District 1 Metro Councilmember Jonathan Hall confirmed to the Scene Tuesday that he will not seek reelection next year, citing health concerns. Hall was elected in a 2018 special election to fill the seat vacated by former Councilmember turned Judge Nick Leonardo.
Hall, who was recently censured by the Metro Council after a Metro ethics board found that he violated Metro’s standards of ethical conduct, is currently battling a $360,000 fine levied against him by the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance in connection with 36 separate campaign finance violations.
NewsChannel 5 reported Wednesday that Hall announced his intention to leave the council at the end of this term during a hearing before the Metro Board of Ethical Conduct. But Hall tells the Scene his decision has nothing to do with the ongoing controversy surrounding his campaign finance disclosures.
Hall says seeing former Councilmember At-Large Steve Glover, who he considers a close friend, battle health issues to the point of “life or death” was a wakeup call. He says the punishing schedule of serving as a district councilmember has caused him to delay seeking care for ongoing health concerns.
In a lengthy conversation with the Scene, Hall laid bare his frustrations with the current mayoral administration, the minority caucus, and the city’s lack of investment in his district.
Hall, who calls himself “the only Black conservative in Metro government,” is the only Black member of the Metro Council who is not a member of the minority caucus. Speaking on this decision, he called the caucus “useless” and encouraged the Scene to review its “legislative scorecard,” saying, “They don’t even vote together; why would I participate in that?”
Hall says he was a strong supporter of then-Councilmember At-Large John Cooper’s campaign for mayor, and he was excited when Cooper was elected. He hoped to see more investment in neighborhoods that have been historically overlooked and under-resourced, particularly those in his district. But Cooper “turned his back on the people who supported him,” says Hall, and instituted a “protocol of bully or bribe.”
Hall tells the Scene he will “continue to be the bull in the china shop” for the remainder of his term when it comes to advocating for more investment in his district. He says he wasn’t elected to make friends, and despite serving on the council for the past four years, he still views himself as “an outsider,” less a politician and more a community advocate.
Hall plans to start a podcast in the near future, where he will “tell the truth about Metro government.” A self-described “numbers guy,” Hall says he hopes to expose how money moves through Metro. “To quote the rapper Jay-Z — who is married to Beyoncé,” explains Hall, “men lie, women lie, numbers don’t.”
