August 19th, 2008 By Justin Williams
Can Someone Please Check Under the Evansville County Commissioners’ Rugs?
It’s rare that I write about local politics on It’s Evansville. There’s a few reasons for that. The major reason is that I don’t find it that interesting, and assume that the majority of you don’t either. The other reason is that I don’t think I know enough about it to offer an informed, thoughtful opinion on the subject.
That said, I can’t resist touching on the county commissioners meeting’s recent meeting. At the County Commissioners’ August 5th public meeting, there was an item on the agenda marked as CO.08-08-018 Patient Safety Ordinance. The name doesn’t really say much about the ordinance, but the Thomas B. Langhorne at the Courier sums it up quite nicely.
…the ordinance states a doctor may not perform an abortion in Vanderburgh County without having local hospital admitting privileges in the county or an adjacent county. The doctor also must inform the patient where she can receive follow-up care in case of complications….According to meeting minutes and audio and video tapes of the meeting, Commissioners President Jeff Korb called for a motion to waive second reading on what he called “the patient safety ordinance.” Korb did not use the word “abortion.”
Here’s all 45 seconds of the video thanks to our friends at WNIN:
There are a few things to take note of in the video:
- There is no mention of the full name of the ordinance An Ordinance Concerning Abortion Provider Patient Safety. Instead, they put it on the agenda with the less controversial Patient Safety Ordinance.
- There was no reading or discussion of what the ordinance was leaving those that attended the meeting without a clue what was being approved.
- The issue wasn’t opened up for public discussion.
Whether you agree with the ordinance or not is irrelevant to this argument. My main point of contention is how the whole thing was just slipped into the agenda and passed without any public discussion or reference to what the ordinance is for. Patient Safety is a pretty wide net, and it’s obvious that the commissioners knew tossing the word abortion into the public ring would be a hot button. They even admitted it
Korb and Tornatta traded accusations Friday about which of them was most responsible for passing the ordinance with no debate and no mention of abortion.
“(Korb) asked me if I would be willing to pass it on first and final reading,” Tornatta said. “He didn’t say why, but I knew why. Because it’s too controversial.”
Korb said Tornatta wanted to “keep it on the quiet, down-low side because he didn’t want to experience the wrath of the pro-choice people.”
This is the epitome of political sleaze. Part of being a publicly elected official is dealing with the issues and wrath of those people who may be against it. It is deplorable to try to sneak the issue onto the agenda with an ambiguous name and no public debate, but it’s even worse to openly admit you have an agenda in doing so.
It’s no wonder most people have lost hope in politicians.
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Alex
August 19, 2008 @ 03:59PM
I don’t get it, what was sneaky? They only said that IF they were performed that blah blah blah. They didn’t say, “commence abortions at once!” This seemed to protect any side no matter how you fall on the issue by saying that you must have options for after care, instead of driving to Indianapolis, Louisville, or Cincinnati where you don’t know a doctor AND you have to plan for a second trip a week later to ensure everything went as it was supposed to.
Because this wasn’t a question of if abortion should be legal or not I don’t think there is an issue of sneakiness. The name on the agenda fit, they are concerned with safety.
We are wrong to think that anyone in politics doesn’t have a hidden reason for doing something at some point, admitting publicly that you’re doing just that is unprofessional, but I still don’t think this situation is as deplorable as some might think.
Justin Williams
August 19, 2008 @ 07:46PM
The full name of the ordinance is An Ordinance Concerning Abortion Provider Patient Safety yet on the agenda they titled it the Patient Safety Ordinance to slip it under the radar and keep the pro-choicers off their back. How is that not sneaky?
Warrick Reader
August 20, 2008 @ 06:07AM
I agree with Alex, I think this is much ado about nothing. Besides, even IF the hearing or meeting would have been more “open”, I can’t imagine there would have been much opposition anyway. I’m guessing that the “pro-lifers” outnumber the “pro-choicers” by at least a 2 to 1 margin in Vanderburgh County, perhaps more. I guarantee you that if the county were to put the ordinance on the ballot in November it would have passed in a landslide. I mean, I guess I kind of understand why a few people would find the whole thing sneaky, but I don’t think it was as bad as some people are making it out to be. Quit making mountains out of mole-hills and just move on to more important things.
Warrick Reader
August 20, 2008 @ 06:16AM
And I just have one question: IF the meeting would have been more “open”, would it have caused such a stir? Probably not. In fact, I’m willing to bet that no one would have even noticed or cared.
