Introducing State Rep. Waller Lansden
Within hours, chants of “Waller, Waller, Waller” will ring out through the gritty streets of East Nashville. Regular citizens, who never imagined that government could work for them, will realize that they have won a victory for the ages: An almighty corporate law firm, whose client base includes toxic polluters, tax dodgers and Wal-Mart, will have elected one of their own to the state legislature.
And now the tentacles of James “The Dream” Weaver will stretch even deeper into the bowels of state government. Reporters already dance to his tune. Now another lawmaker will do the two-step. The next time you want to meet with your elected state representative, get in line. There are about 100 Waller attorneys ahead of you. That goes for you too, MK.
Hey East Nashvillians, love those anti-W bumper stickers. You really stuck it to the establishment today.
Comments
Seriously, Matt, you have no clue what you're talking about. I can say, I agree with you in your assessment of this post as falling into the "Whopper of the Month" category -- just not in the same way you think it does.
I'm really, really trying to hang in there with the Scene, but your lack of knowledge about this race--and your mean-spirited pontificating against Mike, despite that--are making it extremely difficult.
I do hope you're right about the outcome -- East Nashville and Green Hills would be quite fortunate to have Mike Stewart as our state rep.
Posted 08/07/2008 at 03:39:48 PMWho's Mike Stewart?
I sat through that painfully dull debate he had with Eric Stansell, btw. Neither candidate won that thing.
Posted 08/07/2008 at 04:06:53 PMI think it is revealing that Ms. Creekmore states her candidate would be good for East Nashville and Green Hills.
Last I checked, District 52 includes other neighborhoods as well. Many others, in fact. I voted for Eric Stansell because I feel he will represent the interests of everyone in the district, not just special interests. I encourage everyone leaving work today to vote on their way home. And for those folks that live in District 52, I encourage you to vote for Stansell
Posted 08/07/2008 at 04:15:38 PM"Revealing"? Of what? Here's the map, if you're interested in downloading the PDF. http://www.electmikestewart.org/tn_district_52.pdf The two biggest areas of population covered by District 52 are parts of East Nashville and Green Hills. There are some other smaller chunks, connecting these two areas.
I'm not sure what you're getting at there :) but at any rate, I don't have any kind of hidden agenda.
Posted 08/07/2008 at 04:21:43 PMNow now, let Pulle have his tantrum because his silly little vendetta failed. He'll tire himself out eventually, start sucking his thumb and take a nap. Hush little Pulle, don't say a word...
Posted 08/07/2008 at 04:53:54 PMI'm for Stansell, but Laura is right on the money about the Scene's sorry-ass handling of this whole thing.
OK, so Stewart is a lawyer. So are about half the other people elected to positions in our government at every level.
So Stewart works for a big law firm that represents "bizpigs" and polluters. What law firm of that size (and this one has so many lawyers, their website has to have an alphabetical search feature) doesn't have some clients like that? For that matter, what law firm of that size doesn't have people who represent a whole range of political persuasions?
So a lot of Stewart's colleagues contributed to his campaign? Wouldn't it be pretty strange if they didn't? When do law partners NOT contribute to each other's campaigns?
So Stewart's campaign is well financed? Since when does such become a sinister attempt to buy an election?
So James Weaver will have an "in" if Stewart gets elected. Here's a clue. All kinds of peddlers and hustlers will have influence to all kinds of people in the legislator. That doesn't make it right, but it doesn't make Stewart unique, much less uniquely villainous. And most of the people I've talked to about this say they think Stewart is a good guy.
I know Matt is capable of better than this because I read his piece on the Belle Meade Country Club. He had quotes from at least two Democrats, including Judge Merritt, without attacking their integrity or credibility just because they're part of a club full of bizpigs, and "resegregationist" ones at that. So why the vendetta against Waller Landsden?
This has been a pretty pathetic crusade that, in my opinion, has damaged the Scene's credibility a lot more than Stewart's. Several of your readers have been right to point out that it looks like some kind of obsession.
Posted 08/07/2008 at 05:01:30 PMLeave Matt Alone! He's a human!
Posted 08/07/2008 at 05:33:07 PMI heard Stewart will resign from the firm if he wins. So, MattP, could you please post something about your excellent article on the BMCC so that can be the discussion? Thanks.
Posted 08/07/2008 at 05:42:36 PMI agree. The Scene has crossed the line in its coverage of this. If you have any real dirt on Weaver or Stewart, then bring it, and spare us your hackneyed conspiracy theories and borderline-libelous innuendos. Seriously, bringing Weaver's wife into this? Outrageous.
