Councilman Robert Swope was the victim of a malicious act of vandalism to his Dad's beloved car.

by Rod Williams - Councilman Robert Swope running for reelection in District 4, was the victim of 
a malicious act of vandalism Saturday during the last day of early voting. As an attention-getter, he had an antique car parked at the Edmondson Library early voting locations where he was campaigning.  Some one keyed the car. The car had great sentimental value to Robert.  Below is what he wrote to Facebook explaining what happened. You can feel his disgust about this and feel the love for that car.

I am utterly disgusted with the vitriolic hatred that some people live their lives within. I am running for re-election in a NON PARTISAN race. My personal beliefs have NO BEARING on the service I give to the City of Nashville. BUT... Today, the last day of early voting at Edmondson Library, after 8 days of meeting and greeting constituents from 8am though 7pm, ONE SICK SOB decided that only their viewpoint can be correct. At approximately 1:20 this afternoon, someone decided to KEY THE DOOR of the 1950 Chevy Fleetline Delux that i personally built/restored for my father and gave to him on his 60th birthday. It is the replica of his first car, and has been a pride within the family for over 18 years now. I can never match the paint again, and now have to repaint the entire car. Thank You. You just cost me months worth of grief, sweat and labor... not to mention money.
To whoever did this.... YOU ARE ONE SICK INDIVIDUAL. Please pray that I never find you. I just may do something I know I will regret. The Library is currently pulling up video footage for MNPD.... there WILL be more to this story.....

On June 16th Robert wrote about the car in a Father's Day tribute in an article published in The Tennessean in which several prominent Nashvilliams paid tribute to their fathers:

My father believed that there are only three things a man needs to do in life to succeed: Don’t lie, don’t cheat and don’t steal. He instilled in me if I did my homework, worked harder than those around me, and believed in myself, anything in the world was possible. He also taught me how to build a car.

When my dad turned 60, my family decided that he deserved a present he would never forget. My mother’s eyes teared up talking about his first car, the 1950 Chevy Fleetline that he cherished. He bought it worn out, rebuilt it, painted it his high school colors, courted and married my mother in it.

I found an unrestored, low-mileage, rust-free ‘50 Chevy in New Mexico and drove it back to Nashville. After hundreds of long hours on my part, the car was now completely restored, identical to my father’s original love. When I pulled into my parents’ driveway that August afternoon, surrounded by 200 people there to celebrate my father, he stopped in his tracks and almost fell over.

When I handed him the keys, he cried, I cried, my mother cried, everybody cried! It was one of those moments in life when I could say a real, tangible thanks to the man who raised me to believe that anything in the world was possible.

Twenty years later, my mother and father still regularly drive the Chevy. I love them both. Happy Father’s Day, Pop!

Regina and Robert Swope

Damage to this beloved car is a despicable act.  I hope whoever committed this criminal act is brought to justice.

Robert is facing a serious challenge in his race in District 4. While political parties usually stay out of the non-partisan council races, the Davidson County Democratic Party has targeted Robert for defeat and contributed money to his opponent and local Democrats are working for Robert's opponent.  Robert also, for some unknown reason, has incurred the wraft of a wealthy individual who has poured thousands of dollars into the campaign of Roberts opponent. That man is Emmit Jackson Martin. He contributed in his own name $1600, the maximum an individual can contribute, to Roberts opponent. He owns two pedal tavern companies and a company that provides river rides to tourist. In the name of these three companies he also made maximum contributions to Robert's opponents. Almost half of the money Robert's opponent has raised came from these two sources, The Democratic Party and Emmit Martin. Robert has not been on a campaign to ban pedal taverns and told me he does not know Mr. Martin nor his motivation for trying to defeat him.

Robert has also had a disadvantage this campaign season, in that he is on crutches and cannot campaign door to door.  A few months ago he was hit with a rare life-threatening infection that resulted in operations on his leg and weeks of rehabilitation.  For months he could not drive himself and his wife Regina had to chauffeur him everywhere he went. While he has recovered for the most part, he still has to use crutches.  As you can well imagine, this has hampered his ability to aggressively campaign.

With the election, this coming Thursday, time is short to impact the outcome.  However, last minute door-to-door, phone banking and election day poll workers can tip the balance in a tight race. To reach out to Robert and see it there is any help you could give him, contact him at Swope for Nashville.

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