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The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
A group that was ordered to disclose its donors before Nashville residents voted on a transit referendum has finally revealed its financial sources ten days after the election.
Nashville Moves Action Fund provided the finances for a campaign that ultimately helped pass a $3.1 billion transit plan.
The disclosure revealed the commercial support of area realtors, businesses, and law firms, along with political action committees and labor unions, with hundreds of thousands of dollars donated from a leftist dark money group.
According to Politico, the 501(c)(4) nonprofit Sixteen Thirty Fund based in Washington, D.C. is “one of the left’s largest hubs of dark money.”
Both Greater Nashville Realtors and the Sixteen Thirty Fund gave $350,000 each between the end of July and late October with the realty nonprofit organization hoping that the transit plan will increase the value of Davidson County properties, as well as paving the way for more affordable housing for residents.
Nashville-based bank Pinnacle Financial Partners and Preserving Our Community’s Future – a 501(c)(4) Middle Tennessee business community advocate – gave the next biggest donations of $100,000 each.
The pro-transit Nashville Moves Action Fund had only registered a political action committee – Green Lights for Nashville – prior to the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance (TREF) demanding that they register with the state and disclose where donations were coming from.
TREF sent a letter to the group at the end of October, ordering them to register as a referendum committee before Election Day and provide their financial disclosure statements or risk being brought before the registry in January.
In the disclosure statements for Green Lights of Nashville PAC, all cash donations were shown as having been received from Nashville Moves Action Fund.
TREF determined that the campaign was acting as a PAC and directed the group in a letter on October 15th to register.
Taking the position that they were not required to register, the group initially refused to comply which prompted a second letter from TREF to Nashville attorney Ben Gastel, treasurer for the group, stating that failure to comply would result in the matter being discussed at TREF’s January 23rd meeting.
On Election Day, nearly two-thirds of Nashville voters voted in favor of the “Choose How You Move” transit plan which will increase sales tax in Davidson County, equal to that of surrounding counties, starting February 1st, 2025.
The increase to 9.75% will fund roughly half of the total projected costs. Additional funding is expected to come from bond proceeds, transit fares and federal grants.
The plan that has been pushed by Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell since last year will implement several large scale projects over the span of the next few years and will include more than 86 miles of new or improved sidewalks.
Hundreds of smart traffic signals, 54 miles of high-capacity transit corridors, improved transit centers and bus stops will also be in the works along with bus service around the clock.
References:
https://www.tn.gov/tref/tref-referendum-committees/tref-registered-referendum-committee.html
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
One Response
If Nashville expands its bus service to 7/24, it will lose a HUGE amount of money and that will cause a property tax increase.