Paul Ramon
August 20, 2008 @ 07:53AM
“And that’s how we viewed it, and that’s why we, honestly — because, I guess, maybe, we’re guys, and we didn’t think it was that big of a deal. And we just went ahead and voted on it.”
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/aug/19/vanderburgh-commissioners-address-abortion-ordinan/
@warrick reader: Are you f’n serious? Not a big deal? These are paid, elected politicians whose job is to DEAL with these issues, not gloss over debates that make them uncomfortable, or even worse, give them more work to do.
The argument is not about whether or not the ordinance would have passed. Read the article and the update posted above and take a closer look at the problem at hand.
Justin said it well:
“Whether you agree with the ordinance or not is irrelevant to this argument. My main point of contention is how the whole thing was just slipped into the agenda and passed without any public discussion or reference to what the ordinance is for. Patient Safety is a pretty wide net, and it’s obvious that the commissioners knew tossing the word abortion into the public ring would be a hot button. They even admitted it.”
Warrick reader: You’re right, if the meeting was more open it probably would NOT have created much of a stir. Again, irrelevant. The point is these are issues that deserve due diligence and public input, not the misinformed thoughts of some weak local politicians.
Sker
August 20, 2008 @ 08:45AM
Like usual, I can see both sides of this, however I believe the way they went about getting this issue passed, used a very chicken-shit method of subterfuge. I can also see very little chance in these guys getting re-elected. Me? I’m a REAL Pro-lifer. No abortion, No executions. Killing is killing, regardless of the means, or reasons.
snorp
August 20, 2008 @ 09:11AM
Yeah, absolutely agree with Justin here — totally sleazy behavior on the part of the comissioners.
Also I am a little surprised that an ordinance like this is even legal. It seems pretty ridiculous that some two-bit county commissioners can tell a physician how he can or cannot treat his patients — especially when they are able to slide things through like this with Zero public participation.
Justin Williams
August 20, 2008 @ 09:36AM
Here’s an update from last night’s council meeting where people actually got to voice their opinions.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/aug/19/vanderburgh-commissioners-address-abortion-ordinan/
I love how they blame the media:
The commissioners tried to hide the ordinance from the public and then the media for not uncovering it prior to the meeting. Real classy.
I watched some of the WFIE news last night for the story and there were the obligatory pro-lifers and pro-choicers having their battle, but it was also refreshing to see there were also people there who were just upset and annoyed that local government tried to slide this under the radar. That’s pretty much where I stand.
Warrick Reader
August 20, 2008 @ 10:38AM
Sorry. I just don’t see the drama and controversy that some people are seeing in this. Like I said earlier, I think there are a few people (including Planned Parenthood) who are making this appear worse than it actually was and is. Maybe it’s just me, I don’t know. And no, I’m not some pro-life Bible thumper. And I’m not anti-Planned Parenthood (my wife has utilized the services of that organization multiple times). I’m a “middle of the road” kind of guy who prefers to worry about issues that affect all of us in a more direct way. To me, this whole thing was just a technicality, nothing more, nothing less. And I still stand by my belief that if the meeting regarding the ordinance would have been more “open”, you probably would have heard very little about it and it would have been just another county council meeting that no one paid attention to.
The sad part about all of this is that it has the potential to really divide the community. And that’s the true tragedy about the whole incident. Abortion (no matter how you phrase it) is obviously a very sensitive subject and a subject that people on both sides feel strongly about. It’s a shame that while many people are losing their homes and jobs, this is what we choose to argue and bicker about. That’s why I think we should just forgive, forget, and move on.
snorp
August 20, 2008 @ 10:58AM
@warrick reader: The content of the ordinance is not the point (for me, at least). The fact that elected officials took actions specifically designed to deceive the public in order to pass uncontested legislation is the part that is so alarming. Regardless of how you feel about abortion, you should care about this because it directly subverts our democracy.
gmwong
August 20, 2008 @ 11:02AM
Forgiving the ignorance of politicians now perpetuates the loss of jobs and homes in the future, among other things. If we can’t trust them how can we trust them to fix the debacle where in?
They should have said something. To someone. As an aware resident I should not have to learn about these things off of “It’s Evansville”*
Justin Williams
August 20, 2008 @ 11:04AM
i don’t plan on covering politics much. This one just got me fired up. I prefer the lighter fare around town.