Before he became mayor, Bill Purcell was generally thought to be among those who resented the invasion of professional football into Nashville, given the mammoth costs of building a stadium and the local resources devoted to the capital project that could have been pumped instead into the city’s public schools. After all, education and the welfare of children were the priorities of Purcell, then a state representative.
While Purcell never publicly opposed funding for the stadium, neither was he part of the city’s aggressive ”NFL Yes!“ campaign. He did refuse to sponsor legislation that offered state support for the project—even while he represented the state legislative district in which the stadium would be built.
But as mayor, Purcell has become a football fan—more precisely, a loyal Tennessee Titans supporter—and he cites the Titans’ successful season as a force helping to unify a city once divided over the issue of funding all the accouterments a football franchise requires. Purcell traveled to both Indianapolis and Jacksonville for the Titans playoff games, and he’s going to the Super Bowl in Atlanta this weekend. He’s also completing plans for a postgame citywide celebration.
In the meantime, it was at Purcell’s urging that city officials recently hung a giant Titans flag on the front of the Metro Courthouse. The huge banner, which briefly lay rumpled on the floor of the mayor’s office before it was hung, now dwarfs the state and Metro flags that fly alongside it.
A fresh look
Complaints that Council members acted unethically when they accepted the invitation of Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams to attend a game in his personal luxury suite—a benefit worth about $500 each—are generally regarded within Metro as much ado about nothing. That’s because Adams has long since sealed Metro’s financial commitment to his franchise operation and because there’s little the Council could do at this point to boost the already favorable terms Adams has worked out with city officials.
But the Legal Department’s summary—written by attorney Leslie Shechter and intended simply to summarize the complaint and cite potentially applicable Metro code provisions—casts a new light on the issue.
”A Council member shall not derive or attempt to derive any unjustified enrichment from his office,“ one section of the Council’s ethical code says.
Council members must also ”refrain from unethical conduct, and should, as far as possible, avoid the appearance or suspicion of unethical conduct,“ another code section, cited in the summary, says.
Not only that, but the elected official ”should constantly bear in mind the advisability of avoiding the creation of an appearance, or the raising of suspicion, that he is engaged in conduct that is in violation of the standards.“
Adams probably sees his invitation to Council members as a way to create political peace and harmony in a city that has been significantly divided over his presence here. His invitations included both friends and foes of the stadium, which, as the single largest capital endeavor undertaken in the city’s history, created a civic uproar when it was proposed four years ago. As for the Council members who munched on luxury suite hot dogs and sipped on overpriced beer with Adams, they may be exonerated when the Council Board of Ethical Conduct meets this week to consider the complaints. Or not.
But one thing’s a good bet: Next time they go to the Delph, they’ll be sitting in the plastic seats with most everybody else. And the beer won’t be any cheaper.
Showing up the boss
When Phil Bredesen was elected mayor in 1991, not one of his senior staffers in the mayor’s office earned more than his own relatively modest $75,000 salary. At that time, his highest paid aide—chief of staff Aleta Trauger—earned just under the mayor at $72,000.
Eight years and some inflation later, Mayor Purcell works under a different pay structure, using discretion to vary the pay of senior staff more widely than Bredesen did. Some of Purcell’s senior staffers earn significantly lower salaries than Bredesen’s top aides; others make more, although the total budget for the mayor’s office is the same as it was during Bredesen’s final days.
Purcell’s chief of staff, Bill Phillips, earns about $103,000, considerably more than Purcell himself. And Purcell’s Metro Council legislative liaison, Jane Alvis, earns the same as he does—$75,000.
