Briley on the offensive against Clement
The other candidates stuck to their usual talking points, but David Briley made sure to get in his shots at Bob Clement during last night’s West Nashville Presidents Council Mayoral Forum.
When Clement said that he intended to expand the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhoods by developing a Mayoral Advisory Council featuring representation from the city’s 14 subareas, Briley responded to the same question by calling Clement’s idea “another layer of bureaucracy.” Instead, Briley said that he would “improve what’s already there” in the office as it is currently structured and that he would work to improve communication between the office and the citizenry by holding frequent roundtables and creating an online forum.
Following a lengthy and rambling response to another question by Clement, one where the candidate departed from the question topic and returned to his more familiar talking points, Briley began his own answer to the question by saying, “Let’s see if we can get back to the question.” Briley did just that by stating that he would be “more pro-preservation than pro-development” in terms of Nashville’s growth. He noted that a recent visit by the New York Times’ Frugal Traveler focused on the “oldest and dirtiest” aspects of the city, the remnants of Nashville’s history that make it unique and intriguing.
After Clement, not Briley, was asked how he would be a “green mayor,” a phrase Briley has championed in his campaign, Briley took time when replying to an unrelated question to say that he wants to be the green mayor. He went on to say that he had focused on the environment “not since I started running for mayor, but throughout [his] eight years on the [Metro] Council,” a remark aimed squarely at Clement.
In his closing remarks, Briley emphasized that he “knows what is going on in the city” and that he had “given specific answers” to the questions asked during the evening rather than resorting to more general and less conversational talking points. Clement, who is not one of the stronger speakers among the candidates, did appear to stick to prepared messages more than the other four candidates for most of the forum.
Karl Dean, Buck Dozier and Howard Gentry didn’t seem to take Briley’s approach, but it’s clear that Briley has decided to make perceived frontrunner Clement his primary target at this point in the race. Since there have been some rumblings of late that Briley’s campaign may be losing momentum, the candidate spent last night doing his best to shift his energy firmly back in gear.
In a race that has been going on for months south of the general public’s radar, this is a likely sign that things may finally be heating up.
June 8th, 2007 at 9:44 am
This just proves that Briley knows he is in trouble. He should be more worried about Dean splitting his base. The more negative he goes, the more he will lose his potential undecided vote to Dean or Gentry. This tactic might fire up his base a little but it will not play well to the general public. He will be seen as too immature to be mayor, trying to pick fights with a proven public servant. It’s like the also-rans in the presidential debates this year, trying to get attention while they are fading off into a footnote.
By the way, Clement secured the federal funding to build all the greenways in Nashville over a decade ago and the first mass transit option. Just because Briley was one of the “co-sponsors” of the LEED legislation that just passed the council it does not give him an exclusive right to all environmental issues. He is just ripping off Chicago’s Mayor Daly anyways, every single idea he has proposed has come straight from the legislation that passed in Chicago more than five years ago.
June 8th, 2007 at 10:02 am
Heh…Briley is looking to other major cities for proven ideas on how to improve Nashville; Clement is looking to commentors on his website…I suppose each has his own approach to Government.
June 8th, 2007 at 10:02 am
Briley losing momentum? Where is your post on how Dean has been exclusively on TV for over a month and has gone nowhere? Thats a lack of momentum.
June 8th, 2007 at 10:16 am
It’s hard to gauge “nowhere” without an independent poll, which I understand is coming later this month or in early July. I have no idea where the field really stands right now, but I’m curious to know.
June 8th, 2007 at 10:44 am
I think that Woodrow is right–Briley’s attempt to engage Clement simply shows how badly his campaign is floundering. I believe that his new engagement philosophy will backfire, however, as his inability to take a stand on tough votes over the last eight years, as well as his campaign focus on policies that appeal to a relatively narrow segment of society (the “Liberal Intelligentsia”), opens him up to attack by the other candidates. Now I doubt that Clement will do much in response, as Briley appears to be only slightly ahead of Eaton at this point, but should Briley actually have some success, I would guess that some actual facts about him and his policies and views will be used by Clement and the other candidates.
I also think that it is funny how you talk about Clement departing from the question topic, yet you ignore that Briley was asked a question, spent ten seconds on the question, then covered a question asked of Clement, a “Green Mayor” question. For whatever reason, if you step one foot into the area of environmental issues, the Briley fiefdom, he just cannot contain himself and has to suggest that he is the only one with any ideas about the environment. Someone who really cares about this city and not just his own personal political future would be happy if the other candidates were to embrace his policies (which is not to say that Clement or any other candidate have simply adopted Briley’s policies)—to do otherwise is simply to show one’s actual colors and pettiness. Incidentally, if Briley has been so very serious about this issue “over the last eight years”, why did he wait until he was running for Mayor to introduce his “environmental package” to the Metro Council?
If Briley thinks that coming across as a high school senior is the best approach (i.e.—acting as if he knows everything, answering questions he wasn’t asked, getting mad if he doesn’t get complete credit for ideas that have been out there for years, and attacking others who have been nothing but civil with him), then more power to him—maybe there are some voters out there to whom this kind of behavior appeals, but I think that those of us who are just common, everyday citizens will reject it and vote for a more serious candidate who actually shares our values and has the experience to lead this city.
June 8th, 2007 at 10:49 am
No, he is trying to pass off these ideas as revolutionary and the title of “Green Mayor” is already on Mayor Daly’s resume. Dean has spent (wasted) half a million already on tv while only a fraction of the population even knows there’s a mayors race going on and most of them think the election is not until Nov.
June 8th, 2007 at 11:25 am
Good comment Roger, the high school senior comparison hits the nail right on the head.
June 8th, 2007 at 11:58 am
[...] Briley went after the frontrunner at a Mayoral forum over on the West side last night. Go see the Thinktrain for some exclusive citizen journalism. Here’s a taste: Karl Dean, Buck Dozier and Howard [...]
June 8th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Personally I’ve never heard Briley claim that he is the first in the country to look into green programs. Now, as far as being the “Green Mayor,” he wants to be the “Green Mayor” of Nashville, not the Country. He seems to be arguing more that he will be the first Mayor to put a strong emphasis on the environment…you are free to disagree with that if you like, I’m not sure because I’ve only been here 6 years.
June 8th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
I think Briley went after Clement because he has finally realized that Dean is not his competition. Dean’s obvious lack of moment in numbers from 3 weeks of tv ad buys have finally shown Briley that Clement is his real competition since he can move little if any of Buck or Howard’s support his way. This should really make for a good race until August 3rd and a good run-off after that between Clement and Briley.