Subject: Eric Crafton

• Crafton Don't Know English So Good

  June 16, 2008

• Speak English, But Don't Ask Me Questions

  June 18, 2008

• Eric Crafton Declares Himself a Second-Class Citizen

  July 25, 2008

• City's Liberals Wake Up

  August 8, 2008

• Ronnie Steine's Resolution: Best. Litmus. Test. Ever

  August 8, 2008

• English-Only Nearly Derailed by...Eric Crafton?

  September 10, 2008

• English Only, The Sequel: Three Amigos

  September 23, 2008

• The Quiet Campaign To Beat English Only

  It's a big moment for Nashville's so-called progressives. But can a disorganized gang of dreamers and do-gooders take their heads out of the clouds long enough to beat Eric Crafton's English Only initiative? This week's Scene looks at their campaign, such as it is.It's been pretty quiet, hasn't it? That's intentional, they say. Here's their basic problem: The more people know about the Jan. 22 referendum, the better Crafton's odds. That's because, let's face it, Nashville's xenophobes greatly o

  December 17, 2008

• Zogby Be Damned--New Pith Poll Suggests English Only Will Win Big

  Judging by their paranoid, misinformed arguments and venomous, borderline-illiterate rants, supporters of Eric Crafton's English Only bill are increasingly sounding like supporters of another misguided political movement from recent history. In a new Pith poll, it looks like Eric Crafton's controversial (and idiotic) English Only bill will pass in a landslide. The Pith "Tennessean Comments" Poll--whose methodology was developed in collaboration with MIT's Statistical Metrology Group, and whos

  January 7, 2009

• The Empire Strikes Back

  Eric Crafton has watched while English Only foes have pulled out all the stops to defeat his initiative. Yard signs, fliers, TV ads, robo-calls, door-to-door canvassing and now a daily media event featuring various luminaries--whatever happened to the Rope-a-Dope strategy?Now, Crafton is striking back with a radio ad. From WPLN:It begins with strains of "America the Beautiful." "America. One nation, under God, indivisible-until now." The ad goes on to say that English is "under attack" It cit

  January 13, 2009

• He Doesn't Have Time for WNPT, But Eric Crafton Will Be on Lou Dobbs Today

  Councilman Eric Crafton may have bailed on WNPT's English-Only debate with David Briley, but he apparently still has time for Lou Dobbs. Dobbs, the former business reporter turned raving nationalist, will host Mayor Karl Dean and Crafton on his radio show today. Our guess is that Crafton feels Dobbs, a man obsessed with immigration, will give him a better welcome than a hometown crowd with a neutral moderator. From Dobbs' website:In Nashville, Tennessee, Councilman Eric Crafton is pushing a reso

  January 13, 2009

• Eric Crafton Pulls Out of WNPT Debate? Part II

  It's got to be galling for Eric Crafton to be local politics second-biggest story right now. Here he is doing his best to spread the English Only gospel on national TV and radio, and all anyone seems to want to talk about are the after-effects of the Jimmy Naifeh hijacking. Damn you Jeff Woods and your insanely entertaining updates!Anyway, it seems Crafton has finally decided once and for all that he will not be debating David Briley Friday night on WNPT. Nor will he send a substitute in his ste

  January 14, 2009

• Eric Crafton on Lou Dobbs: We Listen so you Don't Have to

  On the radio, Lou Dobbs only sounds orange.So Eric Crafton went on Lou Dobbs' radio show yesterday and I have to say: all in all, a little disappointing. Yeah, sure, there were some high(low)lights. But somehow, the combination of America's favorite Nativist Creamsicle and Nashville's Somnambulant Xenophobe seemed to promise so much more.Let's hit this, bullet-point style:- Mistakenly look for Crafton's interview in first hour of broadcast. Only find teaser coming out of commercial which, intere

  January 14, 2009

• Get Your Questions in Now for WNPT's English Only Debate

  Chair, if you could support the weight of any American, living or dead, who would it be?If you don't have time to watch tomorrow night's English Only debate on Channel 8, that doesn't mean you still can't contribute to the conversation. For those with a question to ask moderator John Seigenthaler, Nashville for All of Us representative David Briley, or the empty chair where Eric Crafton would have been seated, please send an e-mail to the following: question@WNPT.net.After the jump, a sample of

  January 16, 2009

• Liveblogging the WNPT English Only Debate

  Friday night would hardly seem like the right time to devote MORE brainpower to Eric Crafton. But since we've been flogging the hell out of this WNPT English Only debate, it seemed appropriate that we actually watch.After the jump, our version of the liveblog...

