State Rep. responds to allegations that he saluted the Confederate flag

Just hours after the South Carolina governor called for the removal of the Confederate flag on state house grounds, some mid-Missouri lawmakers are in a dispute regarding the controversial flag.

State Rep. Brandon Ellington sent out a press release Sunday saying fellow House member Chuck Bayse saluted the Confederate flag at a weekend ceremony in his hometown.

But Bayse said Monday that never happened.

“There’s misinformation,” he told ABC 17 News. “If there was a salute to any Confederate flag, I didn’t see it.”

On Sunday, Rep. Ellington said in a press release, “It’s incredibly disheartening to read that a fellow member of the General Assembly, Rep. Chuck Basye, took part in a misguided ceremony to lift up treasonous Confederate guerrillas and even saluted the Confederate flag.”

Ellington went on to say that Bayse’s actions were wrong, especially in the wake of the Charleston, South Carolina church shooting.

Bayse said the reason he was at the ceremony is because the land once belonged to his great, great grandfather and a man had approached his family to do a re-enactment of the war after learning five Confederate soldiers were buried there.

“They worked out a deal to do this re-enactment and that’s what it was,” Bayse said. “It was a re-enactment and due to the fact it’s a family farm, I was there. In the story that’s in the media now, the person that’s the great, great grandfather of mine referred to was actually a Union soldier. The battle took place after the war had already ended.”

Those at the ceremony also dedicated a new tombstone to the soldiers.

“I find it rather perplexing that my colleague representative Ellington chose to throw out that press release that he did instead of calling me first to get my side of the story,” Bayse said.

He said he plans to contact Ellington and talk about the issue further.