[VAcourier] VA kills Lincoln Bicentennial Bill

[Virginia Division SCV Communication List]

* Virginia House panel kills Lincoln bicentennial bill *

* *

02/14/2007

By LARRY O'DELL  / Associated Press

Virginia lawmakers meeting on the grounds of the former Confederate 
Capitol killed legislation creating a commission to oversee the state's 
participation in the national commemoration of the bicentennial of 
Abraham Lincoln's birth.

The House Rules Committee rejected Sen. Henry L. Marsh III's bill on a 
voice vote Wednesday. The Senate had passed the bill unanimously.

Marsh, D-Richmond, said several states have established panels to work 
with the federal Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, which is 
coordinating three years of events surrounding the 200th anniversary of 
Lincoln's birth on Feb. 12, 2009.

"Lincoln is regarded by many as the most outstanding president of all 
time," said Marsh, who noted that the 16th president's parents both were 
born in Virginia.

Robert Lamb of Richmond, a lawyer and a member of the Sons of 
Confederate Veterans, told the committee that supporters of a Virginia 
celebration of Lincoln's birth suffer from "historical myopia and amnesia."

"He sent armies into Virginia to lay waste to our land," said Lamb. He 
said Marsh's bill should be amended to replace the Lincoln commemoration 
with a June 3, 2008, celebration of the 200th birthday of Confederate 
President Jefferson Davis.

House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith of Salem said he opposed 
Marsh's bill, but not for the reasons cited by Lamb.

"My concern is that we do not need a commission in light of the fact 
that he was not a Virginian," Griffith said of the Kentucky-born Lincoln.

The committee rejected the bill with little further discussion.

David Early, spokesman for the federal Lincoln commission, said 10 
states have established their own commissions either by statute or 
executive order. He said state commissions "make it easier to coordinate 
and plan" but are not necessary for participation in the observance.

In the absence of a commission, Virginia's participation will be guided 
by John McGlennon, a College of William and Mary government professor 
serving as the state's liaison to the federal panel.

McGlennon said in a telephone interview that his mission is to "bring 
people's attention to the importance of 2009 and remind them of the 
significance of Abraham Lincoln on Virginia, recognizing that some of 
that experience may be viewed by some people as controversial."

He said "it would be desirable to have Virginia play a prominent role in 
commemorating the birth of a president who really kept the country 
together."

As expected, the committee also amended a slavery apology resolution 
sponsored by Marsh to match a broader version that has passed the House.

Marsh's resolution would acknowledge "with contrition" the state's role 
in slavery. The House version would express the General Assembly's 
"profound regret" for slavery as well as "the historic wrongs visited 
upon native peoples" and other forms of cultural or racial bias.

Marsh said the House version "dilutes the purpose of the original bill" 
by lumping slavery in with other abuses. He said he will ask the Senate 
to reject the House substitute to get the competing measures sent to a 
conference committee to work out suitable wording.


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