CAPITOL VIEW
By Pat Nolan
December 15,2023
THE FINAL CAPITOL VIEW; NASHVILLE CHAMBER PRESIDENT AND CEO RALPH SCHULZ ANALYZES THE NASHVILLE AREA ECONOMY IN 2023 AND WHAT LIES AHEAD IN 2024; IT HAS HAPPENED AGAIN; VANDERBILT POLL SAYS TENNESSEANS AND THE TENNESSEE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ARE AT ODDS ON SEVERAL ISSUES; CONGRESS ENDS ITS YEAR LEAVING MORE QUESTIONS THAN RESULTS
THE FINAL CAPITOL VIEW
How do you put in perspective something you have been doing almost every week for 21 years!
First, I will say thank you to everyone who has read my political epistles, whether you’ve done that every week, or this is the first time.
I am honored you took the time to read what I had to say and report.
I hope you found something valuable, maybe something you learned, or didn’t know about politics, government and especially about my hometown of Nashville. I am a part historian at heart, and love to share what I know and have learned.
The origins of CAPITOL VIEW date back well before it was posted for the first time on NEWSCHANNEL5’s website in January 2002.
It goes back to May 1985 when I left Channel 5 to go to work in Mayor Richard Fulton’s office.
My friend and desk mate, Channel 5 anchor Ruth Ann Leach, gave me a diary as a going away gift. She challenged me to keep a diary, as a written record of the next chapter in my life.
I did that for the first few months, and while I stopped, I still have the diary and from time to look back to see again, what I wrote during a period when my children were small, and I was beginning a whole new part of my career.
What Ruth Ann did, planted a seed in me. It was a desire to write, to find my voice and to uncover what I wanted to say.
Two years later in 1987, Mayor Fulton was leaving office and I had to find another job. I wrote some one- item columns, just to tell stories about some things I remembered or knew about government and politics. I shared them with Ruth Ann, and she encouraged me to keep writing.
But it was late 2001 before the next chapter began. Herschel Pollard was the director of NEWSCHANNEL5. Com. He was looking for some fresh copy on politics every week for his site. He contacted me and Mike Kopp, who was also a political analyst at Channel5 in those days.
We both began writing in January 2002. I don’t know how long Mike kept producing a column, but I have done an average of over 40-45 columns a year over the past 21 years. I have not counted the exact number, but I think it is over 900 columns but somewhere less than 1,000.
At first, I wrote each week on a single topic. But as a reporter I was used to beginning and following a story until its end. So fairly soon, I was writing on multiple topics week after week.
That became an organizing issue. My producer of INSIDE POLITICS at that time, Cherilyn Crowe (now Guy) suggested I headline each different topic and list them across the top of each week’s column, so readers could more easily find the topic they wanted to read about and skip the others of lesser appeal to them.
This has worked well for me over the years, although I still think I sometimes write too much. I remember a sign in the old TENNESSEAN newsroom at 1100 Broadway. It said simply.
“PITY THE POOR READER”
Another technological change I employed in the column as more and more on-line resources became available, are links to news stories or more information so readers can learn more (and I don’t have type in all the other information myself)!
The first time I saw this locally was a CITY PAPER on-line blog, wrote and edited by Adam Kleinheider, now Chief of Staff and Press Secretary for Lt. Governor Randy McNally.
I thought this was a great idea, and while it took me a while to learn all the on-line technology to do it, the change has worked well for me the last 5-6 years, and has shortened my writing for the column while providing links to more information if a reader wants it.
If I can organize myself, I would like to donate the digital files of all my CAPITOL VIEW columns to the Metro Archives. I have not gone back and edited them. I am sure there are still misspellings and other errors. I have already corrected those brought to my attention. I hope the columns will bring some insights and information about the major stories that dominated the news in the first two decades of the 21st century in local, state, national and even international politics.
Again, thanks for reading. I have signed a new contract to continue to host INSIDE POLITICS on NEWSCHANNEL5 PLUS (which I have done since 2006) as well as be the political analyst for the 2024 elections and the station’s Election Night coverage.
Thanks as well to my bosses at Dye, Van Mol & Lawrence over the years (Iater DVL Public Relations, DVL Seigenthaler and Finn Partners) for allowing me to find the time to write every week.
