Senator wants Legislature to punish SCANA for Confederate flag rule
SCANA reverses flag policy
By JOHN MONK
Staff Writer
SCANA reversed itself Tuesday and said workers can display Confederate flag bumper stickers on personal cars in company parking lots.
Announcement of the policy change came after a week of statewide controversy that began last week when a SCANA spokesperson told The State newspaper SCANA workers could no longer display Confederate flag bumper stickers on personal cars in its parking lots.
SCANA, a Fortune 500 company with 5,480 employees, also banned company vehicles from parking lots of Maurice Bessinger's barbecue restaurants.
That brought an angry response from Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston.
And two pro-flag state senators - Jake Knotts, R-Lexington, and Arthur Ravenel, R-Charleston - told the Public Service Commission they would protest SCANA's flag ban at a November rate hike hearing. SCANA subsidiary SCE&G is seeking an 8.7 percent rate increase.
Across the state, hundreds of citizens protested to SCANA and media outlets.
In its statement released late Tuesday, SCANA made clear that bumper stickers on private vehicles, "heritage symbols such as the Confederate flag ‘.‘.‘. are not contrary to our Code of Conduct."
But SCANA said it reserved the right to deal with Confederate flag displays "on a case-by-case" basis if there is an "intent to harass, intimidate or provoke other individuals in the workplace."
The controversy began last week after The State newspaper received complaints from workers and Southern heritage proponents about the company's Confederate flag policy. The State queried SCANA.
In response, SCANA spokeswoman Cathy Love said in an Aug. 14 e-mail to The State, "Both the Confederate flag and Maurice Bessinger's restaurants are divisive issues that have dominated news over the past several years."
She wrote that SCANA's code of conduct prohibits "flags, symbols and statements that are divisive, disruptive and inflammatory from having an influence on the productivity in our workplace."
As such, she said, SCANA was banning Confederate flag bumper stickers on personal cars parked in company parking lots.
The resulting State story triggered a statewide outcry from Southern heritage groups and applause from blacks.
Tuesday, SCANA spokesperson Robin Montgomery said the company could have "done a better job" communicating its policy.
He said SCANA employees had so many questions about company policy that officials felt more clarification was needed - inside and outside the company.
"It became obvious to us that maybe we weren't being as clear as we could," Montgomery said.
On Tuesday, SCANA also made clear its vehicles no longer could go to Bessinger restaurants unless the utility was responding to a service call:
"Our position does not target the Confederate flag, but instead is in response to Mr. Bessinger's views - which he has made very public - concerning slavery."
Bessinger, who flies large Confederate flags at his Columbia-area restaurants, is known for distributing literature that says God wanted blacks to be slaves, and that blacks were glad to be slaves.
In a letter last week to SCANA chief executive officer Bill Timmerman, Sen. McConnell told Timmerman he was outraged at SCANA's bumper sticker ban and its ban on company vehicles at Bessinger's for lunch.
McConnell did not mention the slavery issue. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Timmerman, who could not be reached Tuesday, wrote McConnell a three-page letter about SCANA's policies, saying, "I hope this letter has helped clarify the issues at hand."
In his letter, dated Monday, Timmerman blamed The State newspaper for creating the controversy. State executive editor Mark Lett said there was nothing in Timmerman's letter that changed the facts in The State's stories.
After Timmerman's letter became public, persons on both sides of the issue criticized it for not being clear enough.
Don Gordon, commander of the 250-member Columbia-area post of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, called Timmerman's letter "double talk" because it wasn't clear on the bumper sticker issue. Gordon could not be reached late Tuesday for comment.
Carl Solomon, a Columbia lawyer who represents 13 black workers suing SCANA for an alleged racially hostile work environment, applauded the utility's strong position on Bessinger.
But Solomon said while many who display Confederate flag bumper stickers do so for heritage reasons, others use it as a form of "covert racism" to harass black people.
The flag has a long history of being used by people who denied blacks their civil rights, and - since it is impossible to know the minds of those who display the flag - it is better to keep it out of the workplace, Solomon said.
"If you can't determine the use of a Confederate flag, why should you let it come into your place of work?" Solomon asked.
SCANA denies allegations it has a racially hostile environment.