LIBERADIO(!)

So when I opened my sample ballot a few weeks ago, I was somewhat surprised to see an amendment to the Metro Charter on the ballot since I had heard nothing about it. I’m even more surprised that with just over a week to go until the election, I’ve still heard very little about it.

Fortunately, because our municipal website is of fairly high quality, the entire Metro Code is online. So I was able to compare the original with the new.

Here’s the original Section 15.03:

There shall be held a special metropolitan election to fill a vacancy for the unexpired term in the office of mayor whenever such vacancy shall exist more than nine (9) months prior to the date of the next general metropolitan election. The special election shall be ordered by the county commissioners of elections and they shall give notice thereof as provided by Tennessee Code Annotated, section 2-14-105. When a vacancy exists in the office of vice mayor, district council members or in the office of councilmembers-at-large, said office shall remain vacant until the next general election at which time such vacancy shall be filled; however, in no event shall a special election be held to fill such vacancy. If in such special election to fill a vacancy for the unexpired term of the office of mayor or in the general election at which time a vacancy in the office of vice mayor, district council member or councilmember-at-large, no candidate shall receive a majority of all the votes cast for such office, a runoff election shall be held five (5) weeks subsequent to the first special election to fill a vacancy in accordance with the provisions hereinbefore set forth in the case of a general metropolitan election. The provisions of section 15.01 hereof with respect to voting in general metropolitan elections and with respect to qualifying as a candidate shall apply to special elections and to general elections at which time a vacancy is filled.

And here is the amendment on this year’s ballot:

There shall be held a special metropolitan election to fill a vacancy for the unexpired term in the office of mayor and in the office of district councilmember whenever such vacancy shall exist more than twelve (12) months prior to the date of the next general metropolitan election. The special election shall be ordered by the county commissioners of elections and they shall give notice thereof as provided by Tennessee Code Annotated, section 2-14-105. When a vacancy exists in the office of vice mayor or in the office of councilmember-at-large, said office shall remain vacant until the next general election at which time such vacancy shall be filled; however, in no event shall a special election be held to fill such vacancy. If in such special election to fill a vacancy for the unexpired term of the office of mayor or district councilmember, or in the general election at which time a vacancy in the office of vice mayor or councilmember-at-large, no candidate shall receive a majority of all the votes cast for such office, a runoff election shall be held five (5) weeks subsequent to the first special election to fill a vacancy in accordance with the provisions hereinbefore set forth in the case of a general metropolitan election. The provisions of section 15.01 hereof with respect to qualifying as a candidate shall apply to special elections and to general elections at which time a vacancy is filled.

So, basically, the amendment stipulates that if a vacancy in the offices of mayor or district councilfolk occurs more than one year before a general election, we have a special election. Under current law, we’d have to have a special election if such a vacancy occurred within 9 months of a general election. In my opinion, this could cut down on the costs of a potentially unnecessary special election.

I haven’t yet dug deep enough to learn what happens in the event of a vacancy that lasts less than 9 months under current law. Does the Vice Mayor become interim mayor? Do vacated council seats just remain vacant?

Look up. Do you see those bright, shining, hopeful faces? They are your 2007 mayoral candidates and we’ve interviewed every one. Well, almost every one. We’re still waiting on “What About Bob?” Clement. Apparently he had a “young professionals” gathering to go to every Monday morning since April. Click on their faces to hear the interviews or use this handy dandy list:

• David Briley
• Bob Clement
• Karl Dean
• Buck Dozier
• Kenneth Eaton
• Howard Gentry

If you’ve read our post about impeachment, then you’ll understand why Russ Feingold is a weenie for once again suggesting censure instead of impeachment.

C’mon, Senator Feingold, do your job instead of trying to save it.

UPDATE: In addition to watching Bill Moyers’s discussion of impeachment, Senator Feingold should read today’s NY Times editorial by Adam Cohen entitled “Just What the Founders Feared: An Imperial President Goes to War“:

Members of Congress should not be intimidated into thinking that they are overstepping their constitutional bounds. If the founders were looking on now, it is not Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi who would strike them as out of line, but George W. Bush, who would seem less like a president than a king.

As someone who now has a very close tie to Meharry Medical College, I’m always encouraged when I see it appropriately recognized by community leaders. But until Nashville’s community of wealthy philanthropists commit to stepping up and playing important development roles for institutions like Fisk, Meharry, and TSU, I’m glad that we have a congressman that recognizes the need for these institutions to receive considerable financial resources. From a release last week:

The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday approved an amendment by Congressman Jim Cooper that would boost funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Historically Black Graduate Institutions (HBGIs) by $125 million. By voice vote, the House shifted the monies away from administrative and overhead costs and into a fund for HBCUs and HBGIs, increasing their funding level by 40%.

