CAPITOL VIEW
By Pat Nolan, NEWSCHANNEL5 Political Analyst
May 26, 2023
THE DEBT LIMIT STALEMATE IS HEADED DOWN TO THE WIRE; THE METRO ELECTION FIELD IS SET AS THE CAMPAIGN SEASON BEGINS ITS TRADITIONAL MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND START; THE LATEST COURT AND LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS ON THE COVENANT WRITINGS, THE DRAG BAN LAW, DEMISE OF METRO COMMUNITY OVERSIGHT BOARD AND A POTENTIAL SUIT ON THE AIRPORT AUTHORITY; PHIL WILLIAMS AND HIS REVEALED SERIES TELLS IT LIKE IT IS; THE THIRD GRADE READING LAW HAS BECOME THE DEBACLE STATE LAWMAKERS WERE WARNED WOULD HAPPEN; AFTER 32 YEARS OF BUILDING NASHVILLE INTO A WORLD CLASS CITY FOR TOURISTS, EVENTS, MEETINGS AND CONVENTIONS, BUTCH SPYRIDON GIVES AN EXIT INTERVIEW ON INSIDE POLITICS;
THE DEBT LIMIT STALEMATE IS HEADED DOWN TO THE WIRE
With a potential deadline possibly looming less than a week away (June 1) for the United States to default on its debts for the first time ever, officials of both parties in Washington (President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy) are vacillating between expressing optimism an agreement will be reached to extend the nation’s debt limit, but then admitting no agreement is close.
Having seen this political theatre before, especially during a similar crisis in 2011, the financial markets have been slow to panic even though such a default could be a catastrophe for the nation and the world.
But with Congress now gone on its Memorial Day recess until next week, the rating services are taking steps towards downgrading the nation’s credit rating if a solution isn’t found soon.
And as the holiday weekend begins, there is word a two-year agreement is in the works with final details still to be worked out by negotiators remaining in Washington.
Congressional leaders say if they reach an agreement, they will summon their members back to Washington. But indications are it could take a few days before Congressmen and Senators can read and understand the legislation. Even if the deal passes in the House, it only takes one Senator to put hold the bill indefinitely. And already one GOP Senator is threatening just that.
Meanwhile Senate Democrats and others are continuing to push President Biden to invoke the Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, although questions remain about doing that and the President seems unlikely to do so.
House Democrats have unanimously approved a discharge petition to bring a debt limit bill to the floor for a vote despite GOP objections. Such a parliamentary move has rarely worked, and the Democrats need at least 5 Republicans to cross the aisle to support the discharge petition, which seems unlikely.
So perhaps the debt limit will be reached and exceeded. What happens then? It may not be pretty.
THE METRO ELECTION FIELD IS SET AS THE CAMPAIGN SEASON BEGINS ITS TRADITIONAL MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND START
One week and a day after the qualifying deadline, and after the first mayoral candidate debate, the field is now set for the August 3 Metro election.
Here’s analysis from Axios- Nashville on where this wide-open mayoral contest stands at the traditional Memorial Day weekend kickoff for the race.
There are a few changes now that all the candidate petitions in the Metro races have been certified.
The mayoral field is set with 12 candidates which is quite large. The last time we had a mayoral race without an incumbent was 2015, and there were only 7 candidates in the contest. The vice mayor’s race remains a match between incumbent Jim Shulman and 34th District councilmember Angie Henderson.
The At-Large race to fill 5 seats has attracted only 21 certified candidates and that is with only 2 incumbents running, which usually attracts more candidates. In 2015, the At-Large field was 27. Years ago, the At-Large contest used to attract up to 30-40 candidates but that was when running wasn’t so expensive. That may be part of the reason for a smaller at-large field.
However, it’s likely the biggest factor is that, for weeks, it was uncertain there would even be a Council election this summer, with the city and state fighting it out in the courts over the law passed by the Republican Super Majority to cut the Council in half from 40 to 20 members. Metro won, for now.
I think this confusion, over whether there would be a Council election, may also be why there are only 73 candidates for the 35- district council seats. Perhaps even more surprising is there are 10 district councilmembers running unopposed for re-election (2,3, 12, 13, 24, 26, 27, 30 32, 33). Congratulations for a job well done to the unopposed council members for being re-elected without opposition, especially after a tough 4-year term for the Council overall, and when polls indicate a majority of voters think Nashville is on the wrong track.
With 10 unopposed contests, there remains 63 candidates to fight it out for the remaining 25 district seats. There are a few districts with large fields. District 1 has 6 people in the race. There are three districts with 5 candidates and two districts with 4. Perhaps surprisingly there are 17 districts with only two candidates. That means, if you add in the 10 council members re-elected unopposed, voters will select at least 27 members, or a two-thirds quorum of the new Council, on August 3rd. With a total of 108 candidates appearing on the ballot it is still a large field, just not quite as large as in previous years.
In the Mayor’s race, candidates are still trying to differentiate themselves from one another. There are only two mayoral candidates who have run TV ads so far. Late this week, Matt Wiltshire began airing his second spot under the theme of “Back to Basics.”
It seems likely the other mayoral candidate, Jim Gingrich, who has aired a TV spot, will be starting his second ad soon, too.
The question remains which of the remaining candidates will begin their TV campaigns, although in this age of digital and social media, television may not be as important as in previous elections. But name recognition is. All the candidates need more of that if they want one of the two golden tickets to the September 14th runoff election.
One new piece of fodder for our mayoral and other Metro candidates to chew over on the campaign trail. Out of the 150 cities on the “Best Places to Live in the U.S. in 2023-24” list, Nashville is No. 61. That means we fell more than 30 spots from the last report.
