Friday, January 30, 2009
Hannan / Politics Lee Beaman Tells How he Became English Only's Largest Local Contributor
Posted by Caleb Hannan on Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 6:22 AM
In 2004, Beaman gave $3,500 to the Swift Boat campaign against John Kerry. Last year, he contributed the same amount to support Prop 8. Between 1995 and 2000, Beaman Motorsports gave more money to politicians than Goodyear Tires, with nearly all of it going to Republican causes.
Figuring out where Beaman stands on the issues of the day, therefore, is pretty self-explanatory. What isn't is why he decided to back one of the most divisive propositions in Nashville's history. So we decided to ask him.
Yesterday, Pith called up Beaman in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Fresh off the slopes and driving in what he described as a white-out, Beaman explained why he backed Crafton.
Naturally, his answer included Jesus Christ and a very persuasive Brazilian woman...
According to Beaman, his mind was made up after talking to an employee. The woman had spent 20 years in America, much of that time working under him. A native of Brazil, she'd eventually gained her citizenship, as Beaman told us, "by going through all the right channels."
"She told me emphatically that the best thing she ever did was to become very fluent in English," said Beaman. "Everything that we can do to encourage and force people to learn English is actually best for them. The people that are in favor of translators, although they may be well-intentioned, are harming immigrants. She suspects it's a plot on the part of some people to keep their wages depressed."
Of course, when pressed for actual, ya know, examples of these nefarious plotters and their schemes to keep immigrants down, Beaman had no answer. Neither could he account for the fact that most immigrants are actually trying to learn the language, just like his Brazilian employee would insist is best for them.
Beaman's tipping point came after hearing a radio ad he says was paid for by Nashville for All of Us. OK, so Beaman actually didn't hear the ad. Someone told him about it. And this ad, apparently, said that, had English Only been around in Biblical times, then "Jesus wouldn't have been able to get a carpenter's license."
Not trying to say this didn't actually happen, but did anyone ever hear this ad? Seems like if some Anti English Only group had paid for an ad that mentioned Jesus, Crafton & Co. would've been all over that. After all, that's their guy.
Not wanting to be responsible for an accident, we eventually let Beaman off the phone so he could focus on getting back to his hotel. But before hanging up, he mentioned how difficult it was to get that six grand to English Only.
As Michael Cass at the Tennessean reported, Beaman had a hard time tracking down Crafton. It took him a week, he said, to get a phone call in and pledge his money. Odd, thought Beaman. Yeah. Almost like Crafton wasn't even actively soliciting money from locals.
Weird, huh?
Comments (11)
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In 2004, Beaman gave $2,500 to the Swift Boat campaign against John Kerry...
Actually, no. That is not correct. He made two donations to the Swift Boat smearmongers: $2,500 on Sept. 4, 2004 and another $1,000 on Oct. 10, 2004.
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No one cares about A)this bill anymore B) what Beaman does with his money - he made it and will spend it on whatever he likes.
And by no one I mean me.
It's fixed Beale, thanks.
Beaman called back last night. He wanted to remind those out there in the blogosphere, the ones that might think he only uses his money to advance right-wing causes, of the millions he's contributed to the following groups:
- the student life center at Belmont
- the neonatal clinic at Baptist
- the library at Lipscomb
- the park in Nashville
- the Beaman/Curb conference center for Boy Scouts
- and the chair for the Fisk jubilee singers
So there's that. Also, Beaman said his contributions were more "fair and balanced" than people like Enclave let on. As an example, he said he'd given money to Rosalind Kurita after Democrats voided her primary win. Which, come to think of it, doesn't really help his case.
http://www.nashvillescene.com/2008-10-23/news/devil-woman/#Comments
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090117/NEWS06/901170321
http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=65564
It doesn't take but a moment of research to find that the "what would Jesus do" pitch was indeed being used by the anti-English Only crowd. But I guess a "moment" of research is too much to ask from the journalistic gatekeepers to the truth.
Steve, the question isn't "Did Anti English Only folk use Jesus in their argument?"
It's "Was there a radio ad that said English Only would have prevented Jesus from getting his carpenter's license?"
It takes just one self-serving lowlife with money to keep a city stuck in the past.
RE: Beaman's other donations:
Which of those organizations are at odds or at least counterbalance his partisan donations? When I'm criticizing his lack of balance, I don't just mean GOP vs. local charities. I mean conservative vs. progressive issues.
And he protests way too much. All any one has to do is check out campaignmoney.com to see how his donations fail to spread across the ideological spectrum. As I linked in an Enclave post yesterday: Mr. Beaman gave $68,000 in the last election cycle to Republicans or conservative PACs. He donated $1,000 in that period to a Colorado Dem and no money to progressive PACs.
Comparing English Only to Baptist Hospital is apples and oranges. Balance would necessitate him finding a local progressive movement to benefit from one of his donations. I'm not questioning his right to give to whomever he pleases. I'm raising the point of the great distance his political donations put him from the middle of the political road in Davidson County. The referendum results seem to support my point.
nice story about the Brazilian lady, but we all know it's a personal vendetta against Dean's wife. Get over it, Lee...
I think we're pretty much on the same page here S-Town.
Beaman's point was, if you're going to talk about me only when I give money to controversial amendments, at least bring up the other good stuff I do. Fair enough.
But you're right. Just because a rich guy puts his name on the wing that saves itty bitty babies doesn't mean he should be free from criticism that, ideologically speaking, he's out of step with the vast majority of his neighbors.
It's his right to have those opinions and back them up with cash. And it's your right to question them.
