By Bill Davis | South Carolina’s legislature will likely be in a no-win situation when it likely returns to vote on removing the Confederate battle flag from Statehouse grounds in two weeks.
Consider that the casket bearing the body of slain former state Sen. Clementa Pinckney (D-Ridgeland) travelled in view of the flag on its way to being laid in state in the main second-floor of the Statehouse.
Despite international interest and widespread pressure, including President Barack Obama coming to Charleston on Friday to deliver Pinckney’s eulogy, the legislature did not hold a crucial vote to address the issue.
“We’re good, but we’re not that good,” said state Sen. Larry Martin (R-Pickens) at the time. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Martin is one of the leaders in the Senate.
Conversely, the legislature took only two days earlier this session to pass a bill giving millions of dollars in tax breaks to help bring a new Volvo auto plant to South Carolina.
Gov. Nikki Haley this week laid out a timeline whereby she would recall the legislature, already meeting under a special session extension, if members didn’t handle the issue this summer. Standing Monday near the spot where Pinckney’s casket would be lie in state two days later, Haley said ideally the flag would be down by July 4.
Hailed by some as a genuine act of respect for her slain colleague, the timeline also allowed some political cover, giving legislators tacit approval to return home and let the issue cool some.
Statehouse brass in both chambers has stretched the timeline to July 6. In the Senate, Finance chair Hugh Leatherman (R-Florence) told other senators that they wouldn’t be asked to return unless Haley issues a large number of serious vetoes to the $7 billion state budget bill package that the legislature passed this week.
A compromise bill brokered by then Sen. Glenn McConnell in 2000 required a two-thirds vote of the “present and voting” legislators to take down the flag. The “present and voting” portion of the law provides some political cover for legislators facing reelections next year who live in districts where sentiment for the flag is split. That’s because it means some members may abstain from voting or “take a walk” by stepping into the lobby during the vote.
The Senate vote count
Nose counters in the Senate said there are “easily” enough votes in that chamber to pass a bill removing the flag. The count got a lot easier this week when state Sen. Chip Campsen (R-Charleston) wrote an impassioned opinion column calling for its removal.
Campsen is a sometimes-member of the conservative “William Wallace” caucus in the Senate, which made up of more Libertarian and tea party-leaning members. With him on the side of removal, moderate members of that grouping are expected follow.
Additionally with Campsen taking the position he did, the chances of a filibuster from that caucus is likely reduced, as his vote could likely be counted on to end a similar Senate floor drama.
House of drama
Several House members said this week’s 103-10 vote to include a flag-removal bill to the July special session was a forecast of what would happen in that chamber.
After the 103-10 vote, House Speaker Jay Lucas (R-Hartsville) said: “I have spoken with and heard from almost every single one of you in this Chamber. It is clear that a majority believes a conversation should begin and the General Assembly should debate the placement of the Confederate soldier flag on the State House grounds.”
That’s not to say there won’t be “harsh political debate” on the floor of the House on the issue, according to a House member, speaking on background.
One GOP state representative, Republican Bill Chumley of Woodruff, already has been excoriated nationally for comments he made that seemed to blame some of the victims of the “Mother” Emanuel AME Church slayings that took Pinckney’s life. Chumley apologized publicly for the comments hours before bumping into a train of Pinckney’s family as they filed out of a back Statehouse room, with the senator on view less than 50 feet away.
State Rep. Doug Brannon (D-Landrum), who was the first Republican who said he would offer a bill to take down the flag, has taken some heat, too. Earlier this week, Brannon said he received a threat that a flag-supporter was going to have ISIS torture and kill a member of his family. Brannon also said he was told the message’s sender quickly received a visit by officers of the State Law Enforcement Division.
Brannon’s turn on the hot-seat may not be over, as he said some of his party-mates weren’t pleased with having to take a public stand on such a sensitive issue.
Several years ago, former House Speaker Bobby Harrell’s leadership position was threatened after an abortion debate broke out on the floor. Several House Republicans were not happy then that he was unable to corral the issue before it got into the public domain.
This week, several House members said they worried that Lucas, Harrell’s replacement, did not have the skills to handle the coming brouhaha. One member described Lucas as “conflict adverse.”
Lucas did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Today, he is expected to attend Pinckney’s service.
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