Editorial | Mayor Megan Barry must resign for Nashville’s sake

The Tennessean

Her behavior and actions of the past four weeks show that her priority is her political survival.
This editorial represents the view of The Tennessean Editorial Board.

Nashville Mayor Megan Barry has admitted to having an affair with the head of her security detail.

A leader must put the interests and the needs of the people she serves above her own.

We thought Nashville Mayor Megan Barry was doing just that.

However, it has become abundantly clear in recent weeks that this is not the case after the revelation of her affair with her subordinate and former head of security, retired Metro Nashville Police Department Sgt. Rob Forrest.

This is a confounding and disappointing situation:

How he could rack up more than $170,000 in overtime pay over three years, which included extended domestic and overseas trips with her alone and overtime charges in Nashville for hours after the mayor’s calendar showed official events of the day had ended.
How her Chief Operating Officer Rich Riebeling let the Mayor’s Office approve and pay for security detail travel requests – and how those trips grew from one with just Barry and Forrest alone to nine more after Chief of Staff Debby Dale Mason started supervising those requests.
How despite promises of cooperation with authorities and transparency with the public, Barry and her administrative team have only done so when forced to. Several public records requests are still unfulfilled with the mayor’s office citing a “deliberative process” exemption.

On Feb. 4, the Sunday after Barry confessed to her affair publicly, the Tennessean Editorial Board chose to rebuke her in an editorial entitled “Megan Barry betrayed Nashville.”

We did not ask for her resignation then because there were still so many questions.

Her behavior and actions of the past four weeks, however, painfully demonstrate that her priority lies in her own political survival.

Special Report:On the clock: A mayor, her bodyguard and late nights in Nashville

Four investigations have started at the state and local level to determine if she misused her position and broke any laws.

Since the revelation, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, a special Metro Council committee in cooperation with Metro’s internal auditor, and the council’s Board of Ethical Conduct are scrutinizing her, Forrest and possible misuse of taxpayer funds.

The details that continue to emerge from the affair only enhance the perception that she willfully and continuously showed poor judgment during the two-year affair with Forrest.

The former police officer benefited financially from their relationship because of the overtime he earned.

These are not the actions of a leader who puts public service over personal interests.

As a former ethics and compliance officer, Barry, a Democrat, knows better.

When we endorsed her in the 2015 mayoral election, she convinced us that we were getting someone with sound judgment, high ethical standards and a commitment to unmitigated transparency.

In fact, she signed Executive Order 5 on Feb. 24, 2016, which prohibited or called on employees, including herself, to avoid:

using a public office for private gain;
giving preferential treatment to any person;
impeding government efficiency or economy;
losing complete independence or impartiality;
making a Metropolitan Government decision outside of official channels; or
affecting adversely the confidence of the public in the integrity of the Metropolitan Government.

In a private business, one or more violations would have resulted in disciplinary action or dismissal. Barry has arguably violated all of them.

The last of these – “affecting adversely the confidence of the public in the integrity of the Metropolitan Government” – speaks to the damage to trust in the Mayor’s Office for her future and past decisions.

While the investigations must continue, the affair and the consequences of it will become a distraction for the next 18 months of Barry’s term and potentially mar the rest of her agenda, including the May 1 referendum on a $5.4 billion transit plan – the largest infrastructure investment in Metro’s history.

We expected better from Barry.

Sadly, the social media reaction toward the affair has been cruel with sexist and disgusting memes, comments and tweets leveled against the mayor. These comments do not reflect the values of civility.

More:Analysis: Can Mayor Megan Barry survive? Frustration from Nashville leaders builds over scandal

Barry should be judged for her performance as a leader. Period.

On that measure, she has failed and she must step down for the good of the city.

It is time for Mayor Megan Barry to resign.

Opinion and Engagement Editor David Plazas wrote this editorial on behalf of The Tennessean Editorial Board and in collaboration with fellow editorial board members Vice President and Editor Michael A. Anastasi and Executive Editor Maria De Varenne. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him at dplazas@tennessean.com or tweet to him at @davidplazas.