Activists have asked a judge to reconsider his ruling which upheld the removal of this historical marker honoring the life of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a Concord native and labor leader who had been a member of the Communist Party of America.
Activists have asked a judge to reconsider his ruling which upheld the removal of this historical marker honoring the life of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a Concord native and labor leader who had been a member of the Communist Party of America.
CONCORD — A lawyer representing two activists has asked a superior court judge to reconsider his decision to endorse the removal of a historical marker honoring Concord labor and American Communist Party leader Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.
In his decision last month, Judge John Kissinger said retired history teacher Mary Lee Sargent of Bow and liberal activist Arnie Alpert of Canterbury lacked legal standing to challenge Gov. Chris Sununu’s directive last May that the marker be taken down after protest from members of the Executive Council.
“While no one disputes the time and effort expended by the plaintiffs in relation to the Flynn marker, the court finds no support for a determination that such efforts give rise to a legal right interest, or privilege protected by law,” Kissinger wrote in his March 20 ruling.
Andru Volinsky, a former executive councilor and Democratic candidate for governor, filed the motion for reconsideration on behalf of Sargent and Alpert.
“The court’s ruling protects the decision to remove the marker no matter the reason,” Volinsky wrote. “All removal decisions are protected from review by the court’s ruling on standing. No one could challenge a similar decision to remove a marker because the subject of the marker was a Republican or Democrat, woman, LGBTQIA, Black, Brown, Asian, or any other factor an executive councilor or a governor deems objectionable.”
Both advocates maintain they have standing as they sponsored the petition drive to honor Flynn, who was born in Concord and went on to become one of the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union and member of the Industrial Workers of the World.
Prison term, Red Square funeral
Councilor Joe Kenney, R-Wakefield, and Sununu most objected to Flynn’s past as a leader of the communist movement who served two years in federal prison after her conviction with 15 others for teaching to conspire for the violent overthrow of the U.S. government.
At age 46, she joined the Communist Party. She died in Moscow 28 years later in 1964. The Soviet Union honored Flynn with a state funeral.
“An avowed communist who benefited from a state funeral in Moscow’s Red Square should not be celebrated in New Hampshire,” Sununu said after the marker was taken down two weeks after it had been put up.
“All policies were followed when removing this anti-American sign and it will not be coming back under my watch.”
Sargent and Alpert spent nearly two years during COVID-19 pursuing the marker that was placed across the street from where Flynn grew up in Concord, near the Merrimack County Superior Court building.
“The purpose of the marker program is educating the public about places, events, and people of historical significance, a category which certainly includes Elizabeth Gurley Flynn,” Sargent said.
“There is no provision in statute or in the rules governing the marker program that says established markers can be removed based on ideological rather than historical grounds.”
After Kenney and Executive Councilor David Wheeler, R-Milford, objected, the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources changed its rules allowing for the removal of markers deemed to be “inappropriate.”
The suit contends DNCR Commissioner Sarah Stewart didn’t follow procedure by going to the Historical Resources Council to seek the monument’s removal but instead had it taken down at Sununu’s urging.
If Kissinger turns down the request, the pair can appeal the matter to the state Supreme Court.
