Parker Toler (left) and Erica Gilmore
It seems odd at first blush that people are essentially elected to run fairly technical local bureaucracies. But every four years, positions like assessor of property, register of deeds and trustee end up on the ballot, just as they have for decades.
A facile examination makes this seem absurd. Yes, of course, it’s important that our property is assessed fairly for taxation, and that the same property’s ownership is recorded properly. But particularly in a county as large and in an age as sophisticated as ours, no one is under the illusion that the elected assessor is out in the field determining the value of property or that the register herself is filing away all the deeds. There are capable career civil service employees doing the legwork. There’s no legal requirement that the assessor be able to even ballpark property values, or that the register even know what a mete or bound is.
But a more sedulous consideration reveals the value of holding these positions accountable to the voters.
As a thought experiment, consider if these were simply patronage positions, and that property was being assessed corruptly or deeds were being registered incorrectly. Were the conspiracy — or incompetence — wide-ranging enough, there’d be little recourse for the harmed. With elected officers, the framers entrusted that voters are savvy enough to recognize corruption or incompetence. And frankly, that’s a fairly awesome responsibility, particularly given the fact that property taxation and land recording are among the basic functions of government, dating back — at least in common-law systems — to the enclosure of the commons in the 13th century.
All that to say, voters heading to the polls on Super Tuesday with the idea that they are simply selecting the delegates who will select the candidate who will be one of the choices the Electoral College will have in the presidential race are selling short the importance of the March 3 election. After all, voters — well, at least the Democrats — are also choosing the people who will assess their property, and … what does a trustee do exactly?
Most people probably don’t think too much about the trustee except when they grumble after putting his name on their property tax checks, but it’s a fairly important job. No, the trustee doesn’t actually set the taxes or even determine your payment (a fact trustees love to remind voters of, particularly in election years). The trustee, as the name implies, is entrusted with the county’s accounts. The primary qualification then, as the name also implies, is trustworthiness.
Charlie Cardwell died May 13, 2019, ending a 26-year stint as trustee, which capped a six-decade public service career. He was widely trusted by Metro’s powers that be (and those that were) to provide a true and fair accounting of the county coffers. His death — and the more recent passing of Charlie Warfield, the last living member of the Metro Charter Commission — signaled the end of a certain era in Nashville politics, the last real connection to the old unconsolidated governments.
To fill out his term, the Metro Council selected Parker Toler, a part-time deputy in Cardwell’s office, former councilman and longtime Metro employee.
Among the others who tossed their hats into the ring to fill the vacancy was former Councilmember Erica Gilmore, who dropped out of the vice mayor’s race to seek the position. Gilmore, however, rubbed many on the council the wrong way as she began lobbying for the position even before Cardwell’s funeral. Now Gilmore is seeking the position for the full term — she’s the only other candidate who filed against Toler.
Technically this is the Democratic primary. But if winning that race is tantamount to election most of the time in deeply blue Davidson County, it is even more true in this race, as no Republicans filed. Neither Toler nor Gilmore has done much campaigning beyond a smattering of yard signs, though the latter did hold a fundraiser Feb. 19 at the Germantown Pub.
The only other contested down-ballot local race is for judge of Division IV of the criminal court. Then-Gov. Bill Haslam appointed Jennifer Smith to the position left vacant by the retirement of Seth Norman in 2018. Squaring off against Smith is Nashville attorney Tillman Payne, who is becoming something of a perennial candidate.
Assessor of property Vivian Wilhoite and chancellor Patricia Head Moskal are both unopposed in their primaries.
Democrats will also be asked to select executive committeemen and committeewomen for each of the 35 Metro Council districts. Well, some Democrats will. Of the 70 positions on the county party executive committee, only 19 have candidates, and none of those 19 face opposition. Among the names, however, is ignominious former juvenile court clerk Vic Lineweaver, running for a spot representing Bellevue’s District 35.
