February 3, 2023
AS THE REPUBLICAN STATE LEGISLATURE WIDENS ITS WAR ON NASHVILLE AND METRO GOVERNMENT, MORE UNEXPECTED TURMOIL AND UNCERTAINTY ARISES AS MAYOR JOHN COOPER DECIDES NOT TO SEEK REELECTION; THE COOPER EXIT: WHY? AND WHAT HAPPENS NOW IN THE AUGUST MAYOR’S RACE? THE REPUBLICAN SUPER MAJORITY HAS WIDENED ITS WAR ON NASHVILLE AND ITS GOVERNMENT; OTHER DEVELOPMENTS ON TENNESSEE’S CAPITOL HILL; INTEREST RATES GO UP AGAIN WHILE NEW JOBS EXPLODE AND UNEMPLOYMENT GOES DOWN IN JANUARY; CONGRESS IS STILL FINDING ITS WAY; WILL WHAT HAPPENED IN MEMPHIS LEAD TO POLICE REFORM? ALL THE BEST
AS THE REPUBLICAN STATE LEGISLATURE WIDENS ITS WAR ON NASHVILLE AND METRO GOVERNMENT, MORE UNEXPECTED TURMOIL AND UNCERTAINTY ARISES AS MAYOR JOHN COOPER DECIDES NOT TO SEEK REELECTION
As has occurred with some frequency in the last few years, there was more unexpected turmoil at the Metro Courthouse this week. Mayor John Cooper has decided not to run for a second four-year term this summer, leaving the race to be the city’s top elected official wide open.
His departure also means that in the past 5-plus years (2018-2023), Nashville will have four different mayors, including whoever wins the office in August or a September runoff. For a city that for years has prided itself on the stability and continuity of its top leadership that seems to be in question.
Meanwhile, among the now growing list of potential candidates assessing whether to enter the race is Nashville At Large Councilman Bob Mendes. He is our guest on INSIDE POLITICS this week.
We, thank the Councilman for joining us again to discuss this chaotic time in Metro Nashville.
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THE COOPER EXIT: WHY? AND WHAT HAPPENS NOW IN THE AUGUST MAYOR’S RACE?
Mayor Cooper’s exit did surprise some. Take the city’s police and fire unions as examples.
Both groups endorsed His Honor for a reelection last week. Now he is not running.
But frankly, Mayor John Cooper’s decision not to seek another four years in office should not be a total surprise.
He delayed getting into both his races for Council at Large in 2015 and for Mayor in 2019.
In recent months, he has acted like a candidate, but he has refused pointedly and repeatedly, to say he would be seeking reelection. That indecision reportedly lasted until last weekend, when he made up his mind. He then told his staff Tuesday morning he wasn’t running, just hours before he summoned the media to his office to tell the public.
Why Is he leaving the mayor’s office? His comments indicate two reasons. He says he likes governing, but he says he has never liked campaigning.
The mayor also feels he has already built his legacy in one term. In fact, he says the year 2020 alone was like an entire four-year term all by itself. Indeed, what he and the city faced in those 12 months (the pandemic, the March 2020 tornado, the flash floods, the derecho storm, the summer riot downtown amid racial unrest, Metro’s serious budget issues, the 34% property tax increase, the Christmas Day bombing on Second Avenue, outlined perhaps the most difficult period this city has ever had to deal with, at least since Nashville was captured and occupied during the Civil War.
Mayor Cooper also believes what he has accomplished in his three years plus in office in the areas of schools, public safety, homelessness, redeveloping the East Bank, along with still pending projects such as the new Titan’s new roofed stadium, revitalizing the Nashville Speedway and the old Hickory Hollow Mall into a health and community mecca, will create “a platform for the next great chapter in our city's history. “
That claim may be determined by who the voters pick to follow Cooper and that list of potential candidates has grown like topsy since he announced his exit.
Among those already in the race before Cooper decided not to run, it appears Matt Wiltshire has emerged as the front-runner for now, with $1.3 million raised, and a million still in the bank. The other active candidates, councilmember Freddie O’Connell has raised $300,000 with $250,000 in the bank, while his council colleague, at-large member Sharon Hunt, who just entered the race just a few weeks ago, reports $5,200 in donations. Her campaign only spent $345 dollars leaving her $4,855 in cash on hand.
While the qualifying deadline to file papers run is not until May, the key thing to watch among those contemplating a race is who, and when, they decide to name a treasurer and begin to raise money. While filing qualifying papers is a legal requirement, you become a real candidate when you name a treasurer and begin to raise and spend money.
