Politics

State Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, was indicted and charged with violating federal campaign finance laws in an effort to support his unsuccessful 2016 bid for Congress.

• Federal prosecutors announced the indictment Monday. Kelsey maintained his innocence, saying he is the victim of "a political witch hunt."
• The indictment also charged Joshua Smith, the owner of The Standard social club, with participating in the alleged scheme.

Two-and-a-half years after the Metro Council failed to purchase the former Tennessee School for the Blind building for $11.3 million, Nashville Mayor John Cooper is proposing to buy the state-owned property for $20 million.

• Cooper, an at-large council member at the time, was one of six votes against the land purchase proposed by then-Mayor David Briley in June 2019. The purchase needed 21 votes to pass but received just 17. Cooper went on to defeat Briley in the mayoral election in September.

Nashville Mayor John Cooper on Friday unveiled $568 million in construction and infrastructure projects, running up the city's capital spending commitments this year to over $1 billion.

Why it matters: Hamstrung financially by the pandemic and tornado recovery, Cooper followed up modest capital commitments in previous years with two substantial spending plans in 2021.

• This announcement follows a $474.6 million plan the administration passed this spring that focused heavily on education.

Sen. Bill Hagerty reached across the aisle Wednesday to offer vital support for President Biden's nomination of former Congress member and ex-Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, to be the next ambassador to Japan.

Why it matters: Hagerty was himself a former ambassador to Japan, making his support even more notable. He took the unique step of personally introducing Emanuel, a Democrat, to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The Metro Board of Ethical Conduct next week will consider an ethics complaint filed against Planning Commission member Pearl Sims over whether she was impartial when considering a recent zoning proposal.

Why it matters: Ethics complaints against city officials are rare and there is a high threshold for the board to find wrongdoing.

Danielle Nellis, who clerked for a Nashville judge and previously worked as a prosecutor, plans to challenge District Attorney Glenn Funk in the Democratic primary next year.

Why it matters: Nellis is the first opponent for Funk, who was elected in 2014.

• A Nashville native, Nellis attended Spelman College and earned her law degree from Boston University.
• At the DA's office, she handled domestic violence cases as well as prosecutions ranging from misdemeanors to major felonies.

What they're saying: Nellis said her time in the DA's office taught her "how crime impacts victims and families involved on all sides, as well as how the community at large is impacted."

• She's running because "despite the efforts of many skilled and well-intentioned people in Nashville, we are dealing with an increase in crime and violence. And, we want to make sure our city is safe and that we do something to address the increase in crime that disproportionately affects our most vulnerable,” Nellis told Axios.
• Nellis, 38, was a clerk for Judge Angela Blackshear Dalton for two years before recently joining the firm of Klein Solomon Mills.

Go deeper: Nellis rose through the ranks as a prosecutor before resigning in 2018 when a WSMV investigation found she applied for the job of a man she was prosecuting.

• Funk alerted the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility about the issue, and its investigation found no ethical issues with her actions, according to WSMV. Nellis told Axios she believes the circumstances surrounding her departure will be a "non-issue" in the campaign.

Efforts to rein in Nashville party buses will face a critical test tonight.

• A popular bill to regulate large entertainment vehicles is scheduled to come up for a final vote, but first the lead sponsor is considering some last-minute changes.

Why it matters: Transportainment is the latest symbol of Nashville's complicated relationship with tourism.

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper has built a sizable fundraising advantage over his top challenger in the Democratic primary for Tennessee’s fifth congressional district with just under a year to go before the 2022 election.

• Cooper has just over $1 million in his campaign coffers, according to disclosures filed on Friday, after bringing in $392,344 for the period ending Sept. 30.
• His challenger, progressive activist Odessa Kelly, has $154,786 on hand.