Two At-Large Candidates are Metro Council Resurrections

Today, in the second of a three part series, we take a look at who’s running for the four open at-large Metro Council seats. We started with the three term-limited councilmen who are vying for the open seats, J.B. Loring, Ronnie Greer and Charlie Tygard. All three ran up against term limits for the district seat they held, but are still looking to run despite a considerable amount of controversy.

But the race has two other familiar names. Both Saletta Holloway and Ronnie Steine are resurrecting their Metro Council careers.

At-large candidate Ronnie Steine was once a widely popular Metro councilman, a vice mayor and even candidate for Congress. Then he was caught stealing a pack of football cards in late 2001.

STEINE: “It’s obviously not something I choose to promote, but no, I mean it’s something for which I make no excuse about.”

With his elbows resting on a desk in his Church Street campaign office, Steine says he’s been fielding lots of questions about his rocky past from voters, but he isn’t shying away from it.

Steine says he focused on getting his act together and now co-owns a travel agency.

STEINE: “About a year and a half ago I decided that I didn’t want my past to define my future and that I really wanted the opportunity to give back to the community again and that’s when I embarked on this at-large race.”

Steine is the only candidate in the field of eight who has held one of the countywide positions. He says his experience with the city budget could help to the next council.

Steine suggests building more bridges with the Metro School Board and meeting regularly the board instead of waiting for the crisis of budget cuts to begin discussion. And Steine says there will be lengthy budget debates across Metro.

STEINE: “I think we’re inheriting a tight budget. We will be looking at a variety of things that are going to ask for more revenue and we’ve got to figure out how to manage this city the best we can with as little revenue as we can, and that’s going to be a very difficult thing to do.”

Former council member and fellow resurrected candidate Saletta Holloway says if elected she’ll look more closely at the line-items of each department’s budget.

HOLLOWAY: “We’ve got to start asking for more accountability in the departments, in those areas where we’re writing the checks, more or less. We’ve got to see everything and be more critical in how we look at this stuff.”

Like Steine, Holloway has been in and out of the Metro Council, but without the controversy. Holloway, who works in the office of the president at Meharry Medical College, ran for an at-large seat and lost in the early 90s. Then she won a seat representing Antioch and served two terms.

HOLLOWAY: “I am one of those members who sat out a term because I was told its two terms and that we have to set out a term.”

Holloway has been lobbing grenades at the three term-limited council members who are in the race.

HOLLOWAY: “I can’t be nice about it. I’m disturbed that they are running and I guess that’s just me and I have to be disturbed. And if at some point I’m hurt in that one of them win and I do not, then at that point that’s when people are to push the button.”

Holloway means take legal action. And she says she will seriously consider filing a lawsuit if one of the three term-limited candidates wins and she doesn’t. The issue’s already been challenged in court by a candidate who didn’t make the run-off, but a judge ruled it was too late to stop the election.