And if the field is as crowded as it appears it will be, raising lots of money will be very critical. For example, in 2015, the last time a four-year incumbent was not on the ballot, there were seven reasonably well-known and funded candidates, they raised and loaned themselves a record $15 million! Are we headed that way again?
The potentially large field also seems to sharply increase the odds the August vote won’t decide the race. With no one getting 50% plus one vote of the ballots cast, a runoff election between the top two finishers will occur in September.
Therefore, if you are a mayoral candidate, you likely will have to plan to run (and fund) two elections, not one.
Here’s some late-breaking information that might cause some further speculation over why Mayor Cooper decided not to seek re-election. Here are figures from his campaign disclosure report filed earlier this week:
Cooper (now an inactive candidate):
receipts this period: $130,655
disbursements this period: $166,607
balance on hand: $259, 583
It is not a good sign at all (especially for an incumbent) when you spend more money than you’ve raised. It is also not good when the funds remaining on hand ($260,000) are well less than the $1 million in the bank for Matt Wiltshire who has been emerging as the mayor’s strongest challenger.
Stay tuned. The next few weeks and months in Nashville are likely to be a very interesting, if bumpy and costly, political ride for our city.
Even if he is not running for reelection, Mayor Cooper is still our city’s top official. This week, NEWSCHANNEL5 INVESTIGATES discovered this story about a lawsuit filed against a local retirement community. Nashville Mayor John Cooper is the founder and majority owner of the development, the Heritage at Brentwood.
THE REPUBLICAN SUPER MAJORITY HAS WIDENED ITS WAR ON NASHVILLE AND ITS GOVERNMENT
Another reason this is a chaotic, challenging time for Nashville is the political war being waged by the Republican General Assembly against Nashville and its government. That conflict has widened in recent days, both ominously and significantly.
No longer is this a fight over cutting the size of the Metro Council. Again, in revenge for the city declining to host the the2024 and 2028 GOP National Conventions, state Republican lawmakers are now seeking to cut off the lifeblood funding for Nashville’s critical facilities (Music City Center) and the city’s efforts to attract conventions and tourists to Music City.
The GOP lawmakers are also seeking to take control of the city’s Airport and Sports Authority boards, critical agencies in sparking Nashville’s present and future growth.
The defunding of the Music City Center would impact additional sales tax funds, used with the hotel-motel tax, to pay off the millions in bonds to build the facility. There are questions being raised about whether this defunding might bring concerns from the bondholders of the convention center debt and their bond counsels. Might the changes also raise questions about the state’s and Nashville’s bond ratings?
Already a national financial columnist for Bloomberg News is panning the convention center legislation.
Lt. Governor Randy McNally appears to be the driving force on these anti-Nashville financial bills. I have seen hm quoted that he is not concerned the proposal will cause financial problems. But he says he is in no rush to push his bills (perhaps waiting to see if the bond markets and rating services opine differently.
The Metro Council is expressing its opposition and concern about these bills. Some showed up to express their feelings this week before the House subcommittee considered decreasing the Council’s size. Despite some concerns expressed by a non-Nashville lawmaker (the only Democrat on the subcommittee from Knoxville), the Republican Super Majority group passed the measure handily on a party-line vote. The measure now goes to the full House Cities & Counties committee next week.
At its meeting on Tuesday night, the Council will pass a resolution expressing its opposition to the anti-Nashville bills, especially because the voters of the city are not getting to have a say in approving the measures.
Despite these efforts, the political deck is stacked on the Hill to pass these bills….and quickly.
The feud between the state and Metro also includes the resumption of a road naming contest. A few years back, it irked some at the Capitol when the city renamed a portion of Charlotte Avenue (which runs in front of the Capitol) for Martin Luther King, Jr. The state responded by renaming a portion part of Second Avenue South that runs in front of the Metro Howard School Office complex in honor of former President Ronald Reagan.
Now the state wants to rename a part of John Lewis Way in honor of another former president, Donald Trump. Many council members worked hard to rename 5th Avenue for John Lewis, a noted civil rights icon who started his work in Nashville. This name change is going to push all their buttons.
And so, it goes.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS ON TENNESSEE’S CAPITOL HILL
Another piece of legislation being expedited by the Super Majority is their latest punitive attack on transgender teens and their parents. The bills were the first ones filed for this session in both houses of the General Assembly. They would ban some medical treatments for minors and passed easily in a subcommittee and a committee in both the House and Senate this week. On the fast track for sure.
