Fact Check: Is it true that Rep. Pendleton 'gave us HB2'?
A direct mail ad from a N.C. Families First claims Rep. Gary Pendleton, R-Wake, gave us House Bill 2. But the Wake County lawmaker didn't vote on the bill, so how does the group support that claim?
Posted — UpdatedOne of those fliers recently caught our eye in House District 49, a Wake County district that climbs from inside Interstate 440 up Creedmoor Road to neighborhoods north of Interstate 540. Rep. Gary Pendleton, a two-term Republican and former county commissioner, is running for re-election against Democrat Cynthia Ball, a member of the Raleigh Civil Service Commission, and Libertarian David Ulmer.
N.C. Families First is a politically active nonprofit group aligned with Democratic candidates and causes. It has been the funnel for non-candidate campaign spending form the likes of the Democratic Governors Association and the National Education Association.
Pendleton said he was initially uncomfortable with that call and urged legislative leaders to wait a month until the General Assembly was scheduled to return for its regularly scheduled session. At the time, Pendleton recalled, House leaders pushed for a special session because the Charlotte ordinance would have gone into effect before that session came around.
The Charlotte ordinance would have required businesses within the city limits to allow transgender individuals to use the bathroom and locker room the corresponded with their gender identity. Pendleton said he believed that local law ought to be reversed, but he would have rather seen the Charlotte City Council taken to court rather than a special General Assembly session.
"They didn't give it to us in advance," Pendleton said of the draft language that would become House Bill 2. "When we got there, it had everything in it, including the kitchen sink."
The bill in question required transgender individuals to use the bathroom corresponding with the gender on their birth certificates when in a publicly owned facility, such as a public school. It prohibited local governments from imposing local transgender equality standards on businesses. The bill also created statewide nondiscrimination policy that prohibits cities and towns from extending protections to LGBT individuals, which is something that has been the focus of many businesses, such as the NBA, that have objected to the law. House Bill 2 also further restricted local minimum wage standards and curtailed the ability to sue in state court for employment discrimination, a provision that has since been partially repealed.
Pendleton said the measure went much further than what he was prepared to deal with.
"I told the clerk I want an excused absence, and I left," he said.
Pendleton is one of three Republicans listed as absent that day. Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, was out of the country, as was Rep. Charles Jeter, R-Mecklenburg, who has since resigned from the General Assembly. Rep. Paul Tine, an unaffiliated member from Dare County who caucused with the Republicans, voted against the bill.
"The first I knew about it was when one of my Democratic supporters called me," Pendleton said of his inclusion on the Keep NC Safe list.
Pendleton said his name was not included with his permission and added that Preferred Planning and Insurance does business as Pendleton Financial Wealth Management. He said that, should he have wanted to lend his corporation's backing to a cause, he would have used the Pendleton Financial moniker.
"Neither Rep. Pendleton nor Pendleton Financial are on the public supporters list distributed by N.C. Values Coalition earlier this year. I looked at our records and did not find Mr. Pendleton listed as signer on any petition delivered to the Governor or Charlotte City Council regarding HB2," said Jim Quick, a spokesman for the Values Coalition.
Pendleton said he still thinks the Charlotte ordinance is unconstitutional, and he would insist on a measure related to bathroom safety before voting for a full repeal of House Bill 2. That "bathroom safety" line is a key reasons backers of the bill give for passing the law. They said ordinances like Charlotte's would allow predators to use transgender non-discrimination laws as permission to prey on girls and women. Opponents of the bill rightly point out that harassment and assault are already crimes, and there are few, if any, instances where a predator has used such a law as cover.
That said, he does oppose the remainder of the bill.
However, the evidence stemming from the N.C. Values Coalition listing appears to be less than reliable, and the coalition does not count Pendleton among its supporters on the topic of House Bill 2.
The strongest evidence one way or the other with regard to this claim comes from the General Assembly itself. Pendleton did not record a vote on the bill and was not an outspoken proponent of it.
To suggest that Pendleton "gave us" House Bill 2 or bears responsibility for the measure equivalent to McCrory, who signed the bill into law, stretches beyond what the facts tell us. The lead authors of the bill were Rep. Dan Bishop, R-Mecklenburg, in the state House, and Sen. Buck Newton, R-Wilson, in the state Senate.
• Credits
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