Palm Beach County defied Florida governor and for a day refused to lower its flags in honor of late conservative broadcaster Rush Limbaugh
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. Palm Beach County defied Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday, declining to lower the courthouse flags to half-staff in honor of late conservative broadcaster Rush Limbaugh.
The flags of the county courthouse remained on full staff, ignoring Governor Ron DeSantis’s Tuesday afternoon order ordering the US and Florida flags to fly half-staff. He also ordered the city of Palm Beach and the State Capitol in Tallahassee to wave their flags from dawn to dusk Wednesday from dawn to dusk. Those flags were lowered.
Palm Beach County on Wednesday only said it followed “ normal protocols, ” but Commissioner Melissa McKinlay posted a statement on Twitter saying, “ The lowering of flags should be a unifying gesture on solemn occasions, such as in memory of young lives. lost in the Parkland High School massacre or the number of deaths as first responder. She was referring to the 2018 shooting of Marjory Stoneman Douglas in nearby Parkland, which left 17 dead.
McKinlay continued, “While Rush Limbaugh was an important public figure, he was also an incredibly divisive person who hurt many people with his words and actions.”
Officials in the city of Palm Beach, the wealthy island enclave where Limbaugh has lived for 20 years, have issued a statement stating that the policy is to comply with the governor’s orders to lower the flags.
The governor’s press service did not immediately respond to an email asking for comment. Flags are typically lowered in honor of prominent government officials as well as law enforcement officers and military personnel who were killed on duty. DeSantis has said that Limbaugh’s stature justified the honor.
Limbaugh, 70, died of lung cancer on February 17. DeSantis called Limbaugh a legend during a press conference two days later and indicated that he would fly flags with half staff to honor him.
But many Democrats objected. Nikki Fried, Florida’s agriculture commissioner and the only Democratic state-wide office-holder, said on Monday that she would disobey the Republican governor’s orders. She said she would notify all state officials to disobey the governor’s order.
Saint Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman posted on Twitter that his city would not honor hatred, racism, bigotry, homophobia, or anything else Limbaugh has spit out over the years.
The governor’s order does not apply to the offices controlled by Fried or the City of Saint Petersburg.
A year ago, President Donald Trump awarded Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor, in his last State of the Union address. The day before, Limbaugh had announced that he was battling advanced lung cancer.
Limbaugh advocated conservatism for decades – often at the expense of liberals and Democrats.
Calvan reported from Tallahassee, Florida.