“This is a long overdue shot in the arm for our nation’s historically black colleges, universities, and graduate schools,” Cooper said after the vote. “I’m proud to represent fine institutions like Fisk University, Tennessee State University, and Meharry Medical College, which will gain access to these much-needed funds. This increase will help schools across the country fulfill their historically vital public service mission for many years to come.”

Cooper, who offered the amendment on the House floor yesterday afternoon with Congressman Steve Cohen, noted that HBCUs and HBGIs have seen no funding increases in recent years, and that the small increase provided in the current appropriations bill is a good start, but insufficient. The House is expected to pass the full bill, including Cooper’s amendment, later today before sending it to the Senate for approval.

Perhaps Congressman Cooper’s leadership on this issue will inspire private citizens to emulate him.

Today in Nashville, the MBA president, George Bush, not only blamed everyone else for his fiscal incontinence but showed his complete lack of understanding of our budding long term financial crisis by saying, “We project if we can continue to have fiscal sanity in Washington, D.C. that we we’ll be in surplus by the year 2012.”

Continue to have fiscal what now?

Let’s review. According to the Office of Management and Budget, federal outlays in Fiscal Year 2001 totaled $1.86 trillion. In fiscal year 2007, they totaled $2.78 trillion. And according to the Senate Budget Committee, President Bush not only increased our debt by more than $3 trillion but he also doubled foreign-held debt. And I’m not even going to mention the fuzzy math he’s using to calculate the deficit. As bad as this is, however, it gets worse. The Concord Coalition, a nationwide, grass roots organization advocating generationally responsible fiscal policy, reminds us that our fiscal decisions must go well beyond what may be needed to balance the budget in the short-term:

The baby boomers’ imminent retirement will usher in a permanent rise in the cost of programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which already comprise 40 percent of the federal budget. Demographic change, however, is only part of the problem. For the past several decades, health care spending has outpaced economic growth by a substantial margin. If this situation persists, it will greatly compound the growing fiscal problems attributable to the rising number of aged. With all this, federal government spending is on track to go from about 20 percent of our national economy (GDP) today to roughly 30 percent by 2030. There is currently no plan to pay for it all other than running up the national debt.

For more of the real story, read up on The Fiscal Wake Up Tour (a bi-partisan group of economic patriots who came to Nashville on Monday) and listen to U.S. Congressman Jim “Coop” Cooper (D – the fightin’ 5th!), who issued the following statement in response to the President’s comments today:

“I don’t blame President Bush for emphasizing positive economic news. But he has borrowed more money from foreign nations than every President in American history combined. His own Treasury Department says that the true budget deficits in recent years are twice as large as the President admits. The Comptroller General says that federal obligations were $20 trillion when Bush took office but have skyrocketed to $50 trillion just six years later. The leading credit analyst on Wall Street, Standard & Poors, is projecting that the U.S. will lose its AAA credit rating by 2012. These aren’t Democratic attacks, but truthful statements from the nation’s top budget experts.

“On Monday, U.S. Comptroller General David Walker and a bipartisan group of leading policy experts came to Nashville to talk about the true state of our nation’s finances. And each member of the ‘Fiscal Wake Up Tour’ delivered the same message: our nation long-term financial outlook is dire. We must act soon to prevent fiscal disaster.

“We can solve these problems before they get out of hand, but it will require honesty from our elected officials. President Bush missed a great opportunity today.”

The Concord Coalition, a Fiscal Wake-Up Tour participant, has also suggested some questions we should all be asking the 2008 presidential candidates.

Only 550 days to go and counting.

At Liberadio(!), one of our favorite things is to talk to people about politics, especially when the person on the other end of the conversation is a politician or politician in the making. We’ve personally talked to a number of the candidates for this year’s Metro General Election, scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 2nd (early voting going on now), and we’ve seen every major candidate at several open
forums. In addition, we’ve interviewed as many of the candidates as our schedule (or theirs) would allow.

We deliberated for quite some time about whether or not to endorse at all, ever. And especially in this election, where there are so many qualified candidates for the various offices, many of whom we like both personally and politically. It is a tough thing to play favorites in a public forum. But, like one of the mayoral candidates we decided not to endorse has repeated over and over (and over) again, we love this city and want to work toward continuing to improve it, and elections are the most direct way to nudge our public institutions forward.

While reading and considering the props we’re giving to certain candidates, keep in mind that we admire everyone who has the courage to fill out a nominating petition and the stamina to campaign for the duration of, well, the campaign.

