Tennessean Letter to Editor all critical of Bill Freeman and the trash truck sign deal

The Tennessean printed four letters to the  editor today (12-31-2014) and all four were critical of Bill Freeman and the trash truck sign deal.

Would Bill Freeman's sign on this truck make you
want to vote for him?  Does the Freeman garbage
truck deal stink?

Mayoral candidate Charles Robert Bone had contracted and paid for Gray's Disposal to carry his signs on their garbage trucks during the mayoral campaign.  Bill Freeman contacted Gray and offered three time what Gray had already accepted from Bone and Freeman agreed to cover any legal cost if Bone sued Gray. Gray returned Bone's money and contracted with Freeman.

Letter writer Donald Griffin says, "In the business world this is known as breach of contract, and it reflects very much on the integrity of the individuals involved.  The citizens of Nashville should keep this in mind when they cast their votes in the election for Mayor."

Rebecca Weikert writes that Gray's Disposal is a corrupt business and provides poor service and, "Any candidate that thinks the public will think highly him/her by appearing to be endorsed by Gray's Disposal must have just fallen of the turnip truck."

Gene TeSelle, a regular letter writer, neighborhood leader and political activist, writes that Nashville does not need a billionaire mayor and that the conventional wisdom is that Freeman can pay any amount of money needed to get elected and, "his outbidding of Charles Robert Bone for campaign signs on trash trucks is and early, if bizarre, proof of it." He goes on to say that with Freeman's vast interest in development that Freeman's candidacy looks like a conflict of interest. "We need a mayor who thinks in terms of the people and their neighborhood," says TeSelle, "not just money and power."

Evan Davis writes that he thinks all politicians should be required to advertise exclusively on garbage trucks  as it would be first step toward political truth in advertising. They should also be allowed to advertise on septic tank pump-out trucks, he says.

One never knows if letters to the editor reflect what the public is thinking are what the newspaper wants to highlight.  Also, it is worth noting that two of the letters were from people who do not even life in Nashville and cannot vote in our mayor elections. Still, I suspect that a lot of people feel the way these letter writers do. I think Freeman has already gotten more bad publicity from the trash truck deal than the benefit of the name recognition he will get from having his signs on Gray's trucks. The Freeman garbage truck deal does stink.

Top Stories