Mississippi’s Chris McDaniel isn’t the only Republican candidate for U.S. Senate who has allied with neo-Confederate activists. Warren Throckmorton reports today that Bill Flynn, a radio talk show host seeking the GOP nomination to challenge Democrat Kay Hagan in North Carolina, is a close partner of the Institute on the Constitution’s David Whitney and has taught courses through the Institute. Whitney wrote on the group’s website last week:
Our Institute On The Constituion [sic] Host Bill Flynn in Triad region of North Carolina announced his candidacy for the United States Senate race this past Sunday. Bill hosts a morning radio show on WEGO (980 AM). Bill has not only taught our U.S. Constitution course he was my co-host on the Constitutional Cruise, All Aboard America this past March. Bill is a good friend and patriot.
Whitney is the chaplain of the Maryland chapter of the League of the South, a neo-confederate hate group that promotes white nationalism.
Whitney’s bio notes that he also serves as “the Chaplain of the Southern National Congress where he is also the Chairman of the Maryland State Delegation to the Congress.” The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the Southern National Congress as “a neo-Confederate group focused exclusively on advancing a new secession through political means.” Two GOP lawmakers in Tennessee were recently slated to appear at a Southern National Congress event.
The head of the Institute On The Constitution is Michael Peroutka, aLeague of the South board member. Peroutka has denounced the Union victory in the Civil War, attacked civil rights laws, demanded the prosecution of women who have abortions and warned that nondiscrimination legislation would force people to be gay.
“You may also tell them that I am proud to be a member of League of the South,” Peroutka said during his campaign for president in 2004. “I look forward to receiving the support not only from guys with Confederate flags in their trucks, but also those with the Southern Cross in their heart.”
The Institute on the Constitution regularly attacks Abraham Lincoln as a “murderous tyrant” who should be “on trial for war crimes.”
But don’t think this GOP candidate’s close relationship with the Institute On The Constitution will trouble all of his fellow Republicans, as McDaniels in Mississippi continued to win support from right-wing groups after his own neo-Confederate links became public.
