Ex-Youngkin appointee says she is ‘completely free’ to share Virginia’s history after resigning in wake of Confederacy remarks

Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s appointee to the Historic Resources Board resigned following an outcry over her recent remarks defending the Confederacy.

Ann McLean’s resignation Monday is the latest in a string of controversies surrounding the governor’s appointees.

In a Wednesday email to The Virginian-Pilot, McLean did not offer an exact reason for her departure. But she said she was excited to be “completely free” to share the state’s history.

“It has to be the actual full and honest history — not a simplified version used for political reasons,” she wrote.

The governor appointed McLean, a historian and the founder of a Christian school in Richmond, to the board last month.

Youngkin’s spokesperson, Macaulay Porter, said in a statement that McLean resigned following a discussion about the administration’s goals and priorities and cited her controversial comments about the Confederacy.

“The Governor had previously acknowledged that he did not agree with (her) statements and the Administration is focused on ensuring that our Commonwealth’s rich history and resources are preserved, the good and the bad, for future generations of Virginians and visitors,” Porter wrote.

McLean came under fire for remarks during two interviews on a Richmond radio show. During a December appearance, she objected to the removal of Confederate statues and said they told the “true story” of the south’s fight to uphold constitutional law.

She returned to the show last month and said southern states had the right to secede and did not commit treason. She also criticized Abraham Lincoln for calling up troops against the Confederates and compared it to Russia invading Ukraine.

Following McLean’s comments, the Southern Poverty Law Center sent a letter to Youngkin asking him to reconsider her appointment.

“It is deeply concerning that your appointee has trafficked in the language of the Lost Cause,” the letter states. “We are confident that there are many Virginia historians who would better represent the state through their commitment to telling accurate and honest histories. The stakes are high — misrepresenting our past to promote false narratives that roll back decades of racial justice efforts is a disservice to the mission of the Board of Historic Resources.”

The board considers nominations of historic sites for listing in the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places, and handles updates to historical highway markers or new preservation easements.

Lecia Brooks, chief of staff and culture for the SPLC, said Wednesday the nonprofit was “thrilled” to hear McLean stepped down. Virginia has made great progress in recent years when it comes to rejecting revisionist history, she said.

“It took the violence at the Unite the Right rally to shake Virginia awake and shake loose the tether that this revisionist history and this pride in the confederacy seem to have on the state,” she said. “It just seems like a giant step backwards for the state to then have someone on their historic board of resources who touted and apparently believes the revisionist history of the United States.”

Youngkin has had a tumultuous time with several of his appointees.

Casey Flores, appointed to serve on the state’s LGBTQ Advisory Board, resigned last month after coming under fire for obscene tweets, including one with sexually explicit remarks about Vice President Kamala Harris.

Colin Greene, appointed to lead the Virginia Department of Health, received a formal reprimand from the State Board of Health in June for statements he made downplaying the role racism plays in health disparities. He has not stepped down.

Another potential appointee, Andrew Wheeler, drew sharp criticism from Democrats and environmentalists in January when the governor nominated him to serve as Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources.

Wheeler, an attorney and former coal lobbyist, had led the Environmental Protection Agency for two years under former President Donald Trump and created controversy by rolling back numerous environmental regulations.

Wheeler, however, never made it past the General Assembly. Senate Democrats blocked his appointment.

Youngkin later chose him to lead the newly created Office of Regulatory Management.

Katie King, [email protected]