Stockard on the Stump: Towns’ departure opens seat for Shelby Dems appointment

Thirty-two years after entering the Tennessee House, Rep. Joe Towns said farewell, resigning his District 84 post following his victory in the Criminal Court Clerk’s race in Memphis where, presumably, he won’t have to fiddle with the state Registry of Election Finance anymore.

Towns, an old-school Democrat who does a decent Louis Armstrong impersonation, captured the election in August and was sworn into office last week, paving the way for someone else to represent much of south Shelby County. 

Towns’ top accomplishment in the General Assembly is likely passage of a constitutional amendment removing all traces of slavery from the Tennessee Constitution. He called it “psychotic” when Republican Reps. Susan Lynn and Chris Todd came up with backdoor opposition to his resolution in 2022 by saying state prisoners should be working. 

“How are you going to have a democratic society in a country that still has the vestiges of the most evil thing that befell this country over hundreds of years? And trying to, in any kind of weird, wacky way, justify tainting that, that’s a revelation of her character as it relates to that issue,” Towns said at the time.

Yet he wound up amending the measure to say it wouldn’t prohibit inmates from taking jobs. They have to pay for their condiments somehow.

Outside his legislative duties, Towns had a checkered relationship with the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, which has been on his case for the better part of six years for failing to file campaign finance reports on time – or period. It just wasn’t his bailiwick.

In 2020, Towns infamously said he wouldn’t pay one more “copper cent” to the Registry. Yet he described himself as the “prodigal son” coming home when he made his case to the Registry board, and despite the proclamation paid a $22,000 settlement fee after the board reduced penalties totaling $66,000 when it voted via email to give him a break as the COVID pandemic struck.

Towns, who could not be reached this week for comment, still has matters pending before the Registry, one for failing to file a corrected campaign finance report and two for reports that were filed late. They’re set to be taken up Sept. 15, and his House account remains open, though his name is no longer on the House website for District 84.

No doubt, Towns had a way of speaking plainly in the House. For instance, he once reacted to a bit of idiocy from the other side of the aisle by saying something in the vein of, “They’ve done lost their damn mind.”

Whether someone can fill the void remains to be seen.

It is also unclear whether another member of the Shelby County legislative delegation will step in and sing “What a Wonderful World,” almost an annual rite for Towns when the House hit delays in the road toward sine die.

Where do we go next?

Towns couldn’t hold the House seat and the Criminal Court Clerk position simultaneously, so he resigned the legislative seat recently and turned in paperwork to retire. It could be one of his first timely filings.

The person he beat in the August Democratic primary, U.S. House advisor Kyler Gilkey, announced this week he is continuing his campaign for the District 84 seat after collecting 27% of the vote. Gilkey told the Lookout that the Shelby County Democratic Party is set to caucus at a special meeting in the next couple of weeks and vote to nominate him for the November ballot. No Republican candidate qualified for the race.

“Essentially, they would be picking the next representative for District 84,” Gilkey said.

Gilkey acknowledged one other potential candidate has been making some phone calls to Democratic Party members, and there’s still some talk about a special election for the seat. So nothing’s etched in stone.

“This has been a combination of campaigning for a little bit over 11 months … and talking to folks in the community, gaining support or the endorsements of local community and elected officials, labor unions,” Gilkey said. He added that he’s been preparing to make his case to party executive committee members.

The Secretary of State’s Office confirmed that state law doesn’t prohibit a candidate who lost a primary election from being nominated by the same political party through a caucus process.

Democratic Party Chairman Willie Simon told the Lookout Thursday he received Towns’ official resignation paperwork and said party leaders from District 84 will convene to set the rules for replacement and ultimately pick a candidate. Two to three have put their names out, but others could enter the fray once the party posts the opening. 

New chief – at least for a bit

The Shelby County Legislative Democratic Caucus elected state Rep. Torrey Harris to serve as chairman for the next four to five months, replacing the late Rep. G.A. Hardaway, who died in April.

Asked if he would be able to lead the caucus in the same direction, Harris laughed and said, “I look forward to working with everybody. I think we are headed in the right direction. We have really great leaders. Rep. G.A. Hardaway led that caucus for many years, so I just look forward to being able to continue the service.”

Hardaway’s son, Rep. T.J. Hardaway, who was appointed to fill the seat in the wake of his father’s death, was elected as secretary. Hardaway, Tommy Brewington and Calvin Lacy have filed to run a write-in campaign for the seat. The deadline to file is Sept. 14

They will hold those Shelby caucus jobs until January when all the positions come up for re-election, according to Harris.

Between the write-in candidacy and the Towns replacement, Harris said he will have plenty of work over the next few months.

