When is enough, enough?
First the numbers: Cecil Pendergrass, running for reelection to our let’s-pave-over-paradise (or in this case, the Sanibel Causeway) Board of County Commissioners, has raised a total of $174,033 — $108,850 of this coming from developers and development-related interests. Is there a developer in the county who has not contributed to this fundraising machine?
Nonetheless, the hunt for dollars is never-ending. The hostess of the next Cecil fundraiser urges her people to “Invite your neighbors and join us to hear directly from Cecil about county plans, including traffic signals, zoning, road development plans, etc.” Can’t wait to hear the scoop on zoning. Lee citizens can be fined $500 and/or spend 60 days in the county jail for communicating with commissioners about a zoning issue, yet if you pay up to $1000 at a fundraiser, you can hear about zoning from Cecil himself!!
We do wonder how Cecil can justify harvesting all this money for a campaign against an opponent who has raised a total of $40 to date.
Finally, it seems that in June 2021, Cecil received a donation from an individual who died in January, 2020. Now that’s real dead-ication.
“Cha-ching” brings you monthly info and analysis of campaign financing trends in our county political races. ALL information we report is publicly available and donors’ names can be found at http://www.lee.vote/Campaign-Reports/Campaign-Finance-Reports.