  January 19, 2009

• New York Times Forced to Retract Eric Crafton's Claims

  As part of his pitch for English-Only, Councilman Eric Crafton has been passing anecdotes of Spanish speakers run amok. Among his faves: He's been telling people that some California legislators need interpretors to conduct state business. The only problem is that it isn't actually true. Crafton relayed this factoid to the New York Times in a recent story about Nashville's little culture war. Today, the paper was forced to retract the assertion:An article last Sunday about an effort in Nashville

  January 18, 2009

• Arts & Crafton Part III: Dirty Eric

  In the third episode of Arts & Crafton: Photoshop Fun With English-Only's Tireless Mastermind, Metro Council's finest demonstrates how he intends to enforce his ordinance. Here's how we picture Eric Crafton welcoming a new immigrant to town: I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire seis shots or only cinco?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitación, I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your cabeza

  January 19, 2009

• Arts & Crafton Part IV: The Sierra Padre

  Welcome to the fourth episode of Arts & Crafton: Photoshop Fun With English-Only's Tireless Mastermind. What more fitting way to pay tribute to Eric Crafton, who is attempting to bamboozle the public with a campaign of misinformation (e.g., California legislators need interpreters), than to cite the most famously misquoted movie line of all time. The actual line, spoken by Mexican bandito Gold Hat (Alfonso Bedoya) in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, goes like this: "Badges? We ain't got no b

  January 20, 2009

• Eric Crafton Is Downright Pathological

  Are you getting sick of this yet? Cuz honestly, reporting on the latest half-truth from Eric Crafton is starting to sap our will to live (thank goodness for Dick Cheney in a wheelchair!).The latest "misunderstanding" swirling around English Only involves campaign finance disclosure. As you may remember, up to this point Crafton & Co. have gotten almost all of their cash from ProEnglish, an Arlington, Va-based hate group. Why can't they raise money locally? BECAUSE EVERYONE IN NASHVILLE HATES

  January 20, 2009

• Arts & Crafton Part V: Can You Spot the Bull in This Picture?

  In the fifth episode of Arts & Crafton: Photoshop Fun With English-Only's Tireless Mastermind, our bovine friend--or "toro," as some people might say--shows Eric Crafton exactly what he thinks of the referendum. Stay tuned tomorrow for the sixth and final episode!

  January 21, 2009

• Arts & Crafton Part VI: Day of Reckoning

  For the sixth and (we hope) final episode of Arts & Crafton: Photoshop Fun With English-Only's Tireless Mastermind, we've merged a hero of the far right with a hero of the far left, hoping that they'll cancel each other out and this nonsense will be over forever. Will Eric Crafton be remembered as the RWNJ (Right Wing Nut Job) who proposed that silly ordinance that got him laughed off the council? Or will he be immortalized as the RWNJ who made Nashville look like a bunch of backward, rednec

  January 22, 2009

• 'English Only' Can't Win, Can It?

  Judgment Day finally has arrived. Here during America's feel-good week in which we honored Martin Luther King Jr. and inaugurated Barack Obama, Nashville is voting whether to make itself the biggest U.S. city to officially go on record in favor of pointlessly making life a little harder for poor brown people. Eric Crafton can't possibly win, can he? I mean, let's look at this objectively:

  January 22, 2009

• Hell Yeah! No Votes Crush 'English Only'

  OK, the good guys finally won one. A little celebrating is definitely in order. English Only was defeated with a resounding 57 percent of the vote. Nashville was spared another spate of embarrassing national publicity. The city's progressives proved they can stop daydreaming about love and harmony long enough to run an effective political campaign. For Mayor Karl Dean, who gambled his popularity on the outcome, the results might translate into more clout with the Metro Council. But let's not g

  January 22, 2009

• Eric Crafton Writes Handy How-To Manual for Scofflaws

  How will Eric Crafton, that grandstanding goofball par excellence, be remembered in the annals of Nashville political history? His lasting legacy isn't English Only, a completely forgettable idea. Instead, it's the valuable lesson he has taught rapscallions and scofflaws everywhere about how to dodge those pesky election campaign finance disclosure laws. The Crafton strategy? Just say no.Crafton didn't turn in his last disclosure, claiming bizarrely that his contributors might face  harassm

  January 27, 2009

• Eric Crafton Will Gladly Pay You Tuesday For a Hamburger Today

  "90 to 95 percent of our contributors will be regular folks who contribute $100 or less."That was Eric Crafton exactly one week ago today. At the time, he was only guilty of some slippery semantics; everyone knew the bulk of his funding came from ProEnglish, but they assumed he'd get at least 10 Nashvillians to contribute to his English Only campaign to make the statement true.Today, they found out that may not be the case...

  January 27, 2009

• Lee Beaman Tells How he Became English Only's Largest Local Contributor

  Local auto scion Lee Beaman gained a bit of notoriety this week after campaign disclosure filings showed he was the only largest local contributor to Eric Crafton's failed English Only amendment. As S-Town Mike at Enclave points out, Beaman's $6,000 contribution to the controversial bill fell squarely in line with his past efforts.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 M

  January 30, 2009

• Grandpa drug dealer, Killing the literate and more

  February 26, 2009

• Love-Hate Mail

  January 15, 2009

• English Only foes hope to lull Eric Crafton to sleep, then deliver a knockout punch

  December 18, 2008

• English Only Ringleader Eric Crafton Is Driven More by Ideals Than Politics—Which May Be Worse

  December 4, 2008

• Marsha, Marsha!

