Confederate license plates are OK with me, Deal says, then changes his mind (kind of)

• Sons of Confederate Veterans

Virginia's governor wants the state to ditch a version of its license plate that features a Confederate flag. North Carolina's chief executive plans to do the same. And don't forget the governors in Tennessee and Maryland.

But here in Georgia? Here we like to go against the grain. Not follow the pack. Do our own thing, if you will.

“I was asked this question during the campaign, as was my opponent,” Gov. Nathan Deal told the AJC's Greg Bluestein. “Both of us said we didn’t have a problem with the license plate. And my position hasn’t changed.”

Jason Carter, Deal's Democratic opponent during the 2014 gubernatorial election, yesterday said the Confederate flag should be removed from the plate, and replaced with a tag honoring the Civil Rights Movement.

About 30 minutes after uttering those words and waving smelling salts under his panicked advisers' noses, Deal told Bluestein that he wanted to chat again. He actually thinks the license plate needs to be modified. The massive Confederate flag that motorists have to stare at on vehicles in front of them while they wallow in soul-crushing congestion could be tinkered with in some way.

Unlike other states, Deal doesn't think the flag should be removed from the license plate entirely. He told reporters that design discussions need to take place with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the organization that designed the plate, "and any other parties that have an interest in it." In a statement posted to the governor's website yesterday, Deal said:

“As I have said before, many interest groups in Georgia are able to express personal views on specialty plates, and I support the ability of these groups, including the Sons of Confederate Veterans, to express their views. I have tried to govern as a consensus builder, and I believe we can reach a resolution agreeable to all sides through a redesign of the plate.

“Georgia has faced down this controversy before, has found solutions that brought people together instead of dividing them and has come through those debates a more united people. I know we can do that again. Georgia celebrates its diversity, its commitment to equality for all and its tolerance of all viewpoints.”

Since South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley two days ago urged her state's Legislature to take down the flag flying over the Capitol following the killing of nine men and women at a historic black church in Charleston, attention has turned to other public or state-sponsored displays of the controversial flag. Nine states currently offer a license plate that features the Confederate flag.

Some of the revenues from Georgia's Confederate flag license plate go to a fund that pays for education programs or preservation efforts. The fund is overseen by the Georgia chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, an organization that's dedicated to honoring the soldiers who fought for the South during the Civil War — not their government, says Dan Coleman, a Georgia SCV spokesman who spoke with CL prior to Deal's comments.

In a long conversation, Coleman said that the SCV condemns the killings that took place and offer condolences to the families and community members. He says the flag has been "misused" in the past by hate organizations. (They apparently were not the only ones.)

But he thinks some "people are trying to make hay out of a tragic situation to make a name for themselves. Or to promote their political positions. I think it’s really a shame that people are trying to take advantage of this very tragic incident."

According to Deal's comments to the AJC — we asked his press team for comment early yesterday about the tag and state's flag but have yet to get even an acknowledgment — the changes to the license plate would not require legislative action. What's the over-under on some state lawmakers pitching a fit?