In a disagreement between Youngkin and one of his recent appointees to the Virginia Board of Historic Resources, the appointee resigned after making widely criticized remarks about Confederate statues and the Civil War.
Macaulay Porter, a spokeswoman for Youngkin, confirmed to WRIC-TV Tuesday that Ann McLean had resigned from the board effective Monday.
“The Governor has made his disagreement with her prior comments clear, and the Administration is focused on ensuring that our commonwealth’s rich history and resources are preserved, the best and the worst, for future generations of Virginians and visitors,” Porter told the station.
Youngkin had previously told WRIC that he disagreed with some of McLean’s comments and that his administration was discussing with her whether she can “represent us well.”
McLean is a founder of a Christian school with a background in art and architectural history who has been outspoken in her defense of Confederate monuments. For the controversy in question, McLean had criticized the push to remove Confederate monuments and in an interview after her appointment had defended secession by the Southern states.
“I think that the Southerners knew that their story of why they fought the Civil War was not being told correctly,” McLean said about Confederate monuments during an interview with a conservative radio host last year.
“Fake news, or false narratives, are not new, and this whole tragedy is that these statues were built to tell the true story of the American South to people 500 years from now.”
McLean wrote in an email Wednesday to The Associated Press that “it’s past time for Virginians to examine our complete history, but it has to be the actual full and honest history — not a simplified version used for political reasons.”
“I am excited to be completely free now to share that history with people and to speak up to stop the destruction of our shared cultural heritage,” she wrote.
So far, there has been no announcement oh who will be replacing McLean’s spot on the board, however, Youngkin will need to consider this spot carefully, to avoid any repeat issues like this one.
