It seems like only yesterday that then-candidate Bill Purcell was shedding a virtually unknown identity and emerging in the Nashville consciousness as the most logical choice to become the city’s next mayor.
But it wasn’t. This summer, just a few red bud blooms away, actually will mark the halfway point of Purcell’s four-year mayoral administration. Or to put it another way, it’s time to start raising money for his 2003 reelection, which is precisely what some of his supporters have begun to do. It doesn’t matter that, at least right now, there’s no opponent in eyeshot of the Courthouse corner office. In fact, raising lots of money early is the best repellent for an insurrection.
A recent meeting organized by former Democratic U.S. Sen. Harlan Mathews and held at the offices of the local silk-stocking law firm Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis kicked off the hat-passing for Purcell, Nashville’s fifth mayor since the consolidation of city and county governments in 1963. A former state legislator who had to run for reelection every two years, Purcell is accustomed to the constant demands of fund raising.
As of Purcell’s last campaign disclosure filing in October of last year, the mayor had $61,209.35 on hand in his account. But that’s not a lot of money, considering that there is a whole roster of incidental expenses for which public officials need to use campaign contributions—sending Christmas cards to Metro employees and supporters, buying flowers for the families of prominent people who have passed away, paying for strictly political travel, and donating to causes or other political campaigns. It all adds up.
And not only is it not too early to fatten the campaign account—given that a reelection campaign for the August 2003 race will effectively begin six months before that—it’s probably advisable to start hitting up deep pockets before Purcell, as expected, proposes a local property tax increase to boost school funding and to bankroll pay raises for Metro employees.
As one political observer notes, “Maybe you want to start raising your money before you start raising taxes.”
