Clement S Historic Day Of Endorsements[1]

For Immediate Release August 15, 2007

Contact: Ben Hall 298-2911 (C) 812-1580 (O)

Historic Day of Endorsements for Clement First Ever Endorsement by Nine Community Newspapers for Clement Firefighters Endorse Clement Nashville, TN – The endorsements continue to pile up for Bob Clement with his campaign’s surging momentum. Nine community newspapers and the firefighters are endorsing Bob Clement for Mayor. Eight of the nine papers have never before endorsed a candidate. Today, all nine have decided to make history, because they strongly feel that Bob Clement is the right man to lead Nashville forward. The Nashville Community Newspaper Alliance includes The Tennessee Tribune, as well as The Green Hills News, The Westview, Nashville Today, The Belle Meade News, The News Herald, The West Meade News, The News Beacon and The West Side News. The total combined circulation of these local and community newspapers is larger than the Tennessean’s, and they have served their communities from 18 to 30 years. Eight of the nine have never endorsed a candidate, and they say they likely will never endorse again -- but they say this race is too important. The Newspapers write, “Nashville needs an experienced leader, one with fresh ideas and an outsider’s perspective.” Since the runoff began, Bob Clement has been endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, Nashville’s firefighters, SEIU Local 205 which represents thousands of Metro employees, the Central Labor Council which represents many local unions, and nine Community Newspapers. “We are building momentum,” Bob Clement said. “There is a clear choice in this race, and I am honored that so many organizations are placing their trust in my leadership abilities and supporting my campaign. I will work hard as Mayor to represent all the people of Nashville and to keep this city moving forward.” *Attached is the entire endorsement as seen in The Green Hills News. -30-

August 16, 2007, The News, Page 5

Nine Nashville Community Alliance Newspapers endorse Clement for mayor Nashville Community Newspaper Alliance (NCNA) announced this week the endorsement of Bob Clement for mayor.

Bob Clement The nine NCNA newspapers are The Westview, Green Hills News, Nashville Today, Tennessee Tribune, Belle Meade News, News Herald, West Meade News, News Beacon and West Side News. These newspapers have served their communities from 18 to 30 years, and up until now eight of the nine have never endorsed any political candidates and probably will not do so in the future. So, why did they decide to step forward and endorse Bob Clement? It is the opinion of these newspaper publishers that mayoral candidate Clement is the best choice for mayor and the fact that he has been treated unfairly by the local news media, especially The Tennessean. Endorsing a candidate is one thing but to continue assassinating his opponent in news columns is another. Once a newspaper endorses a candidate, it should refrain from continual attacks on the opposing candidate and let the voters make their choice. It was evident in the Sunday Tennessean of August 5, the opinion page and Larry Daughtrey’s column that they were out to destroy Clement.

The Tennessean is no longer a local newspaper. It is controlled and managed out of Arlington, Va., and should refrain from attacking any candidate. It should present the facts and let the voters decided for themselves who the best candidate is for the job. According to The Tennessean, Clement should refrain from running a negative campaign about Karl Dean. Then why doesn’t the media, especially The Tennessean, quit running negative stories about Clement? So far, Dean has not been running a negative campaign, and why should he, when The Tennessean has elected to do it. You don’t see other media running negative articles about Dean. With all due respect to Karl Dean, the NCNA publishers believe Clement is the best choice for mayor. Dean has been a public servant for the past 18 years. He served as public defender from 1990 to 1998. He was appointed director of law in 1999 and has maintained that position into 2007. Clement is a native Nashvillian, graduating from Nashville public schools. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee and his MBA from Memphis State University. Clement served two years in the United States Army and 30 years in the Tennessee National Guard, where he achieved the rank of colonel. Clement served six years in an elected statewide position on the Public Service Commission. He was appointed to fill a two-year term as a director on the TVA board where he and two other directors managed a $6 billion budget and 55,000 employees. After leaving TVA, Clement was named president of Cumberland University from 1983 to 1987. He turned that university around and got it on sound financial footing. He was successful in taking it to a four- year accredited university. After leaving Cumberland University, he ran and got

Editorial

elected to Congress from the where he 5th District, served eight terms. While in Congress, Clement served on many committees, the Budget including Committee. From Congress, Clement went into private enterprise and started his own company where he is currently employed. Our city is experiencing phenomenal growth, and success has created major new hurdles the next mayor must confront. We need more and better planning to deal with the huge increase in traffic on our public streets. Crime needs to be dealt with in a tougher fashion. Our educational system is broken and needs fixing. Discipline is a major problem in Metro schools. The drop-out rate is approximately 30 percent. We are getting more and more illegal aliens, an issue the mayor must deal with. Metro’s budget is approximately $1.6 billion, and the expenses are increasing faster than revenue. The decision on how to fund our government without raising taxes will be a challenge for our next mayor. Economic development is an important part of our future growth. With more than 50 percent of the Metro Council being new, we need an experienced mayor to guide our city to new heights. Bob Clement has the experience, Karl Dean doesn’t. Dean has spent the majority of his career in the legal end of our government. He has never managed a large budget, especially the size of Nashville’s. Clement did, when he was in Congress he served on the Budget Committee. When it comes to getting federal moneys, Clement knows how to do it, Dean is not experienced in that area. Achieving federal grants can help hold the line on taxes, and that is one of the tools in Clement’s briefcase. Clement has done so

much for the citizens of Nashville. As congressman he was reachable and as mayor we believe he will maintain an open office and be available to the public. Clement has been a staunch supporter of minorities. When he was in Congress, he opened an office on Jefferson Street so minorities could have easy access to their congressman. That office remained open on Jefferson Street for the 15 years he was in Congress. He will continue to work hard to serve our minority population. He announced last week the opening of a campaign office on Jefferson Street. He believes in diversity and thinks that is what helps make our city great. Clement has a plan for the city of Nashville, and that plan is to put more police officers in the field fighting crime in place of spending a great deal of their time writing traffic tickets. His plan for education involves a public and private partnership to transform our local schools. He believes we need to put back vocational education into our system.

Other parts of his plan include holding the line on taxes, promoting better transportation, business and job growth, while preserving our quality of life. He believes in providing more opportunities for minorities. On immigration, Clement supports those who came here legally. He will continue to support Sheriff Daron Hall’s program of investigating the immigration status of all people arrested for crimes in Nashville. His plan calls for using his contacts on the federal level to get a INS field office in Nashville and cracking down on employers who knowingly hire illegal workers. Nashville needs an experienced mayor, one with fresh ideas. We believe Bob Clement is that person. We encourage you to remember what Bob Clement has done for the city of Nashville while in Congress. We need his experience and leadership in the future. We hope you agree and will vote for Bob Clement for mayor.