THE BUZZ: What’s next for major SC players in Confederate flag debate?
While the Confederate flag was furled just more than a week ago, the major players in the debate already are looking ahead.
Haley: ‘Focused on healing’
Republican Gov. Nikki Haley stepped out front of the flag issue just days after the June 17 massacre at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church, pressuring lawmakers to bring down the flag. After the flag came down on July 10, Haley began receiving national attention as a potential GOP vice presidential candidate.
Haley’s spokeswoman Chaney Adams said: “The governor is focused on healing South Carolina and moving the state forward, unified. As she has said, if our focus is anywhere besides on the Mother Emanuel family and on healing, then she’s not doing her job.”
Horne: Might run for Congress
State Rep. Jenny Horne’s impassioned plea for fellow House members to stop debating amendments and vote to move the flag went viral.
The Dorchester Republican is considering running for the 1st District congressional seat now held by U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, R-SC, of Charleston.
“I am certainly thinking about (it), but I have not made a decision yet,” Horne said last week.
Senate leader: ‘Make sure that flag is in a place of honor’
President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman’s Senate approved Kershaw Democratic Sen. Vincent Sheheen’s bill to remove the Confederate flag in just two days, sending it to the House on July 7 by an overwhelming 36-3 vote.
Leatherman also was essential during the late-night flag debate in the House on July 8. Just before midnight, the Florence County Republican assured Rep. Rick Quinn, R-Lexington, the Senate would take up a resolution on how to display the flag at the Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum.
Leatherman intends to uphold that promise.
“We’re going to do what’s needed to make sure that the flag is in a place of honor, respected and, whatever that is, I’m committed to doing that,” Leatherman told The Buzz last week.
SC House speaker: Tackling big issues
While some disagree, S.C. House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, says both the full House and Republican caucus dealt well with a very difficult issue.
In January, Lucas said, the House will push big items left undone by the Senate this year, including a roads plan and ethics reform.
The House also will focus on education reform, trying to respond to the Supreme Court’s decision in the Abbeville case that said the state was not doing enough for rural S.C. schools. Lucas said the House also will continue looking at tax reform.
“We’re going to continue to tackle the big issues that are going to move our state forward.”
Freshman representative: Building consensus
Rep. Russell Ott, D-Calhoun, proposed a resolution to require the Confederate Relic Room to give lawmakers a budget proposal to cover the cost of its plans to display the flag.
That proposal was identical to Quinn’s amendment, which was slowing the Senate bill, and cleared the way for the House to approve taking down the flag.
Ott, the son of former House Minority Leader Rep. Harry Ott, said his compromise might have been his most high-profile move so far as a lawmaker. But he said he is more proud of what the House did on roads this year – passing a proposal to increase the state’s gas tax, 87-20.
Since lawmakers have yet to address the state’s road repair needs, Ott said he could be involved in future compromises on roads and other issues.
Lawmakers have to build consensus and coalitions to be successful, he said. “You can’t do things by yourself.”
Heritage advocate: ‘Disgusted with the process’
State Rep. Mike Pitts, R-Laurens, made headlines for drafting amendments to the Senate’s Confederate flag bill, including removing some monuments from the State House grounds.
“I had stated from the very beginning of my debate that my goal was to reach a compromise but not to keep the flag flying,” Pitts told The Buzz.
Pitts insists he did not advocate for keeping the Confederate flag flying, but he is being painted as the face of resistance to taking it down. “I was disgusted with the process, and frustrated with the other side’s absolute unwillingness to look at any kind of a compromise.”
Pitts voted to leave the flag up on second reading of the Senate bill, having said he would not vote to take it down unless a compromise was reached.
He also voiced concern the Senate bill did not go through the House’s committee process, where the public could have had input.
Pitts said he was betrayed by fellow Republicans and that his relationships with some GOP House members have been damaged beyond repair.
Pitts intends to introduce one of his failed amendments in January: a proposal to install a granite monument with a bronze casting of the First S.C. Volunteer Infantry Regiment’s flag where the Confederate battle flag had flown.
Speaker pro tempore: ‘Needs to be some healing’
Speaker Pro Tempore Tommy Pope, R-York, gave a speech urging House members to show grace, like the families of the Charleston shooting victims, when considering the history-and-heritage aspects of the flag. However, Pope ultimately cast his vote to take down the flag.
Pope has said he plans to seek the GOP nomination for governor in 2018. He said he received plenty of phone calls staying that if he were going to run, he should vote to leave the flag up. But he also got calls saying the opposite.
“Ultimately, I put that aside, and that night I didn’t care if I ran for governor or not,” Pope said.
Pope said he was comfortable with his floor speech, adding people always will find a way to use something against you.
“I am comfortable in the vote I took,” he said. “I’m disappointed somewhat in the way things played out within our party.”
He added the lack of focus within the House Republican caucus was disappointing.
“From a going-forward standpoint, there needs to be some healing within our caucus,” Pope said. “It’s like an issue within your family. We have to have an open discussion within the caucus, let everybody kind of air their concerns, agree to learn from this experience and move forward. It’s my hope that that’s what we’ll do.”
Lexington representative: Handle flag honorably
Rep. Rick Quinn, R-Lexington, said he plans to have discussions with other House members and Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum staff to discuss the budget to display the flag and what that display will look like.
It is important to follow through on the Relic Room display – for mutual respect and to handle it in an honorable way, Quinn said.
The flag was an emotional issue, leaving some hurt feelings. But Quinn expects House members to come back together as they did in 2000, after a compromise to remove the flag from atop the Capitol to its grounds.
Bill’s sponsor: ‘Bridge the divide’
Sen. Vincent Sheheen sponsored the bill to remove the Confederate flag, having called for its removal last year, when he was running for governor against Haley.
In the Senate, Sheheen sat beside Sen. Clementa Pinckney, D-Jasper, one of the victims in the Charleston shooting.
Sheheen said he now will focus on issues related to the racial divide in South Carolina.
He plans to introduce legislation to address how voting districts have been drawn, based on race.
In addition, the state has resisted allowing early voting and modernizing its voting process, he said.
S.C. leaders have made it harder to vote over the last few years, Sheheen said, referring to a court-gutted voter ID law, which he called a “Voter Suppression Act.” He criticized the law for making it harder for elderly and poor people to vote.
He hopes to engage in conversations about other areas where the state can “bridge the divide that has existed between races and people in South Carolina.”
2016 in S.C.
▪ Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will be at “Faith and Freedom Sunday” at 11 a.m. Sunday at Rock Hill Missionary Baptist Church. At 6 p.m., Huckabee will be at Langston Baptist Church in Conway. Monday, Huckabee will be Boys and Girls Club of the Pee Dee Area in Florence at 10 a.m. and the Florence corporate offices of Hope Health at 11:45 a.m. At 1:30 p.m., he will meet with Florence County Republican Party members at Bazen's Restaurant. At 4:30 p.m., he will meet with pastors at First Baptist Church of Florence.
▪ New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will be at the Skillet Cafe in Hilton Head at 9 a.m. Monday. Christie will be at the Mount Pleasant Liberty Tap Room at 5:30 p.m. Monday.
▪ Business mogul Donald Trump will visit Sun City Hilton Head Tuesday at 11 a.m.
▪ Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will attend the Palladian View’s “Bridging the Gap” leadership series at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in Spartanburg.
▪ Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry will visit Sun City Hilton Head at 2 p.m. Thursday.
This story was originally published July 18, 2015 at 10:04 PM.