Amid monument debate, NC legislators attend Sons of Confederate Veterans party

Sons of Confederate Veterans have been more visible in North Carolina in the last nine months, since Gov. Roy Cooper petitioned to have the three Confederate statues relocated from the state Capitol grounds.

This month, members of the group held a reception for state legislators, and at least two attended.

Photos of the Chapel Hill Sons of Confederate Veterans reception in downtown Raleigh are displayed on the group's Facebook page.

Rep. Mitch Setzer, a Catawba County Republican, and Rep. Larry Pittman, a Concord Republican, appear in one of the Facebook photos.

The other photos of the June 13 reception show Confederate flags on a desk as decoration. A man identified as "our chief of staff" sits under a portrait of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America.

Last year, Pittman called President Abraham Lincoln a "tyrant" in a Facebook post. He also co-sponsored a bill last year to remove the ban on secession from the state constitution.

Pittman, Setzer and a Chapel Hill Sons of Confederate Veterans spokesman could not immediately be reached Thursday evening.

Cooper's request to move the monuments from Raleigh's Union Square to the Bentonville Battlefield in Johnston County is before the state Historical Commission. The group intended to have a decision by April but have not met.

Legislative leaders have been adamant that under state law the commission doesn't have the authority to have the monuments relocated.

This story was originally published June 28, 2018 at 7:12 PM.