I Get Mail

Today's mail contained two--TWO--petitions from the English First people. There are six signature lines. I guess we're supposed to take this around to our neighbors or something. As if.

They must be sending these things to every registered voter in the county: Last month 30,000 postcards were mailed out. Imagine.

I'm thinking about how much money it has taken for all of the robocalls, mailings, petitions, etc. There's some big bucks behind this amendment push, no doubt about it. Yet the financing of this campaign is all very murky. Eric Crafton won't say where the financial backing for his initiative is coming from, except the cryptic "from folks."

I still can't believe that there isn't a reporter in this town who has been able to find out where all the money for this stuff is coming from. No, scratch that, I can believe it. Short of recycling record company press releases and AP wire copy, our local press is basically useless.

I have an idea. I bet if we scratched the surface we'd find some of the usual GOP moneybags behind this effort. Immigrants are the perfect whipping-boy for Republicans desperate for an issue that will beat their voters to the polls this November in progressive Nashville. They've already used up the gay-baiting issue, and there wasn't time to get an abortion measure on the ballot for this November. But the GOP has to be careful not to offend Latino voters; McSame has been busy courting Latino voters, promising pathways to citizenship at secret meetings.

All of which is the kind of stuff that would make the immigrant-hating GOP base in Nashville want to stay home come November. But: ta da! Lookie here! A piece of election year candy for you! Come, come out and vote! Vote for this useless piece of legislation that declares something that doesn't need to be codified in the Metro charter, and be sure to cast your vote for the GOP candidates while you're in the voting booth.

Maybe I'm just being cynical. But I really don't understand why we voters don't have a right to know who is funding this monumental campaign. And no, Eric Crafton, "just folks" just doesn't cut it.