Metro Nashville Council Member Jeff Eslick detailed how the council has recently taken up resolutions surrounding statewide issues and how some members request that a hand vote be recorded as a “shaming move” against members who oppose the resolutions.
In addition to activists taking advantage of the public comment period during Metro Council meetings to speak on the current situation in the Middle East between Israeli and Hamas forces, Eslick said the council has taken up three different types of resolutions that “condemn or express disappointment with the state” in recent weeks.
Eslick (pictured above) said the three resolutions have specifically taken issue with the governor’s universal school choice bill currently making its way through the Tennessee General Assembly, state lawmakers debating rejecting federal education funds, and the governor’s recent signing of a bill to vacate and reconstitute the entire Tennessee State University (TSU) board of trustees.
“We were resolving to be mad and wanting [state lawmakers] to listen to us and do what we say,” Eslick explained on Thursday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Eslick said he has voted “no” or “abstain” on every resolution, noting how he once gave a speech during a council meeting explaining why the council should stick to doing its job at the local level and not meddle in the business of state lawmakers.
“I stood up and made a speech…’We were elected by our constituents to do our job on the local level, the state representatives were elected by their constituents to do their job. Last term, people were mad because the state was meddling in our business. I don’t see the need for us to meddle in their business if we don’t want them meddling in our business. So we do our job and let them do their job. Therefore, I vote no on that bill.’ That was basically my speech at that time,” Elsick said.
On Tuesday, Eslick said while the council was voting on the resolution condemning the governor’s reworking of the TSU board, At-Large Council Member Delishia Porterfield requested that members raise their hands to vote in favor or against the resolution.
Eslick called the tactic a “shaming move.”
“I abstained and during that, along with at least one other, maybe more – I couldn’t look behind me – afterwards, at-large councilperson Delicia Porterfield asked the vice mayor to have us raise our hands so the cameras could see who abstained. Of course, that right there is a shaming move and I don’t think that should be part of the council,” Eslick said.
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Jeff Eslick” by Jeff Eslick. Background Photo “Metro Council Meeting Room” by nashville.gov.
