In an unexpected development, a bill in the
Virginia Senate to get rid of the last remaining Confederate statues in
Richmond was killed by a House committee, but it is unlikely that
democrats will let up in their all out assault on Virginia's history and heritage.
A statue honoring Confederate General Stonewall Jackson stands in the
most prominent spot in all of Capitol Square. That statue, along with
two others honoring noble Virginians who contributed to the defense of
Virginia during the War for Southern Independence, was about to be
removed because of a bill that passed the Senate that was included in
the Senate budget. Unexpectedly, a House committee killed the bill last
week at the last minute as budget negotiations between the House and
Senate broke down. Former Senator Adam Ebbin of Alexandria introduced
the bill to ditch the statues, and he says he's hopeful the effort will
be resurrected during the budget special session next month.
"I would
have preferred the bill passed just to make it explicit, but I'm
confident that it’ll be in the final budget agreement," Ebbin says. "And
I'm very hopeful that that will prevail."
Unfortunately, legislation to strip several of of Virginia's honorable
historical societies of their property tax exemption and to discontinue
license plates honoring Robert E. Lee and the Sons of Confederate
Veterans did pass. The license plate measure was introduced by Delegate
Dan Helmer, a Democrat from Fairfax County.
"Virginia needs to end itself being in the business of celebrating
traitors who killed American soldiers to defend slavery," says Helmer.
"That's not who we need to be as a country, and we're going to finish
the job of making sure that America is about celebrating all
Americans." Both measures passed along strict party lines with ALL
democrats voting for the bills, and ALL Republicans voting against
them.
Governor Youngkin vetoed similar legislation in 2024 and 2025,
rightfully citing the "inappropriate precedent" of targeting
organizations out of hate and spite. Spanberger has until April 13th to
make a decision about the Confederate license plates and tax exemption
bills, but is expected to abide by the wishes of the handful demanding
these changes, just as Democrats in the legislature did, and despite the
fact that polls have repeatedly found that the majority of Virginians
are AGAINST such measures.
Lawmakers are expected to return to Richmond to strike a deal on the budget April 23rd.
*Graphic courtesy of Judy Smith Photography
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