Steine, Tygard hold funding lead among at-large candidates

Former vice mayor and current councilman among eight contenders filing disclosures

Email | Print By E. Thomas Wood

[CORRECTION, 17 April 2007:

As originally published, this article referred to Roy Dale as a real estate developer. Dale is not a developer himself, but rather an engineer and land planner who represents developers on design and zoning matters. NashvillePost.com is glad to set the record straight.]

Former Vice Mayor Ronnie Steine has the most cash on hand of any candidate for the five at-large seats on the Metro Council to be filled by the August 2 election, but Metro Councilman Charlie Tygard is gaining on him and put the most money into his campaign coffers between last July and January, according to filings with the Davidson County Election Commission.

After raising just over $30,000 in the six-and-a-half-month reporting period, Tygard reports a balance on hand of $44,774. Steine, who brought in $17,873 in the latest period, has $50,110 on hand. In July, Steine disclosed that he had raised $47,600 in just over a month after announcing his campaign.

Tygard, who represents Bellevue's 35th District in the Council and has been rumored to be considering a run for vice mayor, got his largest dollop of dollars from the household of engineer/land planner and former Councilman Roy Dale, as he and wife Lisa each gave $1,000 to the campaign. Reese Smith III, Jeff Zeitlin and William Kantz Jr., all of whom are also local developers, were the other three donors to give Tygard a grand.

Steine got a pair of $1,000 donations from attorney Charles W. Bone and his daughter-in-law Sacha Bone. Virginia Lodge, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Human Services, gave $1,000 to Steine, as did Nashville retiree John R. Dean, Southwestern Co. Executive Chairman Spencer Hays, entrepreneur Michael Shmerling, and Shirley Speyer of Nashville.

The other five candidates who filed ahead of the January 31st deadline posted the following results:

Richard Exton: $15,963 raised, $27,491 on hand

Debra Grimes (who has withdrawn from the race): $10,285 raised, $15,337 on hand

Brady Banks: $10,031 raised, $8,801 on hand

J.B. Loring: $4,962 raised, all of it still on hand

Peter Westerholm: $4,042 raised, $3,475 on hand

Former Councilman Tim Garrett filed but had no funds to report. He has said he is considering a run but has not announced a definite intention to enter the race. Megan Barry and Jerry Maynard, the two most recent entrants into the contest, were not yet required to file disclosures.

Metro Nashville elects five citizens to serve as at-large members of the Metro Council. The current five at-large members are either term limited from seeking the office again, or have elected to run for other office.