What investigation?

Harris handily defeated Arriell Gipson-Martin in the August primary 72% to 28%. The Tennessee Journal reported she was basing her campaign on ethics following a Nashville Banner story that Harris was under investigation by the FBI for running a fraudulent political action committee in support of presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Rep. Harris declined to comment on the matter to the Lookout in April, but he said Thursday he’s heard nothing since the report surfaced.

“It was a bad joke,” Harris said.

Harris added he didn’t even know if an investigation took place because nobody has talked to him about it. 

Too close for comfort?

A former Tennessee Department of Transportation chief of staff, Steve Townsend, took a job with Spain-based Ferrovial about a year before it won the bid for the state’s first toll lane project along I-24 toward Murfreesboro, according to a report by The Tennessean.

The DriveTN group of six companies said it would construct the lanes at a cost of $9.2 billion and concede nearly $25 billion to the state, a figure that is raising eyebrows in the road construction industry. Considering two other bidders said they’d give up $7 billion and one asked for a subsidy from the state to take on the job, it was an eye-popper (can we find another eye reference?).

Democratic Rep. John Ray Clemmons of Nashville, no fan of the toll project, called for the state attorney general to look into the whole project. (Don’t hold your breath.)

Asked about Townsend’s possible connection to the project, TDOT sent this statement: “Consistent with TDOT procurement requirements, the DriveTN team implemented screening procedures and communication protocols that prohibited Steve Townsend’s engagement in, access to, or receipt of any information related to the I-24 Southeast Choice Lanes procurement.

“This disclosure was made to TDOT by DriveTN in accordance with the organizational conflict-of-interest provisions contained in the procurement documents. TDOT reviewed the disclosure and remains committed to ensuring the procurement is conducted in accordance with all applicable requirements, with appropriate safeguards in place to protect the integrity of the process.”

Bank downgrades Ferrovial stock over I-24 toll lane bid

Based on that response, Townsend didn’t tell the DriveTN folks to throw nearly $25 billion at the project to win the bid. 

Yet at least one international bank, UBS, downgraded Ferrovial’s stock to “neutral” based on uncertainty surrounding the I-24 project and a potential weak return on its investment and high upfront costs and capital expenses. 

DriveTN is to pay $1.5 billion initially and the rest of the “concession” money over roughly eight years of construction, according to the UBS report. 

Department of Transportation officials said at the bidding vote that the group’s payout had nothing to do with the fees it would charge motorists to use the lanes. Those will be based on the amount of traffic, time of day, etc.

Yet no revenue will come in until it finishes at least part of the toll lanes, potentially putting pressure on the consortium to pay off the debt. 

Of course, they could always make motorists on the LBJ Express in Texas pay the bills. It’s the least they could do since we sent Davy Crockett to fight — and die — at the Alamo, even though had a pretty good shooting eye. 

Seeking the end

A group of counties, including Metro Nashville, filed a motion in federal court this week asking a judge to declare victory for them in their lawsuit claiming the Trump administration withheld tens of millions of dollars for anti-terrorism efforts unless they adopted certain election-system policies to verify citizenship. (The official language is called seeking a summary judgment based on the facts, or some such.) Metro joined Harris County (Houston), Texas, El Paso County, Texas and Columbus, Ohio in challenging the feds.

Twenty percent of the federal funds would be withheld by the Federal Emergency Management Agency if the local government doesn’t comply with election specifications, and continued failure to go along with the game could lead to termination. 

Nashville could lose a pretty big chunk of change. 

Grants to Nashville in 2023 and 2024 totaled $1.7 million, $1.5 million in 2025, and the total for the Metro Nashville-Murfreesboro-Franklin region for fiscal 2026 is projected at $3.8 million. 

Lord knows the taxpayers can’t afford that. Just put it on my tab.

Working ahead?

Former Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, a frequent visitor to the Cordell Hull legislative building in Nashville, could be gearing up for a U.S. Senate run.

A potential replacement for U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn if she wins the Tennessee gubernatorial race this year, Jacobs would have to win an election in 2028 to fill the final two years of Blackburn’s six-year term. Remember, she said she would pick her replacement, and Gov. Bill Lee, when asked if she was stepping on his toes, said, “We’ll take governors one at a time.” (Thanks for taking a stand.)

Anyway, Jacobs updated his Facebook cover photo with a logo, “Glenn Jacobs for Tennessee.” Maybe he’s no longer going with “Kane,” his rasslin’ alter ego, or he just knows something.

“There’s flies in the kitchen / I can hear ’em there buzzin’”*

*  “Angel From Montgomery,” John Prine