Liberadio(!) endorses the following folks who we think would do the best job leading Nashville further into the 21st century:

Mayor
David Briley — David began his campaign with perfect pitch, honing in on an issue that Al Gore has turned into a global phenomenon: the environment. His leadership on the council has helped ensure that new Metro buildings will be LEED-certified, and his leadership in the mayor’s office would go a long way toward establishing Nashville as one of the South’s most sustainable cities. He clearly recognizes the connection between environmental leadership and economic opportunity.

Even better, he understands the role of technology in Nashville’s future. In addition to wanting all of Nashville’s children to be digitally literate — with plans to provide computers to as many as possible — he also wants them and all Nashvillians to be online. He has ambitious plans for our broadband infrastructure and wireless access.

David is also a firm believer in, supporter of, and participant in our local public schools. If you haven’t heard his story about Lockeland Springs, hear it before you vote. David’s son Sam is about to be school-aged, and David has worked hard in his community to ensure that his local elementary school would be a school where he’d be proud to send his son.

David is the only candidate who sincerely seems to understand the importance of having a vision for Nashville that extends beyond the permanent campaign to a second term and higher office. In fact, he has pledged that a mayoral seat would be the last he would seek if elected. This is not a permanent campaign, but it is a campaign for Nashville’s future.

Lastly, in both public forums and in private conversations, David has answered questions directly (no small feat for a politician) with reasonable, thoughtful, and forward-thinking answers.

Vice Mayor
Diane Neighbors — The best thing that can be said about Diane Neighbors is that she is not Carolyn Baldwin Tucker. Okay, that’s not fair. There are plenty of good things that can be said about her. But at least she’s not Carolyn Baldwin Tucker, who came across as downright bigoted in the civil rights bill debate of 2003.

We think Diane would be a sober, disciplined leader of the council, which would be her primary responsibility as Vice Mayor. For a council that will likely have a lot of new faces, her reserved demeanor (which is not without forcefulness) would be preferable to Ms. Tucker’s penchant for impassioned outbursts.

Plus, she taught Freddie in pre-school and he turned out just fine!

Council at Large

• Brady Banks — Brady has demonstrated a work ethic during this campaign that possibly exceeds those of his hard-working peers. His commitment to this race is matched by his commitment to issues in his platform that are issues we see as important to the future of Nashville, including a strong commitment to improving mass transit. Brady also has a good sense of humor, which will be an asset for the council in the post-Dread era.
• Megan Barry — Barry is an ethics hawk, and if the Bush era has taught us anything, it’s that we need to be more mindful of the ethical stature of our candidates and elected officials. She also fully understands the importance of public school funding, having worked on fundraising campaigns for our local schools. The Council would be a much more effective body under her watchful eye.
• Richard Exton — Richard is a long-time appraiser, which wouldn’t ordinarily make us automatically think that someone was a natural candidate. But in Richard’s case, he couples his deep knowledge of Nashville’s housing market with a deep commitment to affordable housing. We think that he would be an excellent leader on this important issue in the council. Despite his silly campaign slogan, we recommend marking your ‘x’ for Exton.
• Jerry Maynard — We had the honor of being Jerry’s radio neighbor for 13 weeks on WNSG. His show is called “In Perspective,” and Jerry has wonderful perspective. His ability to bring people together to discuss difficult issues affecting our community is remarkable, and we feel that he would be an excellent leader who could drive consensus.
• Peter Westerholm — Though not a natural politician, Peter is naturally thoughtful. And with a background in budget and finance at the state level, he will be well-equipped to ensure that our local tax dollars are being spent intelligently. We’re on the same page with him when he talks about “smart growth.” And if more people dressed as well as Peter, Nashville’s economic growth would almost certainly increase. Maybe he’ll push for the creation of a Civic Fashion Center.

Each voter is able to vote for 5 at-large council candidates.

The voices of Liberadio(!) live in different council districts, and each district has its own unique set of local issues, so no endorsements will be forthcoming at the district level.

Though we’ve carefully considered the entire ballot, we encourage you to do the same. And then go vote!

Last night, I briefly attended the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender mayoral forum sponsored by Nashville’s GLBT Chamber of Commerce. Although I was there for only a very short time, I can declare it the best mayoral forum EVER. Seriously. Hors d’œuvres and a full bar? Genius.

The at-large candidates who were there were given a chance to introduce themselves. Megan Barry, Peter Westerholm, Ronnie Steine, Luvenia Butler, and Saletta Holloway did so from the left side of the room, Dave Pelton from the right.

Five of the mayoral candidates attended (Briley, Dean, Dozier, Eaton & Gentry), one declined (Clement), and one did not respond (Tisdale).

