Nashville’s Fox 17 has a detailed report on the amount of money Nashville is spending on sending lobbyists to the state legislature …Nashville! The annual tab is nearly a quarter of a million dollars annually on the private lobbyists.
A new report by the Beacon Center of Tennessee shows that Nashville is not alone seeking favorable treatment from the legislators through private lobbyists.
Cities across the state are using taxpayer money to hire lobbyists to communicate with legislators rather than relying on their own staff. According to the Beacon Center, Tennessee cities spent more than $1.4 million on lobbyists last year:
Knoxville: $252,000
Chattanooga: $231,000
Nashville: $219,000
Murfreesboro: $50,000
Franklin: $45,000
Hendersonville: $20,000
Cookeville, Lebanon and Mt. Juliet: $0
In an interview with FOX 17 News, Nashville Mayor Freddie O’ Connell defended the practice: “This is not something new. We’ve always needed people to interact—not just with the legislature, but with Congress, the White House, and relationships outside the city.”
Nashville’s latest contract is with the multi-state law and lobbying firm Butler Snow: $676,000 over five years, ending in 2030. Butler Snow is one of the largest firms in the state, with about 100 lawyers, and among the largest in the country, with more than 220 attorneys practicing in 12 offices nationwide. They were hired in January 2025 as part of democrat Mayor Freddy O’Connell’s assertion that they would help improve the frosty relations with the Republican dominated legislature.
Despite the Governor of Tennessee being a Republican, and the Republicans enjoying super majorities in both the State House and Senate, the government relations team at Butler Snow has a decidedly democrat tilt to their top operatives. Among those listed as their government relations team in the Nashville office are J.W. Luna (former cabinet official under past Democratic Governor Ned McWherter), former eighth congressional district Democratic Congressman John Tanner, and longtime staunch Democrat political activist Mandy Haynes Young.
Steve Gill is Publisher of TriStar Daily and is a national and international political commentator and analyst.