Meanwhile, in a related issue, the effort continues to keep a tight lid on why Governor Bill Lee and state health officials want to end a $9 million federal grant to provide HIV treatment and services. Republican lawmakers are even blocking their colleagues from asking questions about it. That includes questions about a HIV replacement program to be paid for with state funds. Governor Lee thinks it will be better. But no one is providing any details.
It is believed the real reason the federal grant is being declined is because some of the funds are passed through the Planned Parenthood organization, a group that Republicans don’t like because of their involvement with abortion and transgender care.
INTEREST RATES GO UP AGAIN WHILE NEW JOBS EXPLODE AND UNEMPLOYMENT GOES DOWN IN JANUARY
More mixed signals for the American economy this week.
To continue to lower inflation, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates again this week. The quarter-point hike makes the cost of borrowing money the highest in almost 16 years (October 2007).
Fed officials say inflation is declining, but there is a need to do more to bring it down further and under control. There appears there could a couple of additional rate increases of the same quarter-point size later this year.
But then came the January jobs and unemployment report on Friday.
The economy added a whopping 517, 000 new jobs, a figure that is three times what was anticipated, while unemployment declined to 3.4%, the lowest level in 53 years!
While all of this is positive news, what will this unexpected surge in jobs do toward building more inflationary pressures? Will that in turn push the Federal Reserve to approve still more interest rate hikes and keep them in place longer?
CONGRESS IS STILL FINDING ITS WAY
It was another somewhat wacky week on the Hill in D.C.
Our elected representatives fought for nearly an hour in the House Judiciary Committee over the Pledge of Allegiance.
Republicans set up a special committee to investigate the “weaponization of government.” But a typo in the rules briefly gave Democrats supermajority control of the group, a snafu that was quickly corrected.
After looking like GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy did not have the votes to remove Democratic Representative Ihan Omar (Minn) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he negotiated with enough members of his caucus to win her removal on a narrow party-line vote Thursday. This is the new Speaker’s first political win.
The rationale to remove the Congresswoman was comments she made some months ago criticizing Israel (for which she has apologized). But the political reason for the move was to get even with Democrats for expelling from committees some Republican members (Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar a couple of years ago.) This vengeance was one of the concessions McCarthy made to win the support he needed to become speaker.
On the Senate side, Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he has no hard feelings when two of his colleagues, Senators Rick Scott (KY) and Mike Lee (UT) tried to oust him from his leadership post.
Maybe so. But remember when you challenge your leader, you better prevail or you might lose a committee post, which is exactly what has happened.
Elsewhere in Washington, there was more posturing on the debt ceiling controversy. President Joe Biden and House Speaker McCarthy reportedly had nice meeting but no common ground for a solution was found. The President says raising the ceiling is not negotiable. Speaker McCarthy says to raise the ceiling requires spending although he won’t identify what they should be.
With the nation, for the first time, defaulting on its current debts as soon as June, some Democrats in the House are looking a discharge petition to bring a final solution to the floor before it is too late.
Then there are a group of female government leaders in Washington banding together to find a solution to the debt ceiling.
But given the way Congress always handles matters like this, it will likely be in June, within hours of any final deadline, to see this matter resolved. But will Congress avoid waiting too long as it did in 2011, and causing our bond rating to be lowered, a mistake taxpayers are still paying for today?
WILL WHAT HAPPENED IN MEMPHIS LEAD TO POLICE REFORM?
In the wake of the beating death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police, I even read a WALL STREET JOURNAL columnist this week, admitting there is a need for police reform, at least in some American cities.
When the hard-to-watch videos of the assaults were released last Friday night, the pleas for peaceful protest and no violence were followed all over the country.
But while more Memphis officers and EMTs were removed from their duties this week, as multiple investigations continue, the pleas for action on police reform rose even more, especially during Nichols' funeral on Wednesday.
There was a minster-led meeting in Nashville on Thursday night and a Democratic member of the Nashville state legislative delegation has filed legislation along with other Democrats.
Because the Democrats hold so few seats in the General Assembly, and so far, there does not appear there is any Republican support, chances for passage of anything on this topic are very slim.
On the national level, a police reform measure named in honor of another victim of deadly police violence, George Floyd, came close to passage in 2021. It fell short due to a lack of Republican support in the Senate to overcome a filibuster. Despite the outcry over Tyre Nichols, the situation still looks unchanged.
One major roadblock is the limited liability law enforcement officials receive in cases like this.
ALL THE BEST
Prayers and best wishes to Tennessee’s First Lady, Maria Lee as she undergoes a bone marrow transplant as her next step in treating lymphoma cancer.
