Confederate Flag issue again in state politics

November 19, 2009 by senatormcconnell

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mullins McLeod released a jobs plan for the state Thursday that says South Carolina should remove the Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds.

McLeod says the Confederate flag debate continues to hold the state back and the state can’t compete economically in the face of those old arguments. He said the state should remove the flag to grow the state economy

The flag at a monument to Confederate war dead at the Capitol already has been a topic in the 2010 race. Republican candidates in their first debate in September closed the door to removing the banner.

Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell, who played a major role brokering the compromise that removed the flag from the Statehouse dome in 2000, quickly rejected McLeod’s suggestion Thursday.

””We settled this issue years ago on a bipartisan and biracial basis, and we’re moving forward to tackle the real problems facing South Carolina. We have pressing issues facing South Carolina and instead of focusing on creating jobs for our citizens, fighting violent crime, and improving the lives of our residents Mr. McLeod is focusing on a soldier’s flag at a soldier’s monument. We need candidates concentrating on progress rather than press and in looking ahead rather than backwards,” said McConnell.

A call to South Carolina NAACP President Lonnie Randolph was not immediately returned.

McLeod says removing the flag would be a signal to the world that South Carolina is ready to make progress.

McLeod’s economic plans also call for middle class and business tax breaks that include more deductions for starting a small business.

Midlands Connect

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