Metropolitics and Professional Political Leadership: The Case of Nashville

Abstract

Adoption of a single metropolitan government for Nashville and Davidson County in 1962, at a time when many metro reform proposals have been rejected elsewhere, provides an opportunity to examine the role of professional political leaders in its formulation and adoption. Thirty years of Nashville suburban spillover without annexation led to the familiar pattern of a service vacuum, inequalities, rivalries, and confused responsibility. During the 1950's, two surveys by professional staffs, working closely with the Nashville mayor and a rival Davidson County judge, led to a proposal for major structural change (city-county consolidation) which was en dorsed by both the mayor and the judge. Their support was undoubtedly helpful in the 1958 metro campaign, but it was rejected by the voters outside Nashville. Two windfall issues —annexation and an auto tax—and the opposition of the Nashville mayor contributed to a new and successful metro vote in 1962. The Nashville experience indicates that active involvement of rival professional political leaders in all stages of a metro reform movement is possible, is not necessarily a kiss of death, does not prevent "radical reform," and may actually constitute a tactical advantage for metropolitan reformers.

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