Much like the frustrated riflebird in the eastern rainforests of Australia, several high-profile Nashville men have started presenting their plumage in pursuit of the city's highest office. This mating metaphor does not proceed any further.
Mayor John Cooper’s in a couple of sticky situations, and opponents have seized the chance to criticize and dissent. The city’s obligations to the Titans have been parlayed into a new domed stadium with a $2.2 billion dollar price tag. It’s a thorny situation, and a full explanation requires deep dives into complex funding mechanisms, tax redirects, municipal bonding capacity and predicting a judge’s interpretation of what it means to be “first class.”
On Friday, Councilmember Robert Swope filed legislation from Cooper’s office seeking city approval for the 2024 Republican National Convention. The news broke just days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, deferring legal authority to the state legislature, where trigger laws have criminalized entire categories of health care decisions about pregnancy. The grim milestone comes amid a decades-long project by the GOP to consolidate power in all branches of government, often through blatant disregard for democratic principles and institutions. Many argue that inviting them to Nashville goes beyond partisanship.
Councilmember Freddie O’Connell issued an under-the-radar press release Wednesday afternoon arguing that the mayor’s RNC stance has been a confusing abdication of leadership. O’Connell points out that the mayor’s fingerprints are all over the proposed contract, but he’s indicated to councilmembers that he hopes it doesn’t survive a vote. “Political games like this make our city and government look amateurish and chaotic, at best, and dishonest at worst,” O’Connell writes. (The document came as a .pages attachment — the file type for Mac’s default word processor, a quirky flourish from a campaign that’s just starting to get off the ground.) Rumor has it O’Connell, a popular local legislator who announced his candidacy in late April, has banked in the low six figures. Time will tell — disclosures drop July 15.
Thistle Farms executive Hal Cato teased his own bid in a tightly circulated memo marking his last day at the West Nashville nonprofit. “The soul of the city we both love seemed to be disappearing and I started asking myself what, if anything, I wanted to do about it,” Cato wrote in a crisp email sent at 5:40 a.m. “However, the bigger question was does Nashville think we have the right leader in place to do something about it and if not, could I be that person?” Cato shadowboxes with Cooper for a few hundred words, stepping right up to the edge of declaring a 2023 campaign, for which he’s already done polling.
Jim Gingrich, former COO of AllianceBernstein, has been relatively quiet since flashing colors earlier this month. He’s worked his way into the city’s social-political scene in the few short years since the asset managers moved to Nashville. Matt Wiltshire, the final macaw, has been low-key since talking to Axios a few months ago. He’s still making moves, recently meeting with Leigh Walton, the kingmaker partner at Bass, Berry & Sims who served as treasurer for Karl Dean. To top things off, mysterious polling this week asked Nashvillians to weigh in on a variety of city issues with a specific focus on the new Titans deal.
Cooper has yet to declare his official candidacy for reelection, but he’s knee-deep in a few multiyear projects, chiefly the complete redesign of the East Bank. Still about $750,000 in the hole from last cycle, he’s also raising money. A $5,000-a-head reception Tuesday night brought in more than $300,000. The guest list was speckled with the donor class and backroom urchins: James Weaver, Sam Reed, Greg Hinote, the Giarratanas, Billy and Dick Eskind.
All receipts before June 30 will be disclosed in a couple weeks; all money raised after July 1 comes out in six months. Still a year out from voting, elections are in the air. Titans and RNC conversations seem to have these five high-achieving professionals using their six Ivy league Degrees to jockey for position. For now, most of it is just chatter.
