Mayor Kevin Faulconer has bowed to pressure from a conservative legal group that protested long-standing guidelines in the city's correspondence manual asking employees not to refer to the nation's "founding fathers," but to instead just call them "founders."

"Suggesting that our founding fathers should be referred to as 'founder' is political correctness run amok," Faulconer said in a recent statement. "We are proud of our nation's history, and there is nothing wrong with referring to the founding fathers.

"At my direction, this was removed … from the city's correspondence manual. The manual will be reviewed for other misguided examples that defy common sense, and changes will be made accordingly."