After mass resignation, RI Heritage Hall of Fame 'defers' Flynn's induction. What we know.

In the face of denunciations, resignations and a public outcry, the board that runs the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame will defer the induction of former President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser Michael Flynn "to a more peaceful and rational time and a more secure place."

"Discretion is the better part of valor,'' said a statement provided to The Journal by the Hall of Fame's past president, Patrick Conley, in his current role as the board's "Volunteer General Counsel."

Conley again defended the board's December 14 vote to induct Flynn, but he acknowledged "that the Hall of Fame exhibited 'poor timing' by choosing to honor General Flynn in this turbulent and politically-charged environment."

"The Board has reliable information that the national rioting and protest movement surging since 2020, and currently manifested in the pro-Palestine demonstrations, will be visited upon our annual induction ceremony should it involve General Flynn," he wrote. "Accordingly, the Hall of Fame Board will defer Flynn’s induction."

Flynn's inclusion leads to numerous resignations

The announcement came in the wake of more resignations.

There are now eight confirmed resignations from the Hall of Fame board in protest over the Dec. 14 vote to induct Flynn, which Conley - the state's "Historian Laureate" - cast earlier as a chance to "vindicate" the Rhode Island native in his home state.

Flynn was pardoned by then-President Donald Trump after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia during the transition period before Trump's 2017 inauguration.

That part of Flynn's history − and more − led to two more resignations this week, in addition to the six who resigned within 24 hours of the December 14 vote to formally induct Flynn at a ceremony this spring into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.

Past inductees run the gamut from Samuel Slater, an industrialist known as the "Father of the American Industrial Revolution," to former House Speaker John Harwood, a current member of the Hall of Fame board, to the late Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci, Providence's infamous rogue mayor, Journal columnist Mark Patinkin and even Conley's wife, Gail Cahalan-Conley.

Two more members of the board resign

The two latest resignations from the Hall of Fame board came this week from retired University of Rhode Island Professor Roberta Feather and John Parrillo, who has taught history at Salve Regina University, according to the Hall of Fame website.

In a resignation letter obtained by The Journal, Parrillo said he was "saddened to the core" by the vote to induct a man with Flynn's "politics and far-right militaristic vision for America" and by the board's unwillingness to reconsider in response to the "huge outcry."

"For the last seven years, it has been my [privilege] to nominate at least seven Rhode Islanders into our RI Hall of Fame. A fresco painter. A Naval historian. A Hollywood film-maker. Two creators of a music festival. An early father of the American Industrial Revolution and the creator of at least 14 Black colleges," he wrote.

"With a most heavy heart," he said, he now feels compelled to resign, his work unfinished.

In her own Dec. 26 letter of resignation, Feather said she was reluctant to resign immediately, choosing to wait a while "to see if the remaining Board members ... would take appropriate action to correct this egregious error of judgment, but it appears the board will do no such thing."

"Their short sightedness may have destroyed the Hall of Fame. Respect and credibility has disappeared," she wrote.

More: The RI Heritage Hall of Fame voted to induct Gen. Michael Flynn. Now, members are resigning.

"Mr. Flynn is not worthy of vindication," she added, in response to Conley's statements to The Journal.

"Lying to the FBI about his communications with Russian agents is not right or moral under any circumstance and undeserving of vindication. Neither is proposing to have the military confiscate all voting machines in certain jurisdictions or stating that military coups are acceptable," she wrote.

"Mr. Flynn will not decline this prestigious award," she predicted. "After all, he did nothing wrong and should be rewarded because he is a victim. Come to his party!" she wrote wryly.

Feather, who taught in URI's College of Nursing, described the vote to induct Flynn as a last straw, amid mounting concerns about a disregard of by-laws, the removal of board members who have raised questions about the way the Hall of Fame operates and what she described as "abusive" and "sexist behavior" by Conley towards her.

On Friday, Conley responded to her allegation that he, at an executive committee meeting where Feather fought in vain for her own nominee – former First Lady Stephanie Chafee – to get a vote, called Feather a "stupid (expletive)."

Conley acknowledged making that comment, after the executive committee first - and then he - explained to her why she was not allowed by the rules to nominate more than one person, as she tried to do, and why it was a violation of confidentiality to alert Mrs. Chafee in advance of her efforts to nominate her.

"Absolutely," said Conley, confirming that "what I said was], in my opinion, this is what you are. And it was over that Stephanie Chafee thing where she would not listen to the reason of the board."

He stressed that he holds the Chafees in high regard, and felt then and now that it would be better to nominate both of them together.

He called Feather a persistently "divisive" person who was "ejected" from the board, before she distrbuted her resignation letter to the media this week. Though board members still tend to defer to him, he noted, he is no longer a voting member of the board, only its voluntary legal counsel.

In addition to Feather and Parrillo, those who have resigned from the Hall of Fame board since the Flynn vote include prominent lawyer John Tarantino, former Sen. Bea Lanzi, former Rep. Denise Aiken, former TV anchor/reporter Steve Aveson, former Cranston Mayor John O'Leary and the board's recent treasurer, Ann Marie Maguire.

In a conversation with The Journal, Ann Marie Maguire also called the Flynn vote a last straw amid her own mounting concerns about the haphazard way financial records are kept, the way she felt she was treated after voting against the induction of Conley's wife, Gail, into the Hall of Fame, and what she perceived as Reid's move to limit debate over nominees.

"Reid announced that he was the only voice that counted; no [vetting] committee would exist," said Maguire, describing herself as a one-time and now former "Trump fan."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI Heritage Hall of Fame loses more members over Michael Flynn vote