National Rainbow Coalition founder Jesse Jackson has made several phone calls to Mayor Phil Bredesen on behalf of Charles Covington, the local black developer who recently lost an exclusive deal with Metro to build a hotel next to the arena.
Covington won the contract with the Metro Development and Housing Agency (MDHA) a couple of years ago, but, because he has repeatedly missed deadlines, the project has yet to get off the ground. As a result, Metro recently called for new bids on the hotel, and the local chapter of the NAACP is crying discrimination.
In a recent letter to Bredesen, local NAACP vice president Marilyn Robinson called the reopening of the bids “yet another example of disparate treatment toward the African-American business community.” Bredesen is correct in responding that such claims of discrimination are bogus. He points out that Covington has in fact been treated differently from the way a white developer would have been in the same case. But, the mayor says, that different treatment has been in Covington’s favor. Bredesen insists that another developer wouldn’t have been allowed the string of extensions that Covington has received. “Mr. Covington has gotten good-faith extentions,” Bredesen says.
Now Jesse Jackson, the nationally prominent black activist, has entered the fray, placing calls to the mayor on behalf of Covington, who has filed a lawsuit in hopes of getting the project back.
Bredesen press secretary Shannon Hunt confirms that the mayor has received calls from Jackson concerning the Covington affair, but she adds that “the mayor has been very supportive of Mr. Covington’s efforts to build a hotel by the arena because he would really like a minority-owned hotel in the area.” According to Hunt, “The mayor and MDHA have done everything possible to extend every opportunity to Mr. Covington in putting his deal together.”
Hunt says Bredesen told Jackson about Covington’s missed deadlines and about the extensions he’s received. Then, she says, the mayor “encouraged Rev. Jackson to help Mr. Covington in any way he could, because there is, of course, still time to get the project done, just not an exclusive option.”
Robinson, though, claims other developers also run behind on their milestones and that Covington shouldn’t be punished for hitting some obstacles in the road to obtain financing. “If you look at all the other major developments downtown, they never really meet the mark in terms of timetables, but it’s kind of like government is friendly to them and government works with them to make sure that the project is done.”
Robinson cites the Oilers as a sort of reverse example of her point. “Bud Adams had every opportunity to pull out and go to another location,” she says. “But they waited on the referendum. They did everything. They worked with the city to bring the Oilers here. So our thing is, why can’t you do the same thing for Charles Covington? Work with him. Use the weight of your office to pull this deal off.”
Bredesen has agreed to attend the NAACP’s Sept. 9 board meeting to talk about the issue. Despite the pressure, it seems he has not allowed himself to be strong-armed into any further special treatment for Covington. What’s more, the NAACP has lost some credibility in this instance by painting an inaccurate picture of the treatment Covington has received.
Bucking the system
John Jay Hooker, the local eccentric who in his later years has emerged as a passionate campaign-finance activist, testified before the full Davidson County Grand Jury Monday, calling for the indictment of U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson. Hooker argued that Thompson’s acceptance of campaign donations from out-of-state supporters—or, as Hooker puts it, from non-voters—violates the law.
Hooker gets his day in court under a provision that allows citizens to request a grand jury hearing if they want to call for the indictment of other citizens. Attorney Dale Quillen used the provision several years ago in Rutherford County and was able to convince the grand jury there to indict another lawyer, Bill Willis, with whom Quillen had had a highly publicized fight in an elevator.
Hooker says virtually every member of Congress is guilty of accepting out-of-state contributions, which are legal under Federal Election Commission rules. But Hooker says he’s targeting Thompson because he was on the ballot against the senator last year.
Hooker says his testimony this week was a “painful experience” because he likes the senator. But, he says, “Fred Thompson is appalled that [Vice President] Albert Gore Jr. is taking out-of-country money, and I’m equally appalled that Fred Thompson is taking out-of-state money.”
Giant-killers
Shortly after the Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. board fired its CEO, Rick Scott, a month ago, the company dramatically changed its Internet Web page, putting a picture of new CEO Dr. Thomas Frist Jr., at the top of the page beside the Columbia logo. It was as if Frist were being given full credit for the coup. It’s notable, too, that Frist’s face has no caption under it. Readers are supposed to know who he is.
Locally, Frist has been credited with getting rid of Scott and for formulating a fresh image for the giant company. The September issue of Fortune magazine, however, gives the credit for Scott’s downfall to Darla Moore, a former banker. Moore is also the wife of West Coast money man Richard Rainwater, who, along with Scott, founded Columbia in 1987.
The Fortune profile of Moore describes her as a tough-as-nails businesswoman who has managed in just three-and-a-half years to triple her husband’s net worth to $1.5 billion.
“In this year’s biggest business drama, it was she who forced out Columbia/HCA CEO Richard Scott after the health care giant got slammed with a massive criminal investigation,” the Fortune story asserts, going on to quote Moore as saying, “I’ve harassed guys all my life.”
Moore isn’t on the board of Columbia, but she and Rainwater own about $260 million in company stock. According to Fortune, Moore strategized with Columbia board members to fire Scott, even though her husband wanted him to stay. The story depicts Frist as serving as Moore’s ally; “Darla was a responsible shareholder who did what had to be done,” he says.
Fortune makes Moore look like a soothsayer who recognized, before Frist or anyone else, that Columbia was in trouble. She turned out to be right. But leave it to Nashville to see a familiar family name and assume that’s where the credit belongs.
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