Councilman joins Dean camp while union attacks

East Nashville councilman, former Briley advisor, named co-chair of mayoral effort while labor union launches salvo

Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse

Erik Cole

Councilman Erik Cole, who was recently re-elected to represent Nashville's 7th district on the Metro Council, was named co-chair of the Karl Dean for Mayor campaign today. Cole had served as a senior advisor to council colleague David Briley's mayoral efforts before he was eliminated from the race.

Cole, whose day job is executive director for the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services, joins Pam Martin as the Dean campaign co-chairs. Martin was formerly the treasurer of vice mayor Howard Gentry's campaign for Mayor.

Also today, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), one of Nashville's largest labor organizations, fired a salvo at Dean claiming that he "continues to gain support from groups that favor big business and not working-class citizens."

Director of SEIU Local 205, Doug Collier, told Nashville media today that, "Dean's endorsements are starting to paint a picture of a candidate who is out to represent big business and developers, not people who punch a timeclock and have to work for a living."

The union, which has already endorsed mayoral rival Bob Clement, point to endorsements Dean received in the last two weeks from the Nashville Business Coalition and a group calling itself "Realtors for Dean" as examples supporting their position.

Clement has received the endorsement from multiple labor unions that represent city employees, including the SEIU, the IAFF (firefighters), the Fraternal Order of Police, and the Teamsters union.