I heard the opening statements before heading out. David Briley said that as a councilman he had stood up for what was right when the anti-discrimination ordinance was voted on and as mayor he promised to continue to stand up for what is right. Karl Dean said that Nashville needs to be a city that celebrates diversity. Buck Dozier tried to appeal to the members of the GLBT Chamber of Commerce by declaring that he’s always been pro-business. Kenneth Eaton said, once again, that he’s different than the rest of the pack because he’s not a politician. Then he gave a plug for his wife’s hair salon.

Howard Gentry was the last to make his statement. In 2003, Gentry, as Vice Mayor, cast the tie-breaking vote which defeated an anti-discrimination ordinance which would have outlawed employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and disability. I think everyone expected the vote to be brought up during the forum but I don’t think anyone, even Gentry, expected him to bring it up during his opening statement. But, he said, he knew he had to address it after he was “accosted” prior to the event by someone who scolded him for showing up.

Now, even if his statement was political calculus instead of heartfelt mea culpa, it was still powerful. Gentry began by saying he had prayed for guidance before he cast the infamous vote and he also prayed last night that he would say “what is in his heart.” He said that we all have to make tough decisions in life and the night he cast the vote he concluded that the bill was about hatred and “all that was going on at that time” and he felt that he had an opportunity to end it. But, he said, he knows now that his decision hurt people “like he had been hurt early in his life” and so he came to the forum not to explain his vote but “to ask for forgiveness” for the pain he may have caused. He ended by saying that even though there is more to Howard Gentry than this one vote, his daily discussions, confrontations, and interviews on the topic have equipped him to understand this situation better than any other candidate.

In just under two minutes Howard Gentry explained his vote, asked for forgiveness, looked to the future, turned his negative into a positive, and radiated humanity. Nicely done.

Tomorrow, Thursday, July 19, is Vanderbilt University’s “Meet the Candidates” picnic. Sponsored by the Office of Community, Neighborhood and Government Relations, this event is becoming quite an election year tradition and gives voters a good dose of “old fashioned politicking.” This year, all mayoral, vice mayoral, council at-large, and council district candidates will have a chance to stand on a soapbox in Vanderbilt’s “public square” and introduce themselves to the audience, schmooze the crowd, and hand out campaign literature. A complimentary lunch will be provided (probably Oscar Mayor hot dogs) and a live Dixieland jazz band will provide the entertainment.

The Vanderbilt candidates’ pickanic starts at 11:30 a.m. on the Vanderbilt campus at Olin Lawn, located on 25th Avenue between Garland and Highland avenues. In the event of rain, the location will be the Memorial Practice Gym.

We’ll be there doing our best Yogi and Boo Boo, but for those of you who can’t make it, live streaming video will be available on VUCast, beginning at 11:30 a.m. that day.

Senator Harry Reid grew some “thatchers” suddenly, which I am going to consider a special birthday present for Vince Guaraldi, The Hoff, and me.

Senate Republicans are threatening to filibuster a bill by Senators Levin and Reed that would require President Bush to begin troop withdrawal within 120 days, with most coming home by April 2008. Reid stated on the Senate floor yesterday that if Republicans will not allow a vote on the Amendment, he would use his special magical powers a majority leader to keep the Senate in session “straight through the night on Tuesday” thereby forcing Republicans to carry out their filibuster threat:

“It’d be one thing for the minority to vote against this bill; if they honestly think stay-the-course is the right strategy, they have the right to vote no. But now Republicans are using a filibuster to block us from even voting on an amendment that could bring this war to a responsible end.”

It’s probably true that Senate Democrats won’t have the votes to stop a Republican filibuster, but it sure is nice that they’re trying to hold Senators accountable to the American people for a vote on this thing. I’d certainly like to see who’s for and who’s against ignoring our wishes, disregarding the advice of military experts, and staying the Corker Course.

Filibuster Trivia: The longest filibuster – which derives from the Dutch word meaning “pirate” – on record is from South Carolina’s J. Strom Thurmond, who in 1957 filibustered against the Civil Rights Act for 24 hours and 18 minutes.

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Summary: In this episode we interview Dr. Colin Dayan, the Robert Penn Warren Professor in the Humanities at Vanderbilt and author of “The Story of Cruel & Unusual,” a powerful book which takes a hard look at the American penal system and finds the roots of the recent prisoner abuse scandals at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay in the dismantling of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual” punishment. We cover the history of the Eighth Amendment, the interpretation of it by our courts, the effect certain court decisions have had on our penal system, the parsing of words like “severe,” “significant,” “extreme,” and “serious,” and phrases like “prolonged mental harm,” and “degrading treatment,” and whether or not Vice President Dick Cheney’s championing of the presidential power to torture can be included in his articles of impeachment.

Listen to: How Do They Sleep at Night? (25:37 23.5MB)