Editor’s note: This story was updated at 6:39 p.m. with new information about the inclusion of the proposal on the City Council’s agenda.
A Republican gubernatorial candidate’s request this week to have the words “Liberty and Justice for All” painted next to “Black Lives Matter” on State Street in Montpelier was denied by city officials.
John Klar, who is challenging Gov. Phil Scott in the GOP primary, applied with the city of Montpelier to close down State Street on July 3 to paint the phrase from the Pledge of Allegiance in front of the Statehouse. The assistant to Montpelier’s city manager told the campaign in an email that the request couldn’t be approved.
“Unfortunately, the City can not approve an application for a street closure, less than 2 days prior to the event,” city officials wrote on Wednesday. Street closure applications require 45 days notice. The application is listed as an agenda item for the next City Council meeting, which will be held July 8.
City Manager William Fraser said he had not seen an application for a new painting, but his office had received Klar’s request Monday to close the street.
Last month, with approval from Montpelier’s City Council and Scott, more than 200 people helped paint “Black Lives Matter” on State Street — as other communities across the country have installed similar street art since the killing of George Floyd in May. The project, led by a Montpelier resident and a council member, came together in about a week.
After Black Lives Matter messaging was washed away from a bridge in Jamaica in June, the Vermont Agency of Transportation changed its policy to allow some street art.
In documents for the upcoming city council meeting, Klar wrote that the proposal is “a sincere bi-partisan effort to embrace and affirm those vital Constitutional tenets of our nation’s history, in support of ending racial division.”
The proposal would place the words “Liberty and Justice for all” in red, white and blue capital letters following the “Black Lives Matter” painting. The campaign sought to close State Street between Bailey Avenue and Taylor Street from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on July 3.
Klar said he wants to appeal to Vermonters from a “centrist” point of view and spur a conversation about how Vermonters can make a “more perfect union.” He said the message would stand as a middle ground between the status quo and proposals to defund or abolish police forces across the country.
Klar chose the words “Liberty and Justice for All” because he felt they did not directly conflict with “Black Lives Matter.”
“I was trying to pick something noncontroversial that would celebrate the Fourth of July. And something that would be compatible but perhaps a slightly different message than BLM,” Klar said. “It concerns me greatly that we’re having racial divisions that are agitating our nation, whether that’s in Minnesota or in Vermont.”
Klar said he’s been encouraging people to stop using the term “all lives matter.” But he opposes the idea of abolishing the police, and this message, he says, supports the “good cops.”
City Councilor Conor Casey, who worked with Montpelier resident Noel Riby-Williams to organize the Black Lives Matter painting on State Street, said if the proposal came before City Council, he would vote against it.
“Certainly, it must be election season, because this is an absolute stunt by John Klar, trying to get his name in the press. And I’m hesitant to even comment to give him any publicity,” Casey said. “I’m sure the council would consider this like any other request. I certainly would be voting against it.”
Casey said it detracts from the Black Lives Matter movement, which he said needs to be highlighted right now.
“I equate this to the sort of same nonsense that people who promote the ‘all lives matter’ thing over the Black Lives Matter,” Casey said. “We say Black Lives Matter for a reason.”
Gov. Phil Scott said in his Wednesday press conference he would support Klar’s proposal if the city made the request. City officials sought permission from Scott for the Black Lives Matter painting because the jurisdiction of the street that runs by the Statehouse overlaps between Montpelier and the state.
“That sounds very patriotic, fitting for the Fourth of July,” Scott said. “I wouldn’t say it’s inconsistent with the Black Lives Matter message. I think they’re almost one and the same.”
Klar said he would like to see the message painted on State Street in red, white and blue. But, the gubernatorial candidate said, he isn’t going to “fight them.”
Elizabeth Hewitt contributed reporting.