  September 18, 2008

• ‘Proper English Only’ Song Ordinance Proposed

  So long, ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’

  June 19, 2008

• Honesty Second

  Eric Crafton won’t say who is funding his English-only measure

  June 19, 2008

• A Scarlet Taco?

  Council considers requiring immigrants to wear distinct logo. Next: should Nolensville Road be fenced?

  October 19, 2006

• Words of the Week

  September 28, 2006

• Yule Be Sorry

  It’s lumps of coal for everyone this holiday—we mean Christmas—season

  December 22, 2005

• Credit Counciler

  Are Eric Crafton's low-interest loans from MDHA a conflict?

  July 7, 2005

• Annual Skulking

  Just like last year (and pretty much every year before that), Metro Council members meet in secret to discuss how much you'll pay in taxes

  June 23, 2005

• Snowbird's Meltdown

  June 4, 1998

• Feeding Frenzy

  September 25, 1997

• Corporate Takeover

  July 10, 1997

• Morning Roundup: Exercising Our First Amendment Right to Aggregate Content

  The comptroller trashes Tennessee's Edison payroll system. ... The House lets a Democrat switch his vote to no on abortion resolution. ... The full Senate's voting soon on whether to delay the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act. ... Mayor Dean reacts to his defeat on charter schools. ... Metro is replacing the teachers in at least five failing schools. ... Traffic news now is only a tweet away. ... Phil Williams reports some Metro Council members are having trouble paying their taxes. Guess who's on

  May 21, 2009

• 'Davidson Only': Eric Crafton Seeks to Limit Metro Jobs to Davidson County Residents

  Eric Crafton has shown some real growth since his days shilling for La Migra.We can say one thing in defense of Eric Crafton's latest cause, requiring that new Metro employees live in Davidson County: It's not nearly as absurd, divisive and half-baked as his previous raison d'être, the resoundingly defeated English Only bill. And that's about the only thing. The bill is wrongheaded for a number of reasons, many of them verbalized by Crafton's fellow Metro Council members in Saturday's Tennesse

  July 6, 2009

• You are so Nashville if...Winners and Contenders

  July 16, 2009

• Hooray! Eric Crafton's Possible Anti-Discrimination Bill Covers Everyone

  Eric Crafton: Still full of revolutionary ideas.​Last week, Eric Crafton was one of eight white men Council members to vote against Metro's new anti-discrimination bill. The long overdue bill simply tacks on the words "sexual orientation and gender identity" to the current law which already protects for things like age, sex and race. In short, it's exactly the kind of bill that God-fearing old white dudes might have a problem with. But they can't just come out and say "Gay people don't d

  July 28, 2009

• Metro Council Votes to Ban Guns in City Parks

  ​The Metro Council has just voted 20-14 to ban guns in city parks and playgrounds. Tonight's vote was the second reading, which is the one that matters. The third reading is usually perfunctory. Council members, including Eric Crafton and Jim Gotto, made the same tired arguments during the debate. All those courageous, highly trained Quick Draw McGraws out there with state handgun carry permits will make our parks safer. "Handgun carry permit holders are not gunslingers," said Phil Claiborne

  August 6, 2009

• Mayor Dean Aims to Derail Referendum on Convention Center

  You've got to get up pretty early in the morning to outsmart this guy.​We don't often agree with Eric Crafton but we think he's onto something with his latest claims about the new convention center. It takes a veteran conspiracy theorist like Crafton to wrap his brain around this little game of Mayor Karl Dean's, so follow closely now. It looks like Dean hopes to finance the project with revenue bonds, even though the debt service would run the city $10 million more than general obligation bo

  August 12, 2009

• Morning Roundup: Shooting Victim Identified

  The man shot downtown yesterday has been identified: Edward Matthews, 46. He was homeless, and his mother is certain justice will not be served. ... There goes the neighborhood? The debate over the Fairgrounds racetrack's merits and missteps rages on--and now Eric Crafton wants to save it! ... Known as The Melrose, that $7.3 million strip of property on Franklin Road flanking the other side of Berry Hill--once home to the Sutler and the Melrose Lanes, and still home to beloved dive Melrose Bill

  November 4, 2009

• Morning Roundup: Tennessee Full of Lard-Loving Smokers

  From the Dept. of Sheesh, We Know, We Know: I certainly don't mean to make light of the grim stats circulating that Tennessee's death rate from cancer is the nation's fifth highest. But once you get through the package of stories over at the Tennessean, you see stories like this one that cite no-duh details like the fact that in rural parts of the state such as Pickett, Overton or Putnam County--where I grew up--people 1) still cook with lard, and 2) smoke a lot, even after they are diagnosed wi

  November 18, 2009

• After months of political sloganeering, personal broadsides and occasional lucidity, the fat lady has finally sung on the convention center debate

  January 21, 2010