Political Notes
Fifth-place mayoral race finisher David Briley says his support for erstwhile opponents Karl Dean or Bob Clement will depend primarily on whether one or both of them embrace his signature issue—environmental responsibility—and parrot Briley proposals such as establishing “green” standards for Metro buildings, expanding curbside recycling countywide and creating a Mayor’s Office of Sustainability.
In an interview with the Scene, the outgoing at-large Metro Council member says he met with both runoff candidates—Dean on Sunday and Clement Monday—to talk generally about his potential support. “As you might expect, Bob is more interested in having my support than Karl, it seems,” says Briley, clearly still chafing that Dean entered the crowded race after Briley did, spoiling whatever opportunity for victory the council member might have had. “It’s more of a personality thing, I think. Karl is more introverted and reserved, and my conversation with him was more that way. And, you know, Bob’s like, ‘What can I do to help? I really need your support.’ Maybe it’s just a personality thing I’m seeing.”
Briley also says he’s interested in hearing from the two about their plans for education and streamlining government. “With all due respect to the Purcell administration, I think we’ve gotten a little bit top heavy,” Briley says. “I think the option of raising taxes is gone. We either provide less service or cut administratively.”
Clement mouthpiece Ben Hall says the former congressman has already proposed a “sustainable development commission” for Nashville. “They have a lot of similarities,” Hall says. “If it needs to be an office within the mayor’s office to be effective, then Bob Clement is willing to do it.”
Dean says that in terms of environmental policy, he and Briley “are very close, and I think David had a lot of excellent ideas that he presented during the campaign.” Specifically, Dean says he supports expanded curbside recycling, as the city budget permits, green space acquisition and Metro leading in terms of alternative fuels. He does not, however, want to expand the mayor’s office, saying he would instead assign a staffer or another department to coordinate environmental policy.
Briley’s analysis of the two candidates’ support argues that voters are relatively monolithic, though polls to date haven’t suggested that’s true. “If you pushed the people out to vote today, Bob would win,” he predicts. “I think most of Howard [Gentry’s] people—right now, today—break to Bob. A lot of [Buck] Dozier’s people…predominantly break to Bob. Most of my people break to Karl, but not all. Probably two-thirds, one-third, is what I’m thinking. When you add all those numbers up today, Karl loses. But he has momentum, which Bob doesn’t have, so he should be able to move people a little bit towards him. So that’s his challenge.”
Briley doesn’t defend Clement’s strategy to typecast Dean, former Metro public defender, as a nurturer of evil delinquents who kill and maim. But he says it could be effective. “For me, it’s not a factor. And I think for a lot of voters it’s not a factor.... For the voters where it’s a factor, I think they look at it and say, ‘Well, he’s had an opportunity his whole life to do whatever he wanted and he chose to do that. And I just don’t want somebody who chose to do that to be the decision-maker for this community.’ Would I have done it? No. Do I understand why [Clement] did it? Yeah.”
Briley hopes to “move on” and determine his candidate soon. “For me, the best outcome is that they both say, ‘Hell, yeah, we’re going to implement the Briley sustainability plan,’ and I can go to everybody in town and say that on my issue I can’t lose.”
Campaign footnotes
Only in Nashville could a cyber candidate warning that the American Southwest is being invaded by Mexican militants whup up on an All-American boy whose job is to protect the environment. That’s right. At-large Metro Council candidate Jim Boyd—who peddles the idea of a mythical place called Aztlan where immigrant invaders are trying to reconquer a part of the United States—actually garnered more votes in last week’s election than green candidate Dave Pelton, who founded Clean Cities of Middle Tennessee (8,207 to 7,086). Neither made the runoff….
Meanwhile, financial disclosures show that former Vice Mayor Ronnie Steine, who will compete in the Sept. 11 runoff race for four at-large seats, loaned himself $80,000 during the current financial disclosure period and spent a full $100,000 on media….
Lightning rod district Metro Council member John Summers’ at-large campaign defeat came after he spent only $2,847 for the countywide race up to the close of the last reporting period on July 23. Summers didn’t return calls for comment, but all evidence points to his running for the sole purpose of retiring campaign debt.
In fact, Pelton remembers Summers saying as much when the two candidates had simultaneous interviews with The Tennessean’s editorial board for purposes of endorsements. “He flat-out said he’s not really campaigning, he’s just running to raise some money,” Pelton recalls. Says another at-large candidate: “He was not somebody who was visibly campaigning.” According to disclosure records, Summers had $17,750 in campaign debt from his 1999 Metro Council race in the form of a loan he made to himself. He reduced the debt to $9,500 by the first of this year. In his at-large race, he raised $19,800, spent $2,847 and had $16,953 in cash remaining on July 23. Indignant donors can call him at 386-9660.
|
---------------------------Advertisement---------------------------
|
|
---------------------------Advertisement---------------------------
|