CAPITOL VIEW
By Pat Nolan, Senior Vice President, DVL Seigenthaler Public Relations, a Finn Partners Company
September 11, 2015
THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD..…DID IT; THE MAYOR-ELECT ON INSIDE POLITICS; THAT DIDN’T TAKE LONG; THE GOVERNOR’S NATIONAL POLITICAL PROMINENCE CONTUNES TO RISE;
THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD……DID IT
The headline above is not completely original with me. A couple of weeks ago in this column I referred to mayoral candidate Megan Barry as “The Little Engine That Could”. I was playing off the children’s story about a toy train that manages to overcome all manner of obstacles and difficulties to achieve its goal by completing its trip. I saw that same kind of “I think I can”, I think I can” mentality in Barry and in her excellent campaign staff and volunteers.
From the time she entered the 2015 Nashville mayor’s race almost two years ago (she was the first candidate to announce), Barry has been constantly underrated. She couldn’t get the support, she couldn’t raise the money, she won’t be able do this or that said the naysayers. Even in the last week of the runoff race, there were doubts she’d win after a TENNESSEAN poll showed the contest a dead heat, and the early voting turnout looking less than positive for Barry, at least in terms of how voters had cast their votes geographically.
But no matter what the challenge, Barry and her campaign overcame it. She finished first both in the August general election and then Thursday night (September 10) won a larger than expected victory (by more than 10 points) over her opponent David Fox. The triumph came after a five week, politically bruising runoff battle that was the most partisan, divisive race I’ve ever seen in this community (and garnered us less than positive headlines and news stories across the nation, including IN THE NEW YORK TIMES, GOVERNING and NPR . Despite having her faith, her spouse and even her patriotism questioned and despite being greatly outspent by her opponents, including an out of town Super PAC (funded by Fox’s brother), Barry won big anyway.
So Megan Barry…the Little Engine That Could …DID IT. She has now become Nashville’s first female mayor and the first Metro Councilmember to ever be elected to the city’s top office in the 50-year plus history of Metropolitan government.. And that’s where the headline came to me on Election Night (Thursday September 10). It was in a Facebook posting from my FB friend, Kim Soto. Thanks!
The winds of change also blew strongly through the Metro Council Thursday night. The new Council will clearly be the least experienced ever due to term limits. But that the experience drain will be limited a bit with former members (Sam Coleman & Jim Shulman) returning and Erica Gilmore moving over from a district seat to an At-Large post.
New Vice Mayor David Briley (the grandson of Metro’s founding mayor, Beverly Briley) told me the learning curve will be steep for this Council but he believes it can be effective body and can work well with new Mayor Barry (besides there is always a honeymoon period). Briley does seem poised to change one long time Council committee precedent. He says maybe beginning this year he will name committee
chairs to multi-year terms. He also may be forced to have new Councilmembers chair committees in their first year in the body. There are just not enough experienced folks to cover all the committees.
But the biggest change in this new Council will be in its demographics with a record number of women (up to 15) and African Americans (up to 12) now in the chambers. The old records were 11 each, so the new mark for women shows what a good night it was for female candidates in Thursday’s election and not just in the Mayor’s office.
The increase in black representation also spotlights a continued rise in African American political power in the greater Antioch area in southeast Davidson County. There are now 5 black council representatives from that area (with four of them women). Add the Council’s returning Hispanic heritage member (Fabian Bedne) whose district is also nearby and it is clear, this is the most politically diverse part of town. There is one other Hispanic heritage member (Bob Mendes) joining the new Council as an At Large member although that did not play up his heritage during his campaign. There is also an Asian heritage member in the new Council. She is Mina Johnson of District 23 which also includes such neighborhoods as the City of Belle Meade. No kidding, the winds of change (and diversity) are indeed blowing.
To me the biggest takeaway I have from this election is that Nashville voters reject negative politics and in this case, while both candidates and their outside support groups (for Barry the State Democratic Party) traded below-the-political belt charges, the voters blamed it more on David Fox, and that likely helped give Barry her larger than expected majority. And besides this is still a Democratic town. The Fox campaign did put the political fear of God into Democrats at least for the last few days. It was like the 23rd Psalm as they walked “through the valley of the shadow of death” contemplating what a Republican-leaning mayor would mean for the future of Nashville’s politics.
I think voters also rejected Super PAC politics. But thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, that’s a part of American politics now on all levels of government. Since money is considered speech, those who have more money can have lots more speech evading the contributions limits or other restrictions still in the law on the local and state level.
I will probably have more to say next week after I’ve reviewed the precinct returns. But that’s the highlights of my thoughts for now on the election (and the shortest I written about this election cycle all year). Count your blessings. It’s been a long week and campaign and I am a little tired.
THE MAYOR-ELECT ON INSIDE POLITICS
Nashville Mayor-Elect Megan Barry is my guest on INSIDE POLITICS this weekend. As mentioned earlier, she is the first woman and Metro Council member to ever hold that position in our city.
Her interview with me is also her first in-depth conversation since she won the mayor's post Thursday night.
You need to see this show as we reflect back on the race and look forward to the challenges ahead over the next four years.
NEWSCHANNEL5 plans to air the show first tonight (Friday, September 11) at 6:30 PM on the main channel, WTVF-TV. It will then air on its regular schedule throughout the weekend on NEWSCHANNEL5 PLUS.
INSIDE POLITICS can be seen several times each weekend on NEWSCHANNEL5 PLUS. Those times include 7:00 p.m. Friday; 5:00 a.m. & 5:30 p.m., Saturday; and 5:00 a.m. & 12:30 p.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. Again for those who can’t see the show locally or are from out of town, you can watch it live with streaming video on NEWSCHANNEL5.com.
THAT DIDN’T TAKE LONG
I no sooner posted my story last week about the furor created by the University of Tennessee putting out a memo encouraging the use of gender neutral pronouns that the University dropped the memo from its web site.
The political heat and anger, especially coming from Republican lawmakers was just too much. Said UT President Joe DiPietro (TENNESSEAN, September 9) the phones “were ringing off the hook” in his office especially as the story went nationwide. He added: (This) “was like nothing I have ever seen in my time having the privilege to serve the university. I felt the only way to move forward was to pull the website.”
Lawmakers still plan some committee hearings in October to look over “governance” issues at UT, so the story may not be over.
Dr. DiPietro says “We want to be inclusive, and we want to be campuses that make everyone feel welcome…we need to train students to be competent in these areas.” But he concluded UT will seek to do so “in a more educational tone rather than in a prescriptive tone.” Good luck explaining that to lawmakers.
THE GOVERNOR’S NATIONAL POLITCAL POMINENCE CONTINUES TO RISE
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam has made the Top 50 (#23) of POLITICO’s latest list of the “thinkers, doers and visionaries transforming American politics.”
The article also mentions Haslam being named by FORBES Magazine as America’s wealthiest politician. But the publication puts him on its Top 50 list because of his TENNESSEE PROMISE program which for the first time this year will provide two years of free tuition to a community college for any eligible Tennessee student.
POLITICO lauds Haslam as someone who as governor “has eschewed the culture wars in favor of a practical approach to unsexy issues like civil service reform and teacher tenure.” Now the publication says other states like Oregon are following suit with a free community college bill and President Barack Obama has proposed a similar national program to Congress. So far, the price tag has soured Republicans who control the Hill from supporting much like what happened to Governor Haslam when he tried to get the Tennessee Legislature to implement his version of President Obama’s signature
program for national health reform. But INSURE TENNESSEE was rejected twice and remains dead in the water here, an issue not even mentioned in the POLITICO article.
