Republican Davidson County Election Commissioners Force Appeal Of Referendum Ruling

In a partisan vote, the Davidson County Election Commission voted Friday afternoon to appeal a court’s decision to kill a July 27 special election.

The referendum is a second attempt to drastically shrink elected officials’ power. Chancellor Russell T. Perkins struck the election down on Tuesday, saying some of its provisions were illegal.

But a lawyer hired by the commission, James Blumstein, says they should try again in the state’s more conservative appeals courts. He wants the Tennessee Supreme Court to pick up the case.

He says the first step is for the commission to cancel the July election date but should push ahead.

“Out of respect for Chancellor Perkins and the rule of law. We are bound by the chancellor while his opinion is still valid,” Blumstein explains as he lays out the next course of action. He says in order to have an election before Oct. 1, when the tax bill is officially set, the commission needs to get to work appealing Perkins’ decision and setting a new tentative election date.

At a commission meeting held to decide how to respond to Perkins’ ruling, questions were raised about a conflict of interest regarding Blumstein’s review of an early draft of the referendum. He says he gave advice to clean up the language of the referendum to its main backer, Jim Roberts, a lawyer and Blumstein’s former student.

But the Republican commissioners largely ignored that, even though they had dismissed their previous outside counsel, Bill Koch, over a conflict of interest. They said he was too close to Metro.

During the meeting, a Democrat on the commission asked the Republican chair to hear resident’s opinions before making a decision. A resident, an elected official and a Metro worker union rep asked the commission not to appeal. Councilmember Tom Cash says that people wanting to make change should try another strategy.

“I’m not here to diminish the mission of 4 Good Government or those who want to have an influence over public tax policy,” he says.

But 4 Good Government has not been involved in the case. Blumstein said he had advised Roberts to withdraw and let the commission handle it.

The city has spent at least $53,504.80 defending the referendum — just through April. Blumstein told commissioners his hourly rate is $800. A second attorney, Austin McMullen, is charging the city just over $400.