By Rosetta Miller Perry
NASHVILLE, TN — Whenever a citizen runs for office they have an obligation to be accurate and factual when they cite who their supporters are, as well as their background, and their past and current positions on the issues. This is NOT the case when it comes to Karen Johnson’s current campaign for the office of Register of Deeds. So that you are aware, the primary responsibility of the Register of Deeds is to accurately maintain public records and documents mostly pertaining to the owning of real estate. Most importantly the “integrity of these records are important.”
My name (Rosetta Miller Perry) is on this list as a female supporter of Karen Johnson. That is inaccurate. I have not given my support, either verbally or on paper, and I am very unhappy that somehow my name ended up on row 5 number 7 on the list for Women Supporters For Karen Johnson, Register of Deeds 2018.
I have since heard from other Nashvillians whose names were on the list inaccurately, some of them government employees who are prohibited by law from openly supporting or endorsing any political candidate. Whoever compiled this list either accidentally or deliberately has been doing things that are at best unfortunate, and at worse unethical. The Tennessee Tribune doesn’t indict or attack anyone unfairly. We recognize mistakes happen, and this may well be the case here. But whoever was responsible for this should speak directly to any individual whose name they put on a public list of supporters without permission.
Many voters on the list below have never been contacted and are unaware there is such a list floating around Nashville. Others on the list not contacted includes: federal, state and city employees some covered by the Hatch Act, THDA employees, and financial institution employees who are prohibited from such political engagement without permission from their employer or prohibited by law. On the list are several who are still upset with Karen as the only African American on the School Board who voted to re-segregate Metro City School District and has had no contact with the candidate. Listed without permission also includes a person who has alzheimer’s, a retired metro judge, a metro school administrator, several HBCU administrators, retired teachers, and others who are responsible for campaigns for other candidates seeking national or state positions which could effect rejecting potential votes for their candidate.
This is not personal, as Karen is one of my bonus daughters here in Nashville, but it is a matter of integrity, principle and ethics. Who I choose to support as the publisher of this newspaper, as well as its backing, is very important. We pray that Karen and her campaign staff take greater pains to be certain that anyone else’s name that is on this list of Women Supporters is there by choice and not by random assignment or assumption or copied from voting list of other candidates. It should be at the very least fully accurate.
