Metro Council politics heated up in District 20 overnight as Tori Goddard’s campaign released a statement capitalizing on the tragic death of MNPD Officer John Anderson in a vehicle collision, claiming her opponent has never committed to providing MNPD with resources to prevent such tragedies.
Tori Goddard, who is running for Nashville’s Metro Council seat in District 20, spends her days as the Vice President of Operations at her family’s Mt. Juliet based company, Goddard Construction. She’s running against incumbent Mary Carolyn Roberts. The district they’re both competing for only cast 1,898 votes in the run-off election for the seat, which Roberts won by 69 votes. Goddard’s campaign has recently begun to treat the race more like a Mayoral seat, with pointed press releases against her opponent, and a campaign that has certainly attracted attention of the citizens of the district, yet none turned head’s like Thursday’s press release, which appears to capitalize on the death of the fallen MNPD officer.
After Thursday’s tragic death of Metro Nashville Police Officer, the campaign issued a statement to the press, titled “TORI GODDARD STATEMENT ON THE DEATH OF OFFICER JOHN ANDERSON”. In the statement, the campaign spokesperson, Christian Potucek, states that (opponent) Council Member Mary Carolyn Roberts has been unwilling to commit to providing resources to MNPD to reduce the likelihood of similar accidents, all under the heading of the statement on the death of the fallen officer. The exact quote from the campaign spokesperson reads:
“To best honor Officer Anderson’s legacy, the Metro Council must fully commit to provide the Metro Nashville Police Department with the personnel and resources necessary to reduce the likelihood of similar accidents. This is the type of commitment West Nashville’s current representative, Mary Carolyn Roberts, has shown she is unwilling to make. The public servants of our city deserve better.”
-Tori Goddard Campaign Statement on the death off Officer John Anderson
The statement was sent out via email at 7:30 p.m. Tori did not respond to direct requests to her about the statement, and her spokesperson, Christian Potucek, replied at 10:30 p.m. stating he had “been out all day” and promised to get back to us when he returned home Thursday night, but failed to do so by Friday morning.
Mary Carolyn Roberts, Goddard’s opponent, and current Council Member for District 20, provided the following statement to Scoop: Nashville :
” It is unfortunate to hear that our opponent has chosen to politicize the tragedy that befell Officer Anderson and his family. We’ve done our best over the last four years to support our police force and ensure that they are safe along with the people of Nashville and District 20. If re-elected and given the opportunity to serve again, we will continue to evaluate and implement opportunities to improve the welfare and performance of our civil servants. Our hearts, thoughts, and appreciation go out to all who serve.”
Mary Carolyn Roberts, Metro Council D20
Below is the full release initially issued by the Goddard campaign. We will update this story if the campaign responds to our inquiries.
