A Curious Sequence of Events in Local Campaign History

Red flags are flapping across the following timeline.

• June 2006 -- According to the 07/06/2006 Nashville Scene:
  

  Sheriff Daron Hall’s department was the direct beneficiary of more than $250,000 worth of budget shifting last week when, at the last minute, the Metro Council robbed the paltry funding of the Metro Arts Commission (it started at $2.3 million) to pad Hall’s already flush $67.8 million budget—all in the course of passing the city’s $1.5 billion budget for the new fiscal year .... Council member Charlie Tygard, who proposed the budget amendment (which narrowly passed by a 14 to 13 margin) points to the weighing needs of the Sheriff’s Office as the reason for the Peter-to-Paul fund transfer.

• October 2006 -- The Friends of Charlie Tygard received a $500 donation from The Friends of Daron Hall (Sheriff), according to Mr. Tygard's 07/01/06-01/15/07 campaign financial disclosure forms.

If the standard that we use is not just the avoidance of unethical entanglements but the avoidance of the appearance of unethical entanglements, then the sequence of the budget transfer and the campaign donation is problematic.

There may be no connection, but the mere appearance of an improper connection should have been anticipated by Daron Hall, if not by Charlie Tygard. (An unrelated aside: Sheriff Hall had to deal with news of other ethics problems in his office in December 2006). $500 is a lot of money for one "Friends of" group to give to another at any time, let alone only 3 months after Mr. Tygard lead a $250,000 transfer of Metro funds to benefit the Sheriff's Office.

This sequence of events opens more questions about Mr. Tygard's integrity and fitness for an at-Large seat.