Crafton Says He Will Not Try to Override Mayor's Veto or Pursue a Charter Amendment Through the Council; Doesn't Rule Out Petitions

NewsChannel5's Pat Nolen has the scoop:

[Council Member Eric] Crafton announces on my show that he will not seek to get the Council to override the Mayor's veto [of English Only/First] nor will he bring a charter amendment there. He says he just doesn't want "to put the Council through that" (OK, but what about the rest of us, Councilman? What makes you think we want to revisit all this again?)

By all means, save this Council's remaining threads of credibility before giving a second thought to the community's welfare. Brothers (and a few sisters) in arms, after all.

The actual translation: Eric "My Marching Orders Come From Voters" Crafton cannot get enough Council Member votes (which, incidently, come indirectly from Nashville voters) beyond the "English Only 23" to override or pass a charter amendment referendum. He'll probably be launching a petition drive in Davidson County instead. Says Nolan:

Crafton does seem poised to move full speed ahead with the petition campaign and Mayor Purcell wonders if another council sponsor might still try an override. But sometimes when a mayor vetoes a controversial matter like this, the sponsors get fewer votes on an override than they got when the bill was originally approved. If that happens, it wouldn't be a great start for the petition drive now would it?

Very rarely do petition drives of referendums designed to take something away from somebody else fail to include a lot of demagoguery, sophistry, and hyperbole. Get ready for Mr. Crafton to ply his partisan trade to try to get a critical mass of a segment of the Nashville community whipped up into the seething ire and hostility that he tends to channel in Council Meetings.

Hail the coming march of the hotheads, because their herald is already here.

HT: Richard Exton