Sponsors of removed Flynn historical marker ask judge to reconsider

The sponsors of the historical marker for Elizabeth Gurley Flynn have asked a judge to reconsider his ruling that they don’t have status to sue the state over removing the marker.

Mary Lee Sargent and Arnie Alpert made the request of Merrimack County Superior Court Judge John Kissinger on Friday. Sargent and Alpert led the effort for the Division of Historical Resources to install the marker near the Concord birthplace of Flynn, who gained notoriety as a labor activist, civil libertarian and advocate for women’s equality in the early twentieth century.  Later, Flynn became a leader of the U.S. Communist Party, a role which led some Executive Councilors to balk at the marker, leading to its removal two weeks after it was installed at the corner of Court and Montgomery streets.

Judge Kissinger wrote on March 20 that Sargent and Alpert did not have legal standing to sue: “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.” 

In their appeal of the decision, attorney Andru Volinsky wrote, “The Court’s ruling protects the decision to remove the marker no matter the reason. … 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.”

“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,” said Mary Lee Sargent, a Bow resident who taught American history and women’s studies at colleges and universities for several decades.  “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.” 

If the judge denies the appeal, the plaintiffs’ only legal recourse would be an appeal to the NH Supreme Court.