Appearances, plural, of impropriety

In my opinion, this is the risk Nashville runs if it elects a career politician, such as Bob Clement, as mayor this fall. Nashville has been fortunate since Bill Boner left office in 1991 to have chief executives in office who, regardless of one's opinions on their initiatives and decisions, have generally gone out of their way to avoid controversy and the appearance of impropriety.

To be fair, Clement is probably known more for being bland than for being scandal-ridden, but hints of impropriety and corruption even prior to taking office are not encouraging signs. Let me say in alluding to Boner that Clement isn't likely to embarrass us on national television by playing harmonica with his mistress, but I still think his election would be a step backward, not forward for the city.

This also is not the kind of availability and responsiveness that, in my opinion, we need out of a future mayor: "Clement did not return calls for comment Tuesday."

Larry Woods, Clement's campaign manager, did respond when contacted by the City Paper: "There’s absolutely no involvement of those PACs on any level in the Clement campaign. They have not given us a dime and are not going to give us a dime."

In today's story, The City Paper also cited Woods' and Clement's explanations last July regarding a related incident:

“But Bob’s got the highest ethical standards of any public official I’ve ever worked with and rather than have questions about it, he wants to meet those high ethical standards,” Woods added. “And so that’s what the campaign’s doing.”

In a statement last summer, Clement said he believed the donations were legitimate.

“While I have been assured and advised that these committee donations are appropriate and proper, I think it is important for those of us who are privileged to seek and to hold public office to avoid even the appearance of anything that is less than the highest moral, ethical and legal standards,” Clement said.

This is one "appearance" that has not been avoided. Maybe this is all much ado about nothing, but I'm not hearing anything here that makes me think that Clement is the best candidate out of a crowded field to be our next mayor. Better and more informed takes on this issue are available here, here and here. Thanks to Kleinheider for raising awareness of this development.

If Karl Dean can keep this pace up...

... he'll have $5,182,000 by Nashville's election day (August 2, 2007). The City Paper just broke the following news about Dean's fundraising success on the campaign trail:

Mayoral candidate Karl Dean, who served as director of the Metro Law Department until January 9, raised $156,450 for his campaign between his departure from the department and mid-January, his campaign said today.

As of mid-January, Dean had $151,448 still on hand. That hopefully means he spent $5,002 on developing a visually pleasing and informative Web site, which his campaign continues to lack at present. Dean's balance is within $80,000 or so of Buck Dozier, who has been raising funds since January 2006. While this may be apples-to-oranges considering that the election is much closer now than when Dozier entered the race, Dean raised more money this month than Dozier did in the last six months of 2006. At the very least, this leaves me curious to see where the other candidates, particularly David Briley, weigh in as the fundraising deadline (Jan. 31) nears.

Show us the money

NashvillePost.com is reporting that mayoral candidate Buck Dozier has officially disclosed his campaign fundraising as required by election law:

In the last fundraising quarter, Dozier raised $102,734, bringing his campaign total to $319,300 thus far. Dozier also report that he presently has $228,000 in cash on hand.

Other mayoral candidates that will be filing by the end of the month are At-large Councilman David Briley, former Congressman Bob Clement, former Metro Law Director Karl Dean, businessman Kenneth Eaton, Vice Mayor Howard Gentry, and community activist Dave Pelton.

That's a significant war chest for a campaign with a full roster of candidates. I am very curious to see how Bob Clement (whom some see as the early frontrunner) and Howard Gentry (whom some are concerned will struggle to raise enough money to remain competitive) report. They are required to do so by January 31. I'm especially curious to see how the two progressive candidates, David Briley and Karl Dean, stack up compared to each other and to the rest of the field.

Vote for mayor like it's 1999

Update: Liz Garrigan's column referenced below is now online.

I’m hoping Nashville Scene editor Liz Garrigan is right in the remarks she wrote for this week’s issue (not online yet). Attempting to forecast the upcoming mayoral race, Garrigan compares Bob Clement in 2007 to Dick Fulton in 1999. Fulton served as Nashville’s mayor from 1975 to 1987 and continues to be a respected figure in the community. Seeking to return to the office twelve years later, Fulton emerged as the frontrunner based on name recognition before placing a distant second to Bill Purcell on Election Day. As Garrigan notes, he humbly conceded the race even though he qualified for a runoff because Purcell was the clear, though not majority, choice of the electorate.

Clement, a career politician looking to make a comeback, may well be in Fulton’s shoes as the next election inches closer. I’ve made it clear in previous posts that I consider Clement – along with Buck Dozier and Howard Gentry – to be less-than-appealing options for the city’s next leader. Garrigan agrees:

Bob Clement is this year’s version of Dick Fulton – a man who has little vision for a city that has changed dramatically over the last decade or two, someone who’s already had a full political career (less distinguished than Fulton’s was, it would be fair to say) and the kind of not-so-fresh candidate we predict will hide behind meaningless press releases and innocuous appearances, instead handling questions in writing rather than handling tough questions live, the way he responded to inquiries from The Nashville Business Journal at the end of the year.

Garrigan is calling for Dozier to face David Briley or Karl Dean (who continues to decline to launch a Web site) in a runoff where “the voters couldn’t have a starker contrast in candidates.” I’m hoping she’s right, and I hope Briley or Dean emerge as Nashville’s next mayor. In the meantime, I hope the two of them will sit down for coffee and figure out which one of them has the better shot at winning and which one ought to run for vice-mayor instead. [Aside to both: I will likely vote for either of you compared to the field, so please stop dividing the progressive vote.]