The May Town scam
Last week, WSMV broke the news that the May family's sweetheart deal with Tennessee State—250 acres for a research park and a $400,000 endowment—was not no-strings attached, as developer Tony Giarratana originally claimed back in February. In fact, the gift was entirely contingent on Metro council rezoning the land. Meaning no May Town, no gift.

The news came courtesy of a public records request from former councilman and May Town opponent David Briley. And it wasn't the only revelation.

Turns out, May Town is paying a TSU professor $50,000 for the May Town Scholars Program, a three-phase research project where the last phase consists of "outreach to 'strategic TSU alumni.'" Under the contract, TSU's alumni office provides Scholars, six current TSU students, a database of 10,000 former students for them to call. Dr. David Padgett, an associate professor of geography running the program, told Pith that his only role in this is research.

"My primary interest is what's going to be the response of African Americans in this process," he said. "I'm not a lobbyist and I'm not a salesman. I'm just looking at this as an environmental researcher. Period."

But the script Dr. Padgett provided to May Town Scholars says otherwise.

When TSU alumni in North Nashville get a call from the May Town Scholars, this is what they hear:

1) Hello, my name is ________. I am a (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, grad student) at Tennessee State University.

May I speak with Mr./Ms. ________________.

2) I am not calling to ask for a donation, I just wanted to make sure that you heard the exciting news announced by TSU President Dr. Melvin Johnson on Thursday.

3) TSU has the opportunity to be part of May Town Center in Bells Bend, located a few miles from main campus of TSU.

4) Dr. Johnson announced that TSU will receive:
a) 200 acres for Sustainable Agricultural Research
b) $400,000 toward endowment of a Chair of Excellence
c) 50 acres for a new, TSU Research Park
5) Dr. Johnson is excited that these initiatives will create good jobs, world-class research and enhance the stature of TSU.
6) We would like to keep you informed as this development moves forward. Or you can go to maytowncenter.com for more information.

Look objective to you? Didn't think so.

"It's pretty unprecedented for a private developer to enter into a partnership with a university where the students are hired, in a polite way of putting it, to go out and try to convince the public that the project is a good idea," says Briley. "It seems pretty far afield from a university's educational purpose."

Oddly enough, Pith got this script from Dr. Padgett himself, in an email where he also made the claim that "we are NOT doing PR. For us to bias our subject pool in any way would taint our research! Scientists have to be OBJECTIVE, or we would invalidate our results."

As a scholar who specializes in urban geography, Padgett would understandably be excited by May Town Center. Here's an issue that's chock full of questions about race and conservation, and it's right in his backyard.

But the gap between his statements and the baldly non-objective language in the script is disconcerting, to say the least. Either Padgett was being manipulated by May Town, or he was willing to sell his scholarly bona fides for $50,000.

Yet after the Scene questioned Padgett on the validity of his "research," he announced that he was dumping the misleading script. TSU President Melvin Johnson refused comment on the fiasco, as did the university PR office. Caleb Hannan

Hear no evil
Councilman Jim Forkum started a mini squabble about the upcoming convention center debate at Vanderbilt. A pro vs. con battle between Heywood Sanders, an urban studies professor and noted critic of the meetings industry, and Butch Spyridon, president of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau, the debate was organized by Forkum's own colleagues, Council member Megan Barry and the other four at-large members.

Problem is, Forkum doesn't see the point of more debate. In an email to Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors, he spelled out his concerns:

"Why are these meetings being held on a private campus like Vanderbilt? Why is the media sponsoring this event and in what way? Are Council-at-Large members spear-heading this event? Who requested the forum and what was is the real purpose is as it bypasses the Committee system and thereby undermines the process?"

Forkum's stance seems plausible. He's the chair of the Budget & Finance Committee. And the debate hopscotches his committee in the council food chain. But that's not why he has a problem.

In the email preface, Forkum admits these questions aren't his own. They come from some unnamed source—which Forkum conveniently couldn't remember when reached by Pith.

So here's a radical theory: Forkum is just carrying water for someone, raising hackles about a debate that many people—the Mayor's office preeminent among them—would prefer not take place. The forces behind the convention center can't be happy that Sanders, arguably the country's preeminent scholar on such facilities, will be arriving in Nashville to debunk many of their claims.

The debate will take place from 2-4 p.m., this Sunday, May 31, at Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall at Vanderbilt University, 2400 Blakemore Avenue. Free parking is available in the South Garage, which is located at the intersection of 24th Avenue South and Children's Way. (Just enter the garage at the Children's Way entrance and park on the fourth level or higher.) Caleb Hannan

Tea Party tax troubles
One of Tennessee's home-state heroes, Tea Party organizer Michael Patrick Leahy, is gaining national fame. But it isn't the kind you brag about to Mom.

It turns out Leahy hates taxes so much that he tends to skip paying them a little too often. Over the past 16 years, he's amassed state and federal tax liens, small claims court judgments and civil suits in the amount of nearly $150,000. That caused MSNBC's Keith Olbermann to name Leahy his "Worst Person In The World" the other night. Which, in turn, caused Leahy to sue a blogger for libel and invasion of privacy for posting all the documents showing Leahy's tax troubles.

It also allowed the Rutherford County Democratic Party to have a bit of fun with Leahy's patriotic commitment:

"Leahy describes himself as your average Republican who happens to hate taxes a lot. He travels to and from his Thompson's Station home on the very public roads other people's taxes pay for. He and his family are protected by tax-funded police and emergency personnel who save lives with less and less, yet documents show Leahy hates taxes so much that liens had to be placed against him for unpaid taxes." Jeff Woods

Fingerprinting gone wild
Tennessee's police chiefs are pushing a bill that would allow them to fingerprint people for such minor violations as rolling through a stop sign or letting their lawn become overgrown. It's hard to blame them. Anything that expands a fingerprint database naturally makes their job easier. And that, in turn, makes us all safer, right?

Well, not quite. It's one thing to force fingerprints when you're nicked for a legitimate crime, like knocking over a liquor store. But it's entirely another matter when Granny gets hit for driving 34 through a school zone. Perhaps 90 percent of the population will never commit a significant crime, which speaks to a great deal of wasted effort. And if you're Mr. and Mrs. Law Abiding, haven't you earned the right to live free of these hassles?

But what's especially curious is that the bill overwhelmingly passed the Tennessee House. These are people so paranoid about big government that they've prepared legislation for the event of martial law. Is anyone seeing a little hypocrisy here? Pete Kotz