In closing, this not goodbye, just closing one chapter of my ongoing career at NEWSCHANNEL5, one that in March will begin its 41st year, after first starting work there 49 years ago in March,1975!
NASHVILLE CHAMBER PRESIDENT AND CEO RALPH SCHULZ ANALYZES THE NASHVILLE AREA ECONOMY IN 2023 AND WHAT LIES AHEAD IN 2024
As we approach the end of 2023, how has Nashville’s economy performed?
What are our strengths and weaknesses?
And what is the outlook for the New Year of 2024?
As we’ve done the past few years, we have invited the President and CEO of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce Ralph Schulz to join us on INSIDE POLITICS to discuss these topics.
We always enjoy having Ralph on the program!
Our discussion with Ralph Schulz will air on INSIDE POLITICS regular weekend schedule on NEWSCHANNEL5 PLUS.
Those times include:
7:00 p.m. Friday.
5:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
1:30 a.m. & 5:00 a.m. on Sunday.
THE PLUS is on Comcast Cable channel 250, Charter Cable channel 182 and on NEWSCHANNEL5’s over-the-air digital channel 5.2. We are also on DISH TV with the rest of the NEWSCHANNEL5 NETWORK.
One option for those who cannot see the show locally, or who are out of town, you can watch it live with streaming video on NEWSCHANNEL5.com. Just use your TiVo or DVR, if those live times don't work for you.
This week’s show and previous INSIDE POLITICS interviews are also posted on the NEWSCHANNEL5 website for your viewing under the NEWSCHANNEL5 PLUS section. A link to the show is posted as well on the Facebook page of NEWSCHANNEL5 PLUS. Each new show and link are posted early in the week after the program airs. I am also posting a link to the show each week on my Facebook page.
IT HAS HAPPENED AGAIN
The last several years have seen an increasing number of natural disasters strike Nashville and Middle Tennessee. It happened again Saturday night December 8 with multiple tornadoes touching down in up to 11 counties. The terrible outcome included 6 dead (3 in Madison in Davidson County and 3 in Clarksville in Montgomery County). Some of the twisters were of the long track variety staying on the ground 30-40 minutes.
Dozens were injured and dozens of homes were damaged and destroyed. It is one of the worst December outbreaks of tornadoes in our history. The Naytional Weather Service in Nashville also issued a "tornado emergency" alert for parts of Middle Tennessee for the first time in over a decade.
150,000 customers were without power early in the week. That number decreased each day even as Nashville Electric Service had to replace an entire substation destroyed in the storm, for the first time since the 1970s. It all left some residents in Madison, the worst hit part of the city, still in the dark late in the week.
Survival stories have been everywhere, including from the parents of a 4-month old baby sucked up into a tornado then found alive up in a tree in Clarksville.
Living up again to our state motto as Volunteers, the outpouring of help and support has been tremendous. One example to note…on Monday…just over a day after the storms… over 1,000 people signed up to help in one the area’s hard hit cities.
Even one of biggest entertainers and celebrities in the world, Taylor Swift took time to donate to relief efforts to support an area where she grew up in Tennessee. TIME Magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year showed her big heart by giving $1 million!
It is a disaster situation like this that tests the mettle of our elected leaders, especially in their early days in office. Nashville Mayor John Cooper had a major tornado hit the city in early March 2020, about 6 months after he took office, and just days before the COVID pandemic hit.
It hit even faster for current Mayor Freddie O’Connell. His test of dealing with his first natural disaster as mayor came only about 3 months after he took his oath of office.
Hands on help in disasters also comes down to those serving on the level of local government closest to the people, One of those would be Metro Councilmember Jennifer Gamble. She represents Madison, the hardest hit area in Davidson County hit by the storm.
There was quick action to start the process to get state local and national help headed our way to those who need it. Both Mayor O’Connell and Governor Bill Lee declared States of Emergency, and at the urging of the Tennessee’s congressional delegation, President Joe Biden has declared 4 counties (Dickson. Davidson, Montgomery and Sumner Counties) as federal disaster areas to be eligible for federal aid.
There will be one difference in this time in the role Nashville’s Community Foundation will play in local disaster relief.
