Today is Election Day and for City of Knoxville voters it is time to vote for City Council members.
First, I want to thank Vice Mayor Nick Pavlis and City Councilwoman Brenda Palmer for getting their message out through this website. They are unopposed, but are worthy of your votes.
Second, Councilman Duane Grieve is also unopposed on the ballot. For all intents and purposes Former Knoxville Mayor and Councilman Dan Brown is unopposed. He has a candidate in a former 1980’s State Rep Pete Drew. However, Drew has made NO appearance and has produced zero campaign activity. Brown is worthy of your vote.
Last, the only race with a real challenge is Challenger Rick Staples taking on Councilman Nick Della Volpe. Staples has been endorsed by both uniformed bodies (Fraternal Order of Police and the Firefighters). All city elections are non partisan races. Both candidates can be considered democrats. In addition to support of the uniformed bodies, Staples enjoys support of the local democrat party. Della Volpe was invited to speak at a local Republican club and he declined. While conventional wisdom would say that Della Volpe has an edge. I respect the opinion of the uniformed bodies. They are the guys and ladies that go where few citizens will go. For that reason alone, I would encourage voters to consider Rick Staples for a vote.
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Della Volpe spoke to the Ftn City republican club and advocated for higher taxes for parks and for giving same sex couples health insurance then refused to take questions from the audience