-vote majority for final approval on third reading) act as a test vote for continued support for the license plate program, especially after more progressive members were elected to the Council this summer?
THE NASHVILLE BANNER has an interesting deep dive on the matter.
THE FIRST POLL OF THE 2024 TENNESSEE U.S. SENATE RACE
Despite the impressive fundraising numbers announced by Tennessee Democratic State Representative Gloria Johnson in her race next year to defeat Republican Marsha Blackburn from being re-elected to the U.S. Senate, the uphill fight Johnson faces seems very apparent based on the release of the first public poll.
Johnson is down 24 points with perhaps the only rays of hope in the numbers is that a quarter of those responding say they are undecided while Marsha Blackburn, a long-time state and national political figure does not show support of above a majority of those surveyed. In fact, she is receiving exactly 50% of those surveyed saying they support her.
WHAT THE NUMBERS SHOW
There are a couple of recent items in the news that ought to catch your attention. First, there is a study from Vanderbilt University that findsthe State of Tennessee ranks 49th in the nation in helping struggling families and children.
A legislative committee is studying whether Tennessee each year ought to refuse to take billions of dollars in federal education funds. We would be the first state in the Union to do that. Republican leaders say declining the funds is a good idea because they have too many strings attached. Lawmakers have been vague in describing exactly what strings bother them. But advocates for disabled children, who now receive some of those federal funds, are wary of this change.
Finally, according to state tax collection numbers, some counties (Davidson, Sevier, and Williamson) are providing the state over twice the amount of sales tax compared to what the state sends them back.
So explain to me again why the state’s contributions to Nashville’s public schools have been FLAT the last few years!!??
A SIGNIFICANT PLEA DEAL IN THE TRUMP ELECTION CASE IN GEORGIA
Sidney Powell, one of the key lawyers advising former President Trump that he won the 2020 presidential election, has accepted a plea bargain deal concerning charges brought against her and 17 others, including former President Trump, to try and overturn the election results in Georgia which President Biden won. Sidney Powell is pleading guilty to lesser charges (misdemeanors) and she has been placed on probation with no jail time. She will pay fines, and restitution and will write a letter of apology to the citizens of Georgia. Powell has also agreed to testify truthfully about what she knows about the other co-defendants, including the former President.
Will there be other plea deals coming in the weeks and months to come? I seriously doubt that happening with Mr. Trump, but this is clearly a potential bombshell in this Georgia case, that may have similar impacts in the broader Justice Department case against many of the same people including Mr. Trump, now pending in federal court in Washington.
Stay tuned!
BIZARRE TO THE END
The Franklin mayoral race of Alderman Gabrielle Hanson has been quite a strange one.
As Early Voting ended this week on Thursday, and Election Day is set for next Tuesday (October 24), the controversial Hansen continues to use her ties to Neo-Nazis, white racists, and Holocaust deniers to build her support.
Early Voting numbers have been off the charts. Up to 15% of Franklin voters have already cast ballots. Four years ago, in the last mayoral election, the turnout was just 3%. What might that mean?
Some fear it is the rise of Christian nationalism with Franklin at the center of a political effort being watched nationwide.
In another bizarre development, campaign signs for Hanson were illegally put on city property, then removed, but not before photos of the signs were taken, and then placed on social media.
A very strange election even into its final days.