There was one other announcement this week of federal money coming to Nashville. It is not related to tornado disaster relief, but it will address another deadly problem plaguing the safety of those who walk or bike along our streets. Pedestrian deaths have skyrocketed and become a major city emergency. Now this money, $16 million from Washington, will be used to bring help to perhaps the major Nashville road that is the most dangerous, Nolensville Pike.
VANDERBILT POLL SAYS TENNESSEANS AND THE TENNESSEE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ARE AT ODDS ON SEVERAL ISSUES
The latest Vanderbilt Poll issued on Thursday show those Tennesseans they talked to are more and more at odds with their elected officials in the Legislature.
Those issues include gun reform, abortion and the state continuing to receive $1 billion annually in federal education funds. The poll results also show that voters are giving their representatives as a group, historically low job approval ratings (42%) as re-election time looms ahead in 2024.
The Vanderbilt poll is conducted twice a year across the state on major issues and o measure the job approval of Tennessee elected officials. The two directors of the poll, Josh Clinton and John Greer, share some other thoughts on Tennesseans’ political leanings in this video.
Elsewhere in Tennessee state government this week, three different state agencies had serious questions raised about their operations.
During the pandemic, the Tennessee Department of Labor had a terrible problem in paying unemployment benefits on time. Not enough employees to handle the caseload was an excuse. But a new audit by the Tennessee Comptroller has found that years after the pandemic has subsided, the problem of late payments remain, and now its even worse, compared to other states, than before the pandemic.
Then there is the Department of Corrections. A new audit there finds the department violated federal prisoner protection guidelines by improperly closing sexual assault and harassment investigations in both state and privately- run prisons.
All these departments periodically appear before state legislative subcommittees as a part of their oversight process. That includes the Department of Children’s Services. The Commissioner of that state agency appeared before such a group to defend problems raised in their recent audit. But it appears only Democratic lawmakers raised questions, while Republican members heaped praise on the Commissioner. Then Commissioner Margie Quinn refused to answer some questions from NEWSCHANNEL5 Investigative Reporter Ben Hall concerning disturbing issues he has uncovered in some of his recent reports.
Finally, we may learn next week where the new toll lanes (called “choice lanes” by the Governor) will be built and operated by private companies to relieve traffic congestion around our major cities. There is a new five- person board, appointed by the Governor and the Speakers of two Houses of the Legislature. Local elected officials will have no role to play period, which is not going down well with Democrats.
Your government dollars at work.
CONGRESS ENDS ITS YEAR LEAVING MORE QUESTIONS THAN RESULTS
Congress has largely adjourned for the holidays, leaving its first year in office rich in controversy, long on questions unresolved, and short on results and new legislation passed.
Senate Democratic leaders are bringing the upper chamber back next week to work on a long shot deal to find a way to pass critical military aid for Ukraine and Israel, even though both efforts remain stymied by GOP demands for more border security changes. President Biden says he is open to a compromise but what that is remains unclear and there are warnings from other groups the issue is a trick.
As for those twin government shutdown dates set for early next year, there does not appear any deal, even on the distant horizon, to pass a new budget spending bill to forgo the shutdowns.
Before the House adjourned for the year on Thursday, Republicans approved a measure to formally have its Judiciary Committee begin a formal inquiry into drafting articles of impeachment against President Biden.
Other House committees have been investigating the matter for months, even though to this point, no evidence of “high crimes and misdemeanors” have been found regarding the President. Republicans are convinced Hunter Biden, the President’s son, has been engaging in influence peddling scheme with his father to illegally enrich the family with monies from overseas. The President strongly denies it.
Hunter Biden was on the Hill this week saying he will testify before congressional committees but only if they are open to the public and the media. He says Republicans want the sessions held behind closed doors in secret. They are also reportedly now seeking contempt of Congress charges against Hunter Biden.
Finally, the latest government report on wholesale prices this week continue to show that inflation is slowly dropping, but at 3%, it is still not low enough to meet the goal of the Federal Reserve (2%). So the Fed left the highest interest rates in decades still in effect, but with the promise they might well drop rates up to three times in 2024 by a quarter of a percent each time.
That’s all the stock markets needed to soar and close at new all-time records on both Wednesday and Thursday. So much for the near unanimous predictions of economists last year that 2023 would see a recession, which has so far never materialized.
Happy Holidays!
And after 21 years, goodbye from CAPITOL VIEW!
