Don't be hasty in dumping Perdue over state flag

Editor:

Since Gov. Sonny signed Georgias new flag into law, I have already heard that some of my fellow Confederate flag supporters have been calling him a turncoat and a traitor. I respectfully disagree. I am a member of several Southern heritage groups, and I was thoroughly disgusted when Gov. Roy Barnes orchestrated the flag change in 2001; consequently, I helped put Perdue in office.

I would suggest to Confederate flag supporters that we look at what we have accomplished - more than could have been imagined in January of 2001. Barnes is no longer governor, and that disgrace that passed for the states flag for two years is likewise a relic of the past. I realize that when he was running that Perdue implied that he would stand by the effort to restore the 1956 flag, and I realize that to some it appears he bailed out on the issue. But he had the fortitude to revisit the topic when many in the media and a considerable number of legislators were loathe to that notion. He could have vetoed the bill, but there would have been no guarantee in the next session that any more time would have been spent on the flag. Rather than make Perdue a scapegoat for the Battle Flag-less referendum, rest the blame solely where it belongs: on the Legislature.

Georgia will not stand to gain anything from any effort to defeat Perdue in 2006. That will only serve to restore the old Democratic power structure in the state... . Also, it remains to be seen what the NAACPs response to this new flag will be. Georgia might still face a boycott because the new banner is still a Confederate flag. How strange would that be if, in 2006, Perdue is defeated by a coalition of black voters angry that he raised a Confederate flag, and white voters angry that he raised the wrong one?

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I intend to continue to support Perdue, and I hope that other Confederate heritage supporters would at least take a wait-and-see approach before totally alienating the first friend conservatives have had in the Governors Mansion in a long time.

Ben Faulkner

Harlem