Or how about this? A new national report finds Nashville in the bottom 10 for parks among the top 100 cities in the nation.
THE LATEST COURT AND LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS ON THE COVENANT WRITINGS, THE DRAG BAN LAW, DEMISE OF METRO COMMUNITY OVERSIGHT BOARD AND A POTENTIAL SUIT ON THE AIRPORT AUTHORITY
So much of what I write about seems to be in and out of the courts.
This week there was a hearing about the multi-sided legal battle about what to do about releasing the writings and other materials from the Covenant School mass shootings.
Here’s what was argued by the various parties in court. It is uncertain how the judge will rule, but it could be soon (it wasn’t Wednesday). The judge hearing the case is allowing the Covenant School parents to intervene in the case. But he has asked them to immediately submit the reasons why under Tennessee law the Covenant information should not be released to the public.
I would guess the decision of this court will be appealed to a higher level by those who do not win this decision.
Another lawsuit in heard in federal court in Memphis this week seeks to have the recent ban on drag entertainment. passed into law by the General Assembly, declared unconstitutional. The judge hearing the case has already issued an injunction putting the law on hold. From this article, it doesn’t appear the court hearing went well this week.
It is not certain when a decision will be made by the judge. The timing of the ruling could well be critical, as the month of June is Pride Month, with LGBTQ groups holding events across the state.
And of course, there is yet another push back, in this case a lawsuit filed this week involving public employee health insurance plans. The suit is against the state over the efforts of the Legislature’s Republican Super Majority to outlaw transgender health care, now including adults.
Finally, with Governor Bill Lee signing into law, a bill that would put an end to community police oversight boards, such as the ones approved by voters in Memphis and Nashville, there is a move in Nashville to keep the board alive under provisions of the new law that allow it to operate, but under significantly reduced oversight powers.
To keep the board alive won’t be easy. The new law requires the Council to approve the necessary legislation twice and do so with 27 yes votes, or a two-thirds majority each time.
The police oversight board repeal is one of several pieces of anti-Nashville legislation passed in the last session. Another is a measure that would give the state a sizable amount of power over the Metro Airport Authority. This article indicates that while the city is unlikely to sue the state over the police watchdog boards, Metro may file a suit over the Airport Authority law.
In a late-in-the-week development, Metro is also suing the state over a newly passed law that impacts Metro’s plans to redevelop the city’s Fairgrounds Speedway and bring NASCAR back to Nashville.
PHIL WILLIAMS AND HIS REVEALED SERIES TELLS IT LIKE IT IS
NewsChannel5’s Chief Investigative Reporter Phil Williams is once again speaking truth to power.
Two of the latest stories in his REVEALED series tells the truth of how the current Republican Super Majority is continuing to consolidate GOP power across the state and on the Tennessee’s Capitol Hill through redistricting.
Phil even gets backup from a former Republican Congressman, Zach Wamp who says Tennessee elections are being “rigged”.
Phil’s other recent REVEALED story breaks down how the leaders in the Tennessee Hose use the rules to “silence” debate according to Democrats.
Elsewhere on Capitol Hill this week, a trio of Republican legislators have sent an open letter to Governor Bill Lee asking him to cancel his call for a special session of the General Assembly in August.
The session will concern gun reform and related policies. The GOP representatives say lawmakers can take up these matters when they return to Nashville next January.
I think the real reason and the truth of why they don’t want to return is the same reason legislators quickly ended their regular session and fled the Capitol back in April. They really don’t want to deal with these issues especially if hundreds of protestors come back to the halls of the General Assembly demanding their elected representatives do their duty and address the issue of gun violence, regardless of what the gun lobby says.
Governor Lee should stick by his call and make lawmakers come back to work on gun reform in August.
THE THIRD-GRADE READING LAW HAS BECOME THE DEBACLE STATE LAWMAKERS WERE WARNED WOULD HAPPEN
During the pandemic, members of the Tennessee General Assembly were summoned back to Nashville to consider legislation to combat learning loss among students.
Among the bills they passed (and Governor Bill Lee signed into law) was a requirement, that effective this year (2023), all third graders in Tennessee public schools must read at grade level or be retained and repeat third grade. They can appeal or quickly take a re-test and pass. They can also get tutoring or successfully pass summer school.
It appears this law was approved by lawmakers without holding any hearings to get expert testimony or get any feedback from other educators or parents.
Yes, reading at third grade level at that age is critical to future success in life. But in a state, where last year 66% of third graders flunked the reading exam, and nobody learns their score until the end of the school year, lawmakers were warned they were being rash.
There was a strong effort to repeal or significantly modify the law this year. Late in the session, lawmakers did finally act. But the revisions made changes effective, only for next school year. That left this year’s third graders and their parents on their own.
The reading numbers were not fully circulated until this week. The results found statewide just 60% failed the reading standard this year. But that improvement was likely of little comfort to many third grade parents and their children who face a scramble to deal with the results and which could bring ongoing issues this summer, and into next school year.
AFTER 32 YEARS OF BUILDING NASHVILLE INTO A WORLD CLASS CITY FOR TOURISTS, EVENTS, MEETINGS AND CONVENTIONS, BUTCH SPYRIDON GIVES AN EXIT INTERVIEW ON INSIDE POLITICS
When we look back on the history of Nashville over the past 3 decades, the name Butch Spyridon will be right at the top of the list of important figures that have shaped the Nashville of today.
As the President & CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corporation, Butch has been the driving force towards building the Music City brand that has made Nashville a world-renowned mecca for tourism, sports, conventions, meetings and of course, all kinds of music.
Butch Spyridon is retiring after 32 years on the job. He is our guest on INSIDE POLITICS this week.
We welcome Butch to the program!
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