Four Cleveland, Tn., residents are asking the Bradley County Election Commission to not allow prominent businessman Allan Jones as a candidate for school board, saying he does not meet the requirement of being a Cleveland resident.
George Nerren said the request, along with almost 100 exhibits, was presented to the election panel on Monday.
Others seeking to have Mr.
Jones invalidated are Carrell Van Deacon, Lena Barber and Bill Burch.
In response, Mr. Jones said, "I am disappointed this issue that I thought had been settled is now apparently being rehashed again. I have been told that this complaint was filed by friends of the Cleveland School Board chairman.
"It is interesting how the chairman is opposing the city’s largest taxpayer, who is also the city school system’s biggest donor and cheerleader. None of the complainants - none - ever attended the city schools. To my knowledge, none of them have ever attended one of our football games, basketball games or wrestling matches.
"They are all from out of town and are empty nesters with zero passion for our city schools. The only passion they have is for supporting the current school board chairman. That in itself should warn the voters.
"Why would Chairman Dawn Robinson not want a capable person like me on the school board? Because she knows I understand accounting and I will not allow manipulation of numbers to her benefit.
"As my attorney previously indicated, Creekridge is a farm, in which a municipal line crosses. He has outlined the specifics of this and the media has reported on it, so I see no need to repeat what has already been stated. Creekridge set a Bradley County record in 2008 for selling World Champion “Busting Out” for $1,000,000.
"What I do think is unfortunate is that Dawn and her friends are ignoring how successful I’ve been in promoting education and creating new opportunities for our local students. The Tennessee Achieves scholarship program I started with Randy Boyd in 2011 provided full scholarships to Cleveland State for every graduating senior from Cleveland High, Bradley Central High School and Walker Valley High. It was a tremendous success! We ended the program in 2015 after Governor Bill Haslam agreed to adopt the program statewide and called it 'Tennessee Promise,' which made Tennessee the first state in the country to offer free community college education, yet the chairman doesn’t want me on the school board.
"What I did with Tennessee Achieves is what I want to do for the Cleveland city schools – but the chairman and her friends don’t want to hear it.
"Again, the voters of Cleveland should be most concerned that Dawn and her friends want to disqualify capable people who graduated from Cleveland High School to be elected to our school board. Matt Coleman is a lawyer, while Andy Lay was a finance major at the University of Tennessee who took accounting. All three of us would make great school board members!
"My opponent, a left-wing Democrat, is the only Democrat running in a field of 88 candidates in Bradley County. I understand she is Dawn’s handpicked candidate to try and defeat me, with the promise that Dawn would be able to get me disqualified.
"I realize now that I accidentally kicked a hornet’s nest when I studied the standardized test scores of the city school system. When they attack me, it is no different than attacking the radio announcer for mentioning that the football team was 6-5 last year.
"Apparently, the friends of the chairman, who filed this complaint, think the only way I will lose is to disqualify me."
The letter by Mr. Nerren says:
Dear Commissioners:
I, along with Carrell Van Deacon, Lena Barber and Bill Burch, are hereby submitting a formal complaint to the Bradley County Election Commission stating that Mr. Allan Jones is not eligible to be on the ballot as a candidate for the 5th District representative to the Cleveland City School Board. All the complaining parties are citizens, property owners, and registered voters in the City of Cleveland. Mr. Deacon, Ms. Barber, and Mr. Burch are residents of the 5th Civil District in the City of Cleveland. We are hereby requesting that this complaint be immediately placed on the Election Commission Agenda so this matter may be resolved by the Commission in advance of the certification of the ballot for the August General Election.
On April 18, 2022, I emailed Chairman Henry requesting that our complaint be placed on the Agenda at the next meeting of the commission. Additionally, I requested his advice as to the procedures required to make a presentation to the Commission. On April 19th, I phoned Chairman Henry who advised me that the Commission addressed the issue of Mr. Jones’ residency qualification in the meeting of March 3rd. Mr. Henry further stated that the Commission, on that date, reviewed a letter from attorney Jerry Farinash, who is representing Mr. Jones concerning Mr. Jones’ residence. Mr. Henry advised that the Commission resolved the issue by saying that it had no jurisdiction concerning candidate residency requirements. He advised that the matter would not be taken up by the Commission under any circumstances. It is my understanding that there is no other complaint that has been formally filed by the Commission as to the issue of Mr. Jones’ residence. I have requested a copy of the Minutes of the March 3rd meeting. As of this date, I have not received the Minutes and as such, no official public statement as to the actions taken by the Commission.
I also requested a copy of the procedures and/or policies of the commission regarding public participation and addressing the commission. Chairman Henry did not provide any written policies/procedures and stated, “We follow Roberts’ Rules of Order”.
I have no other recourse but to directly appeal to the commissioners that a meeting be scheduled as soon as possible and that I be allowed to present evidence proving the ineligibility of Mr. Jones. If our Complaint is not going to be considered under any circumstances, I would request that a formal response to this letter be provided in a timely manner, and a copy of the Commission Minutes that reflect the action taken at the March 3, 2022 meeting. I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
George Nerren, Ed.D.
Click here to read the complaint.