Supporters of restoring the Confederate flag outside the Sutherlin Mansion spoke out against Thursday’s veto by Gov. Terry McAuliffe, saying the move jeopardizes the future of all war memorials in Virginia.
“It’s not just Confederate monuments, it’s all veteran monuments and memorials,” said Heritage Preservation Association President Wayne Byrd.
On Thursday, Gov. Terry McAuliffe vetoed a bill extending protections to all war memorials in Virginia. The bill, drafted by Del. Charles Poindexter, R-Glade Hill, sought to clarify a protection of monuments in Virginia to include all monuments regardless of when they were erected.
Danville City Council approved a measure banning certain flags from city property in August 2015, bringing down the Confederate flag flying outside the city-owned Sutherlin Mansion.
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Poindexter said earlier this year comments from Danville Circuit Court Judge James Reynolds prompted him to draft the bill. On Oct. 29, Reynolds dismissed a lawsuit seeking to bring back the flag, saying the monument is not covered by state law protecting war memorials because the 1998 law did not specifically protect memorials retroactively.
In McAuliffe’s veto statement, he said localities, rather than the commonwealth, should determine the proper actions to take regarding memorials.
“My administration strongly supports historic preservation efforts, including the preservation of war memorials and monuments,” he said. “However, this legislation would have been a sweeping override of local authority over these monuments and memorials including potential ramifications for interpretive signage to tell the story of some of our darkest moments during the Civil War.”
Virginia Flaggers head Susan Hathaway said the veto move was motivated by state Senate Democrats after it passed with bipartisan support in the House of Delegates.
“The bottom line is that his veto is basically meaningless,” Hathaway said, explaining that she believed the law still protected all state memorials.
Byrd said he was frustrated with the veto and believed it signaled a lack of respect for Virginia’s history.
“All they did this time was try to clarify the original code,” Byrd said.
Byrd said he believed the issue would be resolved, along with the Sutherlin flag, in court proceedings. In December, the HPA filed an appeal of Reynolds’ decision.
The General Assembly will also get a chance to override McAuliffe’s veto on April 20.