Hatley holds Nashville rally, talks policy, mistakes

NASHVILLE — Washington County independent candidate for governor Dave Hatley held a rally in Nashville Thursday night at the Elliston Place Soda Shop. It was the same location where Hatley's opponent, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., filmed her infamous "Fortune Cookie" political advertisement. In that commercial, Blackburn decorated the venue in paper lamps and traditional Chinese ornaments as she crushed handfuls of fortune cookies while talking about her plan to "crack down on China." But Thursday night, the familiar trademarks of a diner were on full display. Black and white checkered tiles blanketed the floor. There was a jukebox by the back or the room, and neon signs hung above the menu behind the lunch counter, advertising malted shakes, burgers and hot fudge Sundays. By the door, Hatley had a table full of free merchandise. Hats, buttons and copies of his book "Tested in Tennessee" were strewn about. By the end of the night, most of it had been claimed. Toward the back of the room was a buffet of mini hamburgers, french fries and pecan pies, free to attendees. Hatley's speech was about introducing himself, a necessity for an independent candidate with little name recognition going into the race for governor. He began by mentioning some of the hardships he's faced in life — such as his mother's alcoholism, his father's untimely death and the difficulties he faced as a young entrepreneur. That led Hatley to speak, at length, about a felony conviction for bank fraud he received at the age of 21. Blackburn has used the conviction as ammunition, referring to him as "Deadbeat Dave" and launching a website detailing his arrest, bankruptcies and other business failures. Hatley, however, made an effort to own his mistake, speaking about it unprompted at the rally. "I tried to take a shortcut. There are no shortcuts in life. There are no shortcuts in life," Hatley said. "And I got humbled. I got humbled to my knees, and I had to go and really lean into my faith to get through that." Hatley moved on to introduce his policies. He wants, first and foremost, an independent comptroller, one who is not appointed by the general assembly. "We do not have an auditor. Do not let anybody tell you we do. We have a comptroller's office. The politicians have elected the auditor that audits them. So that is not a good setup." Hatley wants to revitalize a public database showing the state's purchases, bids and contracts, and he wants to ban campaign contributions from PACs that contract with the state. He calls it "pay to play." "If any of you guys want to get something passed right now, then get your checkbook out and start writing some big checks, and I'm pretty sure you get it done," Hatley said. "It might take you a year, but you'll get it done if you got enough money. That's not the way things work. That's what's wrong with our state right now." Hatley also went on to talk about his proposed ban on Flock cameras, mentioning the 221 cameras in operation in his hometown of Johnson City. "Flock cameras in my hometown cost $1.5 million," Hatley said. "We solved 70 crimes, guys. We paid $20,000 to solve one crime. I believe I'd rather invest that $1.5 million in more detectives for police training." According to the Johnson City website, the cost of implementing Flock cameras is closer to about $700,000 annually; or just over $7 million over the course of 10 years. Hatley went on to champion ideas such as halting the state's private school voucher program and fighting the rural hospital closures. "We cannot close rural hospitals," he said. "That's not an option. We cannot have people dying because Ballad Health is not making enough money. That's not an option." Hatley would speak for about 45 minutes before briefly opening the floor to questions, then holding a meet-and-greet with voters shortly after.