Smith: On Mayor Berke: Word on the street

Robin Smith

As often as possible, I select topics for this space to reflect talk I hear at the coffee pot or in the lunch line.

So, here we go.

Andy Berke was elected Chattanooga mayor after a noncampaign. He successfully transferred campaign funds from his Tennessee Senate campaign to the mayoral race, giving him a solid advantage. Further, the downtown business community was assured by Berke, a Democrat, he would be nonpartisan and focus on jobs and economic development.

Andy Berke served one four-year term and then one year more in the state Senate, leaving the General Assembly in 2012 to run for mayor. Prior to that, he practiced law at the firm that his grandfather, Harry Berke, established in 1934, according to an online biography.

As a member of Senate Education and Transportation committees, Andy Berke’s political career was not marked by any key legislation. The Nashville Scene, an alternative news publication, best captured Berke’s persona: “The left side of the Twitterverse lit up last night with the news that former state senator and liberal darling Andy Berke had been elected mayor of Chattanooga.”