Drug Dealers to the Left of Him, Metro Council Member to the Right

A resident of the McFerrin Park area of East Nashville calling himself "Rainman" gives some harrowing accounts--at an online forum for automotive chats--of what it is like to live a transitional neighborhood that Animal Control would not even enter to pick up strays for fear of violence. As a community leader he writes that he spent a lot of time both talking personally with the criminal element around his neighborhood and defending himself when they assaulted him. He writes that he bought up crack pipes from corner stores so that they could not be used and he made himself visible in his neighborhood so that people knew who he was.

While his disclosures about the things he would do to organize the neighborhood and drive out criminals are captivating alone, his allegations about Council Member Pam Murray, particularly with regard to irregularities he charges in her campaign, are the big attention-grabbers:

I thought the best way to change the neighborhood was through the local elected officials. The Mayor and his office were pretty good to us. And our Council Lady was pretty good at first. I eventually found out that she was involved (at least casually) in the drugs and crime that ran rampant in the area ....

[In 2007,] I fielded an opposition candidate and lost .... Still, the election was close. We faced an opponent that gave out "walking around" money, burgers if you voted for her (within 10 feet of the polling areas), and was widely supported by the local drug dealers. I was a poll watcher in McFerrin Park and witnessed 4 fraudulent voters who claimed to live in houses owned by my friends. One bearded, inked, old white guy claimed to live at the same address as two open lesbians. He was followed to another polling station where he also voted. Eventually I shut down the polling station and had to talk the police out of arresting me while we waited on election officials to respond to my complaints. Did I mention that the polling station was ENTIRELY run by the oppositions camp?

If these allegations are true, they make the whole electronic vs. paper ballot debate look like a tame game of red rover.