Peace And Love Politics
Jennifer Roberts, a Democrat, managed to retain her seat Monday night as chairman of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, sidestepping a brewing coup that could have stripped her of the title she’s held for the last four years and led, instead, to a bipartisan leadership-sharing role with a former sheriff and Democrat-turned-Republican, Jim Pendergraph, who was named vice chairman.
The change of fortune came as a surprise to many, including Roberts, who found her reign being challenged by an unlikely alliance between fellow Democrat and former vice chair, Harold Cogdell, and the board’s four Republican commissioners.
The twist of events bucked tradition and history; with few exceptions, the board names as chairman the top vote-getter in the at-large race, with the vice chair position going to the at-large candidate from the same party who received the next highest vote totals. In November’s election, Roberts placed first in the at-large race, trailed by Pendergraph, with Cogdell in third place.
Early into the process of choosing new board leadership at Monday night’s meeting, Commissioner Vilma Leake, a Democrat, moved to name Roberts chair and Cogdell vice chair. The motion failed with only Leake, Roberts and commissioners Dumont Clarke and George Dunlap, all Democrats, supporting it.
Commissioner Karen Bentley, a Republican, then made a motion to name Cogdell as chair and Pendergraph as vice chair, at which point Leake interrupted the proceedings to declare that she had “an unreadiness.”
After Dunlap explained to Clarke, who was presiding as temporary chair during the voting, that Leake meant she had a question, the board voted to bifurcate the motion, voting on chair and vice chair in two separate motions.
Bentley said Pendergraph’s strong showing at the polls – he trailed Roberts by less than 1,000 votes – and a need for bipartisan leadership on the board were driving forces behind the Cogdell/Pendergraph alliance.
“Our election process last November proves one consistent message from the voters,” Bentley said. “They want responsibility above partisanship, results versus rhetoric, and trust in the people they’ve chosen to represent them to move forward on the people’s agenda versus their own.”
Bentley said she had approached Roberts several weeks ago to see if she would support Pendergraph as vice chair – an idea that Bentley said Roberts “dismissed, out of hand.” At which point, apparently, talks began to craft a coalition of the willing that would jump Cogdell over Roberts for chair, with Pendergraph as vice chair. There would have been enough juice to support the move, with votes from the board’s four Republicans, plus Cogdell.
Cogdell’s Democrat colleagues made it clear Monday night, however, that they were none too happy with the developments.
“There is a difference between leadership and leverage,” Dunlap said. “Leverage is having the ability, with your vote, to make things happen because you control the vote.”
“It pains me that this would take place this way,” opined Dunlap, who said he would vote for Cogdell as chair, but only if Cogdell denounced the Democrat Party and declared himself a Republican (you know, kind of like Pendergraph did).
Roberts said she respected Cogdell, but that it would be unfair to the voters to leapfrog him ahead of her for chairman because he had trailed her by some 6,000 votes.
“I would hate to have those 6,000 people think there votes didn’t count,” Roberts said. However, she said she would support Cogdell for chair, but only if another Democrat – not Pendergraph – were named vice chair.
In the end, it was much ado about very little. Cogdell, in the driver’s seat to become chairman, ran the bus over himself, declaring that he planned to vote for Roberts as chair and Pendergraph as vice chair.
Cogdell denied speculation that any deals had been made between himself and the board’s Republicans to land him the chairmanship. Any political machinations, Cogdell said, had been designed all along to compel the board to accept bipartisan leadership, not to oust Roberts as chair and land himself the role.
“Frankly, within the last 72 hours or so, I’ve been somewhat disappointed,” Cogdell said. “I’ve been disappointed on allegations that have been made on some dealings that supposedly were made.”
“Ultimately, at the end of the day, it seemed like I was the swing vote on this because everything comes down to partisan politics,” he said. “And that was the point I was trying to make in this whole example. I’m sick and damn tired of partisan politics.”
If it meant giving up a chance to become chairman to foster some bipartisanship, Cogdell said, so be it.
“I’m telling the people on this board and the people in elected office that we need to wake up,” he said, “because we are missing an opportunity to lead this nation and this state and this community ahead, when everything comes down to a partisan vote and we don’t talk and we don’t work together.”
Leake, apparently, was still slumbering in an “unreadiness” and missed the message Cogdell said he was trying to deliver. Or maybe she was just being the most honest person on the board.
“Everything that we do is political and don’t say that it’s not,” Leake said before joining her colleagues in unanimous support of the Roberts/Pendergraph arrangement. “The decisions being made here tonight are political.”
Leake lamented that on several occasions she had tried to wrestle bipartisan support from the board help her get more leverage for poor people in her district; but that she was rebuffed at every turn.
“Yet you sit here now talking about let’s come together, let’s make friends with each other,” Leake scolded. “I respect you and a I speak to you, but I don’t know how I can trust you. I haven’t been able to trust you before.”
Clarke, who was still acting as temporary chair, stepped in and efficiently clamped down the Leake, cutting her off and asking for somebody to put a motion on the floor.
“And you wonder why I don’t want to be chair,” Cogdell said, sotto voce. Responded Leake, in kind, “We don’t want you, either.”
After which the board got on with its love fest and unanimously voted to appoint Roberts as chairman and Pendergraph as vice chairman.
Bipartisanship, it’s a lovely thing.
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