Senior state lawmakers have not offered Nashville anything in exchange for endorsing the 2024 Republican National Convention. New legislation on Tuesday's Metro Council agenda suggests a deal with the state that has not materialized, according to Vice Mayor Jim Shulman and sources within Metro.
Shulman met with state House Speaker Cameron Sexton on Friday afternoon. At the meeting, Sexton dismissed rumors that the state might change its positions on inclusionary zoning or development impact fees.
“I ended up in a meeting with Speaker Sexton on Friday afternoon," Shulman tells the Scene. "He said no, we are not in the process of negotiating or discussing these items in terms of whether Nashville hosts the Republican National Convention. It’s just not on the table.”
Shulman says Sexton is open to conversations about preemptive state lawmaking at a later date. “We all need to sit down and bring our lists, and we all need to talk, which is what we should be doing anyway," Shulman says. "But it’s not on the table in terms of the resolution [Tuesday] night.”
In a written statement to the Scene, Sexton's office made the same point with a little more flare. The statement reads, in part, “Speaker Sexton has said he isn’t negotiating, increasing taxes, or providing money to Metro Council members for pork projects in return for a positive vote."
Councilmember Robert Swope filed legislation in July implying the outlines of some kind of legislation swap: an RNC blessing from Nashville, concessions from state lawmakers. At-Large Councilmember Burkley Allen tacked on a substitute that added provisions for inclusionary zoning, an attempt to revive a bill she carried in 2016 that was stamped out by the state legislature in 2018.
Both read like successful outcomes of negotiations that have not taken place. Mayor John Cooper's office raised impact fees and zoning changes as well as education funding and Medicaid expansion with Gov. Bill Lee and the host committee — led by former Gov. Bill Haslam — from the beginning of RNC discussions. Those requests were not taken seriously, according to a source familiar with the conversations. Swope’s bill and Allen’s substitute are not the results of additional bargaining with senior state leadership. Neither Allen nor Swope could be reached in time for publication.
While top channels run cold, there has been some informal politicking. Late last week, state Rep. Sam Whitson, a Republican from Williamson County, dialed his way down the list of Metro councilmembers hoping to learn more about their qualms with a possible RNC in Nashville. Whitson’s phone time wasn’t part of a larger lobbying operation — just personal and professional curiosity.
“I was trying to hear their concerns and see if there’s something I can do to help,” Whitson tells the Scene. “All the councilmembers I’ve talked to are really pleasant — it was not combative. They’re hearing from their constituents, and we understand that.”
Swope’s first attempt to get Metro’s stamp of approval on the 2024 RNC died before a vote last month. The prospect of the convention set off a rash of debate among business leaders, residents and politicians in late June and early July.
