The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy and Lead Reporter Tom Pappert on Wednesday sharply criticized Nashville Electric Service (NES) leadership, calling for the immediate firing of CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin and resignations from the utility’s board of directors amid prolonged power outages following Winter Storm Fern.
Speaking on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Leahy said Broyles-Aplin had lost public trust and accused her of misleading the public about core operational issues, including tree trimming and storm preparedness.
“I today, right now, am calling on the firing [of Broyles-Aplin]. The board must fire her today because she has lost public confidence and she is not an honest leader,” Leahy said. “In addition to that, after they fire her, the NES board should all resign in shame.”
Pappert agreed with Leahy’s assessment, saying leadership changes would be “a good start,” but argued that broader structural reform is necessary, including intervention by the Tennessee General Assembly.
“I think what really needs to happen is what Cameron Sexton, the Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives and others were talking about earlier this week, and that is the General Assembly at this point should have a say on this board,” Pappert said.
Pappert questioned the utility’s current governance model, noting that NES serves more than 470,000 customers across multiple counties while board appointments are controlled solely by Nashville’s mayor.
“The idea that Nashville, a hyperpartisan, far left city is able to manage power for 470,000 people—it’s not working out. The evidence is clear,” he said.
Leahy argued the state legislature has the authority to restructure NES and said its current system is fundamentally unfair to customers outside Metro Nashville.
“About 20 percent of Nashville Electric Service customers are outside of Metro Nashville. Yet the city of La Vergne in Rutherford County, they have no representation on this board,” Leahy said, adding, “They’ve got to clean house because nobody there really is on top of it.”
The discussion also touched on the political fallout of NES failures, with both Leahy and Pappert suggesting the controversy could prompt bipartisan support for legislative action.
“This is a political disaster for the Democrats, for Freddie O’Connell,” Pappert said. “It’s becoming such a politically toxic issue…Perhaps it’s time to give up and allow the Republicans, the people who know what they’re doing, to come in and save the day.”
Live February 04 https://t.co/CsWz8DHSyM
— Michael Patrick Leahy (@michaelpleahy) February 4, 2026
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
