Speaking of Bill Boner, is City Paper commenter “mac” right? Is there a “dolt” among our slate of mayoral candidates ready to take the reins in City Hall?

Nashvillians, however, no longer want their mayor to be a dolt. We have moved on in that regard.

Have we? I’m sure my subtlety, while more demure than mac’s, in asking this question won’t be lost on those who see the race differently than me. Still, is mac right? While I don’t think any of the candidates register on the “doltmeter” the way only Boner could, would any of them really be an embarrassment to the city if they took office? Share your thoughts in the comments if you like.

Do we have Bill Boner to thank for Nashville’s recent legacy of sound mayoral leadership?

Longtime Nashvillians know Boner as a lawyer, a politician and, eventually, an embarrassment to the city on the national level. For those who don’t know Bill, Wikipedia explains:

In 1987, Nashville Mayor (and former Fifth District Congressman) Richard Fulton was prevented from running for a fourth term. Boner quickly jumped into the race. He was opposed by a large field, notably managed health care executive Phil Bredesen. Boner and Bredesen finished first and second respectively; the Nashville charter requires a mayor to be elected by a majority, so Boner and Bredesen as the top two finishers met in a runoff. Boner won, largely by emphasizing that he was a Nashville native and Bredesen was a Northerner (he was born in New Jersey and grew up in Upstate New York).

Shortly after becoming mayor, Boner’s personal life came to the forefront. Already thrice-married, with his current wife being a former law school classmate, Boner nonetheless announced his engagement to Traci Peel, an aspiring entertainer. He proceeded to purchase a large, ostentatious engagement ring for her (the stone later proving to be a cubic zirconium). The story became a sensation, and Boner and Peel appeared jointly on the then-popular Donahue television program, on which Peel sang and Boner displayed his considerable skill with the harmonica. Later, in a Tennessean interview, Peel announced that Boner was capable of “seven hours of passion.” Many, perhaps most, Nashvillians were appalled at how this seemed to live down to the worst possible stereotype of their city, and Boner’s political future, at least for the time being, was destroyed. (Boner eventually received a divorce from his third wife, Betty, and married Peel. Their marriage was short-lived and Boner subsequently married a fifth wife, who has since made public allegations of adultery against him.)

I ask that question because, as a ninth-grader in 1987, I was unable to cast a vote and had to watch silently in disappointment as Boner defeated Bredesen. Before long, Boner’s personal life eclipsed his mayoral duties and cast a long shadow over a city already longing for a more positive civic identity.

There were plenty of things I wanted to say to Boner during that time, but none of them amounted to “thank you.” In retrospect, though, I wonder if I should reconsider. While Boner’s antics did Nashville no favors in terms of its reputation, his behavior did ultimately lead to the election of Bredesen, who proved to be an excellent mayor (and an equally good governor, I would say) in 1991. By the time Bill Purcell emerged to defeat native sons Richard Fulton and Jay West in 1999, having a progressive northerner as mayor was no longer a scandalous or frightening possibility. So, while debating whether to plant my tongue at least slightly in my cheek, do we owe Bill Boner thanks for lending Nashville a hand in the long run?

Note: If you didn’t make it to the full Wikipedia entry on Boner, he has my sympathy at least for one thing. At last report he was working as a teacher at Franklin High School, and if you ask me, no educator should be cursed with that last name for students to ridicule.

Thanks to the Mom and Pop Culture Shop for the photo above.