Trash Talking
by Matt Pulle
If you want to win the ear of Mayor Bill Purcell and Finance Director David Manning, you’d better work with the law firm of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis.
At least that’s the gospel according to a coalition leader of downtown business interests openly questioning Purcell’s plan to phase out the downtown Thermal Plant in favor of a natural gas facility. The coalition is considering enlisting the firm to help state its case, in part, it says, because no other group of lawyers carries the same kind of clout with the mayor’s office.
The 17 or so downtown business owners who rely on the trash-burning plant for heat and air worry that Purcell’s plan to close the incinerator will double their energy bills. Their own mission to hold the mayor’s plan to critical inspection, however, highlights the petty intrigue within the city’s tangled web of legal and public relations firms, political insiders, and, of course, the mayor’s office.
In a recent memo from Nashville City Center owner Richard Fletcher to the Thermal Plant’s 17 private clients, Fletcher advised the coalition to consider having Waller Lansden “deliver our message to the mayor.” Fletcher wrote that “they are the only group in this city that has access to the mayor and Manning.”
Deputy Mayor Bill Phillips, who carries a big stick but does not speak softly, fumes at the mere suggestion that the Purcell administration plays favorites. “To say that one single firm is the only one that has access to this administration is bullshit. And you can print that,” he says. “You can call any PR or law firm and they’ll tell you that they have not had any trouble dealing with this administration.”
He adds, “Jim Cheek just got appointed to the Airport Authority and he’s not with Waller. He’s with one of their competitors [Bass Berry & Sims],” Phillips says.
Phillips acknowledged that the mayor’s plan may increase energy costs for the 17 private businesses that currently rely on Thermal; however, he says that the new rates will represent more closely the market value of heating and air costs.
McNeely Pigott & Fox partner Dave Cooley, who represents the coalition on the public relations side, says that the group simply wants to know how the mayor’s solid waste plan will affect energy rates. About his client’s rather incendiary claim that the mayor has given most-favored-firm status to Waller Lansden, Cooley says, “They have a great track record and have shown a real ability to get their arms around complex policy issues as it relates to Metro. I’m sure if Mr. Fletcher could turn back the clock he would not have stated it the way he stated it.” It was “intended for an internal memo,” he says.
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