The Escambia Board of County Commissioners voted, 3-2, to allow the five historical flags approved by the Pensacola City Council to be flown over all county buildings.
Commission Grover Robinson, who sponsored the resolution, was joined by Wilson Robertson, who made the motion in 2000 to fly the Confederate battle flag on county property, and Steven Barry. Doug Underhill and Lumon May were the negative votes.
What is the aftermath of the vote? The Confederate battle flag will be replaced by the Confederate “Stars & Bars” version. The Florida state flag will be removed from the Pensacola Bay Center and replaced by the four historical flags. The resolution also left open the option to add the five-flag display to all other county facilities. Will that happen?
The vote divided a county commission that had been working well. That cooperative spirit may have been damaged.
Robinson lives in a wealthy district that has the fewest registered African-American voters of the five commission districts. The motion made several of his constituents happy.
May was never going to change his vote. The last minute “compromise” offered by the NAACP came as a shocker, but May did not waiver.
Underhill, who made an emotional speech in December to only have the U.S. flag flown at the Pensacola Bay Center, will be fine. Most of his supporters are active or retired military, who understood his patriotic reasons for the December change.
The one commissioner that Robinson put in a tough position was Barry, who faces re-election in 2016. He was under pressure to vote for Robinson’s resolution, especially with rumors that Robertson might move to District 5 and run against him next year.
In the coming months, Robinson might have problems in commission chambers. He has opposed and tinkered with several initiatives proposed by Barry, Underhill and May. It will interesting to see how much support Robinson gets from his fellow commissioners in the future. The only commissioner he made happy last night was Robertson.
There is a possible “work-around.” If the city of Pensacola drops the “historical flags,” would Escambia County have to remove them once again from the civic center? Councilwoman Sherri Myers has talked about bringing the Confederate flag up for council discussion in the future.