Pendergrass: ‘Their goal is to drive people to the polls’
The Lee County Board of Commissioners meeting on Sept. 3, 2024. (Photo: Dan Becker)
Sept. 4, 2024 by David Silverberg
On Tuesday, Sept. 3, the Lee County Board of Commissioners voted 4 to 1 to pass a resolution condemning Amendment 4, a proposed amendment to the state constitution guaranteeing a woman’s right to choose abortion.
The sole dissent was by Commissioner Raymond Sandelli (R-District 3) who voted against the resolution.
(The full text of the resolution can be read here.)
The commissioners heard 2 hours and 20 minutes of public comment on the proposed resolution. This was in addition to two previous sessions of public comment on Aug. 6 and 20. Demonstrators on both sides of the issue protested outside the building prior to the meeting’s start.
“I haven’t seen that much engagement with constituents on this many issues,” said Commissioner Kevin Ruane (R-District 1)
Commissioner Ray Sandelli (R-District 3)(Image:LCBC)
Sandelli, who has announced his retirement at the end of this year, said that he was “taken aback” when the Board was asked to handle the issue.
“Personally, I am pro-life,” he said. “And when I cast my individual vote in November, I will do so accordingly. I trust you will honor my position as I honor yours. That said, I was taken aback when the Board was asked to get involved in this.
“But my constituency is all of Lee County, be it a yes vote or a no vote. Again, the final decision will come from all who will vote in November. We should carefully study the topic, help inform people, trust our own beliefs and vote accordingly as we see fit.
“So my feeling is, I would not adopt the resolution as it stands.”
In contrast, commissioners Mike Greenwell (R-District 5), Brian Hamman (R-District 4) and Ruane said they were voting against the resolution because they considered it “vague.”
“This resolution does not change anyone’s ability to vote,” said Commission Chair Greenwell, who introduced the resolution. “It simply would be a resolution saying, ‘Please read [the amendment]. Please look at it.’ I think the language is vague for a reason and I would not consider myself a leader if I didn’t stand up and read the resolution and say, ‘There’s something wrong here.’ And I think it’s important that we bring that up.’”
He added, “We’re a divided country. We should always help the unborn.”
Hamman said he had “compassion and love and respect for people we heard here today” but he agreed with Greenwell that the amendment’s language is “very misleading and I think voters need to be made aware that this is something that needs a second look.”
Ruane also criticized what he said was “vagueness in the wording.” He insisted the Board had a right to bring up the resolution and struck a defiant note against critics.
“I’ve heard a lot of emotional speakers and I’ve excused some emotion that if I don’t vote this particular way you’re going to vote me out of office. That’s your prerogative and every day I make a decision up here, that’s what I do,” he said. “And if this vote changes your mind so be it.”
But it was Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass who had a unique view of the whole pro-choice, Amendment 4 effort, which he considered to be a Democratic Party plot to drive voters to the polls.
Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass. (Photo: LCBC)
“We should talk about the big elephant in the room,” he said. The reason the whole issue of abortion was before the Board, he argued, was because the Democratic National Committee (DNC) had decided to challenge Florida’s six-week abortion ban and wanted to flip Florida Democratic.
“The DNC decided over a year ago since they had either DeSantis or another resident of Florida running for president, they’re going to take the state of Florida, they need to push the polls to guide people to vote this year,” he said. “So here’s what they used, they used an emotional issue like this, bring it forth, that’s what their neighbors have to have this discussion, which, at the end of the day, we don’t want to have this discussion with our neighbors but we have to now, because they decided to make this the issue to bring people to the polls.”
He said that the amendment had “very vague language they threw together,” knowing it would be challenged.
“Their goal is to drive people to the polls in November for the presidential election, which is unfortunate because they’re using women’s rights, they’re using as an issue for that reason,” he charged. He said he was also voting for the resolution condemning Amendment 4 because he considered it vague.
Commentary: The Pendergrass perspective
Somehow missing from Pendergrass’ perspective was the fact that women lost their right to choose in 2022 with the Dobbs decision; that this caused a spontaneous reaction among people who acutely felt that loss; that the movement to pass Amendment 4 might be a grassroots response to restore that lost right; that 993,387 Floridians signed the petition to put it on the ballot, 101,864 more than was required; that the state Supreme Court ruled the amendment’s language to be very clear and understandable to all voters; that there are plenty of factors propelling voters to the polls that don’t require some plot from the DNC; that no matter how uncomfortable and inconvenient it is for him and his neighbors, larger forces are driving this energetic discussion of reproductive rights and not some Democratic Party plot; and that it was anti-choice activists who first proposed and insisted upon this entirely unnecessary, divisive and inappropriate resolution, creating the controversy in Lee County, Fla., that he so deplores.
An uncharitable observer might call Pendergrass’ view of the situation “stupid.” A cruder observer might add an adjective starting with the letter “f.”
On one thing and one thing alone, he was right and on which everyone can agree: there was indeed a “big elephant” in the room.
The entire 3-hour, 8-minute Board of Commissioners meeting can be seen on YouTube. Public comments begin at minute 40. The commissioners’ discussion prior to voting begins at 2:45 and ends at 2:54.
Liberty lives in light
© 2024 by David Silverberg
The Lee County Board of Commissioners taking the vote on the anti-Amendment 4 resolution. (Image: LCBC)