Charlie's War: Tygard Accuses Fellow Council Member of Inciting the Public, Disrespecting Him, and Lacking Maturity

It appears that tempers hit their boiling point over the weekend as council members and constituents staged e-mail offensives in the wake of last week's announcement of Charlie Tygard's LED task force interest group.

Here is CM Tygard's salvo from last Friday at Anna Page for expressing disapproval of his LED bill on the District 16 listserv:

-----Original Message-----
From: Charlie Tygard [mailto:district35@comcast.net]
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2008 2:20 PM
To: anna@rebelhillflorist.com
Cc: councilmembers@nashville.gov; Neighbors, Diane (Vice Mayor)
Subject: Disappointment over your Email
Council Lady Page:
Words cannot express my disappointment over your email and comments made about the sign legislation pending before the Council and me personally. And to think you would distribute these comments throughout your District makes them even more disturbing.
It was never my intent to sponsor any legislation that would be harmful to Nashville. I was simply responding to a request from the BZA for guidance on a church issue in Bellevue. I asked Sonny West, Rick Bernhardt and Jon Cooper to collaborate on a bill to address this issue. Obviously, the 1st pass opened up a can of worms and required more deliberation and input, which is the process I thought we were going thru at this point.
Inciting the public before the process even begins shows your lack of understanding of the process and your disrespect for a fellow Councilmember. Things certainly have changed since my first term in Council in 1989 when colleagues could disagree with each other but not disrespect and disparage them in the community. Back then, maturity and respect were cornerstones of the Council. Apparently these values don't exist among our entire membership anymore.
At any rate, I look forward to Monday night when rational citizens with varying perspectives can convene around the table - identify issues, concerns and common points of agreement - and begin a process to forge a compromise bill, if possible, that addresses all viewpoints. I am sorry that you don't feel that rational discussion is the way to go.
Charlie Tygard

The listserv comments to which CM Tygard seemed to be referring were posted last Thursday:

Heads up neighbors... Councilman Tygard still thinks LED signs are the progressive way to go for our city. I hope many neighbors will be in attendance [at Monday night's meeting] to express how we feel about our streets being lit up like Vegas! .... we should try to be there to keep the "sign man" [Bobby Joslin(?)] and a couple of others in check.
Anna Page

After receiving Mr. Tygard's e-mail, CM Page sent her own missive back at him on Saturday:

-----Original Message-----
From: Anna Page [mailto:anna@rebelhillflorist.com]
Sent: Sat 4/26/2008 12:11 PM
To: Tygard, Charlie (Council At Large)
Cc: Council Members; Neighbors, Diane (Vice Mayor); Metro Nashville, 16th District
Subject: RE: Disappointment over your Email
Dear Councilman Tygard,
Please find attached the email from me on the District 16 listserv which discusses the current LED sign legislation and your sponsorship of that legislation. I do hope that you will please tell me what contained in it drew the need for a personal attack from you that questions my intelligence, my ability and my values in an email to the entire Metro Council.
I have always been civil and rational in my actions as a Councilmember as well as diligent in my representation of the District 16 constituents. There are a rainbow of reasons the constituents in District 16 are not on board with the current LED sign legislation.
Anna Page

Seeing this exchange reminded me of Liz Garrigan's 2004 observation about Charlie Tygard taking down other people's stature in order to advance his own.