York County legislators evenly split on Confederate flag vote

South Carolina legislators made history early Thursday by voting to remove the Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse grounds, reaching the necessary two-thirds majority to furl the controversial emblem.

But votes among the local delegation were split, with four of York County’s representatives voting to take down the flag and four voting against the measure.

Reps. John King, Raye Felder, Ralph Norman and Tommy Pope voted in favor of the motion to remove the flag, while Reps. Greg Delleney, Dennis Moss, Steve Moss and Gary Simrill voted against the motion. The ninth member of the county delegation, Rep. Deborah Long, R-Indian Land, did not vote on the measure, which passed just after 1 a.m. Thursday.

The motion ultimately passed 94-20.

Simrill, R-Rock Hill, supported a compromise motion that would have replaced the Confederate flag with another flag representing those that fought in the Civil War at the Confederate Memorial in front of the Statehouse.

“I agree the flag needs to be furled. It’s been co-opted by hate groups,” Simrill said, but he added, “I feel that this is about more than just the flag, it’s about progressively removing all symbols of the Confederacy and the South. You see it happening all over.”

Delleney, a Republican who represents a district centered on Chester County, said most of the calls his office received were from people who supported leaving the flag up or replacing it with another. Amendments that would have put a version of the South Carolina Confederate regimental flag or a period version of the state flag received support from many members of the House Republican caucus but ultimately failed to muster majority support.

“The Democrats were bound and determined that there would be no flag pole there,” Delleney said. “Not even the South Carolina flag. We asked them to explain why that would be bad, and not one of them would come to the podium.”

The House stayed in session most of Wednesday and into Thursday to get a vote on the flag issue passed, after the Senate approved taking the flag down earlier in the week. Some legislators said they feel there was pressure to get a “clean” bill passed, without amending the Senate version, in order to get a bill passed as soon as possible.

Delleney said his preference was to replace the flag with a South Carolina volunteer’s regimental banner.

“One of my ancestors fought and died at Gaines’s Mill in the Seven Days Battle,” he said. “That was the only flag he ever saw in the war.”

Pope, R-York, said he supported Simrill’s position and considered voting against the final motion to remove the banner.

“I talked about grace last night, and how we should show each side of the issue grace,” Pope said Thursday. “Ultimately, the other side didn’t do that ... but I ultimately believe this flag has been co-opted and is painful to others in our state, and I had to show them grace.”

Other local legislators supported taking down the flag. Reps. MaryGail Douglas, D-Winnsboro, Jay Lucas, R-Hartsville, Mandy Powers Norrell, D-Lancaster, and Richie Yow, R-Chesterfield, all voted in favor of removing it.

This story was originally published July 9, 2015 at 11:35 AM with the headline "York County legislators evenly split on Confederate flag vote."