Five more people pick up qualifying petitions in race for mayor, vice mayor or metro council.

by Rod Williams, 5-4-2019 - Since last week, only five more people have picked up qualifying petitions. There are no districts where no one has picked up a petition but there are several where only one person has picked up a petition. John Cooper has picked up his qualifying petition to run for mayor.

Thankfully, in District 16 someone else has picked up a qualifying petition. It is a person by the name of Paul King.  I don't know him, but anyone would be better than the other person who has picked up a petition who is Genny Welsch. She is left-wing activist and a founding member of the low-power left-wing radio station Radio Free Nashville.  Welsch is often seen at left wing protest gatherings advocating the liberal cause of the moment.

In the race for council at large, there are now fifteen candidates running for the five seats. I plan on voting for Steve Glover only. One may vote for up to five candidates but to do so weakens the influence of your vote. You may think of it like this; voting for only one candidate is almost the equivalent of casting five votes for that candidate.

There is still time for one to qualify to run for mayor, vice mayor or Metro Council. One may pick up a qualifying petition up until the deadline for turning in qualifying petitions which is noon May 16th. It only takes the name of 25 voters to qualify. One can get that many names in one evening, if you also purchase a voter registration list so you are only knocking on the doors of registered voters. Almost anyone will sign a qualifying petition if you explain they are simply signing to allow your name to be on the ballot. If you are at all interested in running, get qualified. If you then find that someone else who you could support is running or someone else is too formidable for you to beat is running, you could simply not turn in the petition. Once a qualifying petition is submitted and the petition is approved, then a candidate may withdraw his name up until noon May 23rd. Please, if you know someone who lives in one of those districts with a liberal council member and no challenger or only one candidate and know the person to be liberal, please run yourself or encourage someone to run. At this point, a sensible liberal who is concerned about Metro's debt, which is the highest per capita in the nation, would be an improvement over some of the progressive candidates who are running.

Below is the list of those who have picked up qualifying petitions to run for the office of mayor, vice mayor, at-large and district council seats as of Friday, May 3rd. Circled are the names of those I would vote for if these were the only choices and I knew only what I know today, the elections were today and I could vote in that contest. My selections are preliminary. I may be changing my mind, depending on who else gets in the race or as I learn more about the candidates.

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