The ad hominem attacks are just lame and have no place in intelligent discourse.
Posted 08/07/2008 at 11:14:04 PMNot all bad news for Matty. Eddings lost, so I'm sure Pulle will in short order soothe himself with a gleeful post about another Chamber-endorsed candidate losing.
Posted 08/08/2008 at 09:47:21 AMActually, considering that Eddings refused to return phone calls from the press, had a felon running her campaign and couldn't follow state law, she did quite well.
Posted 08/08/2008 at 10:48:12 AMI'm sorry, but I've held my tongue (or keyboard) long enough through this, and I just have to ask: Matt, what the hell is wrong with you? It is deeply disturbing that a so-called jounalist could so gleefully wallow in his own ignorance with such giddy abandon without even bothering to try to actually learn something about the subject of his writing. This is the level of journalism to which this city's alternative rag has degeraded. I can tell you from personal knowledge that you will rarely ever find people who are stronger advocates of the disadvantaged and underprivileged than Mike and Ruth Stewart. You will rarely ever find people who give of themselves so deeply to help others - and do it quietly (unlike politicians who hand out soup at the mission when the cameras are rolling). So he happens to work for a big firm. Big deal. Well if the "journalist" would bother to make even the slightest effort to look into the matter (a novel concept for "journalist" indeed), then maybe he would learn that for many years Ruth (a physician) worked providing general family medicine in the projects. Low-income medicine when she easily could have been pulling down hundreds of thousands of dollars more per year exclusively serving those "evil" people of Belle Meade and Green Hills. Mike and Ruth give deeply of themselves on a level that should make the rest of us ashamed. And not just money - they give of themselves. They open their home to people. For example, when a little boy from Africa needed surgery for a life-threatening medical condition, they helped arrange for the cost-free surgery and housed him in their own house for months awaiting surgery. I can give you a hundred anecdotes about how that turned their lives upside down - given that they have their own small children, he couldn't speak English, he was bouncing off the walls, he was bewildered by electronic appliances like the TV and the telephone yet couldn't resist messing with and breaking everything (I couldn't get a call through to Mike and Ruth for weeks without him rushing to answer and not being able to understand me). It sounds minor, but if you have a house of kids of your own, you know what kind of disruption such an addition would be. I could not have made that sacrifice. Frankly, neither would you, Matt. Simply put, they are better people than you and me. And if that were the only one incident - an abberation - then I would say "Great - they did something wonderful once." But the reality is that this is how they live their lives. Yet they never talk about these things that they do, because it's not done for PR. Only those of us who know them closely even know they do this sort of thing. In fact, I almost fear that they really wouldn't want me mentioning all this publicly. It is pretty personal. But I'm just sick and tired of this sorry excuse for a journalist hacking away at some of the best people he may ever be lucky enough to meet. That's not hyperbole. Mike and Ruth have the grace to read this sort of thing and let it go. I guess I just don't. It's unfair; it's hack journalism; and it's lazy. Mike knows that by inserting himself into the public realm he makes himself fair game for opposing candidates, but for Pete's sake, Matt, you hold yourself out as a journalist. Go back to journalism school, Matt. And if you come back and still don't feel like lifting a pinky to find out if there is any truth to the things you write, please do us all a favor and find a different profession.
Posted 08/08/2008 at 11:35:19 AMOK- I could use an editor, or at least spell-check, but I stand by the content of my comment.
Posted 08/08/2008 at 11:39:42 AMThanks so much Bryan. You said it well. For people like me that know the Stewart's and know how unfair Matt Pulle has been to them, it is nice to read such a complete and well thought out defense of these wonderful people. Matt Pulle, you should be ashamed of yourself for behaving in this way. If nothing else, before you began your ridiculous obsession with Mike, you should have taken the time to sit down to lunch, or talk with him about what he and his family are about. Quite frankly, you owe him an apology for your endless amount of lies and innuendos that you publish on a regular basis. I have no doubt in my mind that Mike will do an incredible job representing his district, and the area he represents is very lucky to have such a wonderful public servant.
Posted 08/08/2008 at 12:02:56 PMWe all told you to leave it alone MattP. Now go on to something that deserves your derision: like low voter turnout or mean Metro Council members.
Posted 08/08/2008 at 12:32:09 PMWow. That was lame. I left town several years ago and I remember Matt Pulle as being a decent journalist. Looks like that train has left the station. I've been catching up reading some of his more recent stuff here. Where have ya gone, Matt?
Posted 08/09/2008 at 06:50:12 AM