Plan for new Confederate license plate is backed by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Miller

The Sons of Confederate Veterans are proposing a new license Texas license plate featuring a confederate soldier. >>Check out the license plates recently rejected by the Texas DMV... The Sons of Confederate Veterans are proposing a new license Texas license plate featuring a confederate soldier. >>Check out the license plates recently rejected by the Texas DMV... Photo: Courtesy Of The Texas Department Of Motor Vehicles Photo: Courtesy Of The Texas Department Of Motor Vehicles Image 1 of / 36 Caption Close Plan for new Confederate license plate is backed by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Miller 1 / 36 Back to Gallery

AUSTIN — Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is sponsoring a proposed Texas license plate that glorifies Confederate soldiers to help raise money for the Sons of Confederate Veterans — reigniting a decade-old debate over whether there should be a novelty plate to benefit the group.

The new design includes a rebel soldier clad in a gray Confederate uniform carrying a Texas regiment’s flag. The license plate design does not include the Confederate battle flag.

As first reported by the Dallas Morning News, Miller wrote a letter in support of the license plate design and, as Agriculture Commissioner, offered to sponsor it. He told the paper, “I couldn’t see anything offensive about it.”

Kim Olson, a retired lieutenant colonel running against Miller in the November general election, said the agency should be focused on agricultural resources instead of sponsoring Confederate license plates.

“This is not something I want to go to the mat for. I want to represent folks in agriculture,” said Olson. “We have bigger fish to fry.”

The Sons of Confederate Veterans has sought to establish a license plate since 2007. Its first design featured the Confederate battle flag and sparked criticism from people who said the plate was offensive and loaded with racial undertones. The state rejected that design in 2011, a decision the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in 2015. The court ruled that government agencies do not have to approve messages “with which they do not wish to be associated.”

The Sons of Confederate Veterans claims about 3,200 members in Texas in its March application for the specialty license plate. The group estimates about 1,000 such plates would be sold in the first year. Of the $30 fee collected for the specialty plates, $22 would go to the Department of Agriculture as the sponsoring agency. The department would give that money back to the Sons of Confederate Veterans in the form of grants “for supporting charitable causes and related activities,” Miller told the DMV in a letter.

The purpose of the special license plate is to “remember and honor our Confederate ancestors” and to make the commemorative plate available to people interested in Texas’ participation in the war, according to the application.

The group asked Miller to sponsor the effort, said agency spokesman Mark Loeffler.

“He agreed, provided the new design would be substantially different than the prior attempt. The ‘Confederate battle flag’ is now gone and the only flag in the design is a representation of a Texas regimental flag that was carried by Texas Confederates during the war,” Loeffler said in a statement. “Commissioner Miller strongly believes that Texans benefit from learning about all our history and not hiding or ignoring parts that might now be considered offensive.”

Paul Gramling Jr., Commander in Chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said he’s hopeful this plate will be approved, and blasted the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision, which he said was based on “prejudices.”

Manny Garcia, Texas Democratic Party Deputy Executive Director, called the proposal “tone-deaf.”

“Not only is Sid Miller an embarrassment to Texans, but he is also incapable of talking about critical issues in his own department; hungry kids, struggling farmers, and rural communities left behind,” Garcia said.

The Texas Department of Agriculture has sponsored several other plates, including for the American Quarter Horse Association , Order of the Eastern Star and the Grand Lodge of Texas, according to Loeffler.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans has specialty license plates in a handful of other states, including Louisiana, Tennessee and Alabama, Gramling said.

Staff writer Allie Morris contributed to this report.