Council member makes direct appeal to Nashville Chamber of Commerce members

CM Jamie Hollin is concerned that the Chamber of Commerce leadership asked council to defer his co-sponsored nondiscrimination bill based on the feedback of a fraction of the CoC membership. So he went around the former in an open letter to the latter at his blog:

Dear Members of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce:

It is my understanding there are over 2,000 of you, yet less than 300 (less than 15%) of you responded to the survey regarding BL2011-838, which adds “sexual orientation and gender identity” to Nashville’s procurement code for city contractors. Many of the companies represented on the Board of Directors already protect these classes in their nondiscrimination policies.

The Chamber sent a letter to the Council, which I am sure you know already. The letter asks for more time and a Chamber representative told News Channel 5 “[t]he bill is well intended, so lets make sure how it [can] be a stronger and better piece of legislation that addresses the needs and questions of businesses,” [Debby Dale] Mason said.

For the record, the sponsors have made themselves available for any questions, offered to address any of you individually or in groups, offered to participate in a forum or debate, if necessary. To date, we haven’t been asked to respond to any requests for information unless you count the letter we received today–the eve of the vote on Monday in committee, which seem to be taken straight from the pages of a Williamson County-based website.

So, if any of you have any questions to ask of me, one of the sponsors of the bill, please send me an email to jamie.hollin@nashville.gov or j.hollin@me.com. I promise to respond to each and every one of them ASAP. Please include your name, address and company you represent.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you,

Jamie R. Hollin

UPDATE: CM Hollin tweeted late Monday night no Chamber members responded to his direct appeal.