Metro Election Shows Dean Has Short Coattails
Everyone knew the mayor’s race would be a blowout. Without a major challenger, Mayor Karl Dean easily buried virtual nobodies in low turnout election.
But going into his second term, it’s now clear what he won’t be able to do. First, the Tennessee State Fairgrounds referendum results show there sure are a lot of people who don’t want him messing with the property.
It’s a pretty good signal when “for ratification” doesn’t pass by just a small percentage but by a more than 2-to-1 margin and falls only 7,118 votes short of the total votes for Dean (50,377). And little money was spent to get the approval passed, perhaps less than what’s typically spent on a district council race.
Secondly, Dean won’t be able to hold any more sway over the Metro Council than he already has. Instead of fighting the referendum, Dean’s campaign applied a broader tactic of trying to gain greater sway over council by filling it with more friendly members. But the machine sputtered in the process and may have ensured the council has more resolve in pushing back on any Dean agenda, making the council less of a rubber stamp.
Before the election, observers had questioned if Dean’s coattails were long enough to carry many candidates into office. It appears they aren’t long enough.
Turnout in the election of 18 percent was on par with former Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell’s reelection for a second term. There were roughly 2,000 more votes this time for mayor than for Purcell.
Still, Dean’s 79 percent, however, didn’t top former Mayor Bill Purcell’s 84.8 percent margin of victory over nobodies in that election. Dean may have landed more votes had the IQT Solutions deal not blown up during early voting or the convention center ruling over the land price not put the project in jeopardy of busting its budget.
That’s what may have hurt him in the district council races instead of the mayoral race because there was no serious challenge to him. Had there been a serious challenger, it is unlikely Dean would have been spending money in district races.
Dean was criticized for getting involved with individual races. But his camp’s spin was they were supporting “independent thinkers” who desired the progress Dean was presenting. That’s an interesting view of independent thinking. Wouldn’t independent mean independent of Dean’s thinking as well?
The machine failed miserably at trying to unseat Councilman Jason Holleman, who was a major critic of the convention center and viewed as one of “No” crowd. The mayor’s supporters lavished Holleman’s challenger Sarah Lodge Tally with a lot of money and time only to get trounced as Holleman.
Dean and his supporters couldn’t beat incumbent Councilman Duane Dominy, another thorn in the mayor’s side. The run-off will decide whether Dean’s supporters fail against Councilman Robert Duvall. David Glasgow, who Dean appointed to the Metro Tourism and Convention Commission, was beat in the open challenge for District 18.
The next four years is going to be interesting as Dean deals with budget issues and tries to move forward on initiatives such as a new ballpark for the Nashville Sounds. He’s not going have an overly friendly council.
