Democrats, no-party affiliated voters outnumber Republicans in Lee
It’s often noted that Lee County is “overwhelmingly Republican.” In addition to our county commissioners, all constitutional officers (including the supervisor of elections, sheriff, clerk of courts), and most of our supposedly nonpartisan School Board are Republicans. But Lee County’s voter registrations tell a different story: while 44 percent of voters are registered Republican, (the single largest voting bloc), the remaining 56 percent are Democrats and non-party affiliated voters. Sadly, these voters have no representation in policy decisions directly impacting them.
Three Republican commissioners -- Pendergrass, Hamman and Greenwell -- recently won elections, seemingly validating their politics and decisions. But taking a closer look reveals that they are the beneficiaries of a carefully calibrated single-party system. Minority rule in Lee County begins with the Republican donor base: developers and their enablers who provide a reliable six-figure war chest for friendly commissioners. By the time any challenger considers running, both funding and rules of the game have been stacked against them.
While past performance may not be predictive of the future, after 13 years of Hamman and Pendergrass, their record to date tells us much:
Poor management: They stubbornly retain a county manager whose poor decision-making has resulted in a chaotic vaccine rollout, an almost doubling of the county administration budget over eight years, and an "I-know-everything-about-hurricanes" hubris that invited disaster.
Impact fees: They voted to discount impact fees on developers, first by 80 percent and currently by almost 53 percent, forcing taxpayers to underwrite new infrastructure required by increased population.
Severance agreement/salary increases: They hired a county manager, boasting that his employment contract did not include a severance payment, only to quietly approve a lucrative severance payout when no one was watching. Furthermore, the commissioners have regularly given him 6 percent annual pay increases when other county staff received 3 percent.
Capitulating on legal settlements: They approved a legal settlement allowing the construction of 10,000 new homes on land sitting over our future drinking water supply and gave away rights to develop 2,474 acres the landowner didn't even ask for -- without going through the requisite public oversight.
Campaign donations: Together, Commissioners Hamman and Pendergrass have accepted $417,000+ in campaign donations, 70 percent from developers and their enablers. Most of this money was raised when they had no opponents and before write-in candidates filed to run.
Expanded mining/Elimination of Map 14: They overrode loud and persistent citizen pleas and approved expanded mining in Lee County by abolishing Map 14, which restricted mining to certain areas in the county.
Public participation: They muzzle citizen participation in commissioner workshops; residents wishing to be heard must speak up at a commission meeting held the morning of the afternoon workshop.
Overdevelopment: They approved higher building density in parts of the Coastal High Hazard Flood Area – the same land recently inundated by the storm surge. Soon, they will be considering 21 petitions for rezoning and building on land in this same area.
The Lee Plan: They have amended the Lee Plan (created to map out future growth) 64 times since 2013, when these incumbents first came to the commission. Developers promoted most of these amendments. Furthermore, they have regularly ignored community plans on future development. Not only was not one plan adopted, but not one suggestion was incorporated into the Lee Plan.
In explaining why his presence was not missed during the hurricane, Commissioner Pendergrass told this paper, “We (the county commissioners) don’t give orders, we don’t direct the staff or the county manager. We’re basically monitoring.”
As high-paid passive monitors, the potential for damage these commissioners will be able to inflict is jaw-dropping. Yet we keep on voting for them. Why?
Fort Myers resident Charlotte Newton submitted this guest opinion on behalf of Women for a Better Lee.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Democrats, no-party affiliated voters outnumber Republicans in Lee
