County refuses to lower flags for Rush Limbaugh
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. >> Palm Beach County defied Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday, refusing to lower its courthouse flags to half-staff in honor of the late conservative broadcaster Rush Limbaugh, a move that the governor’s office called “petty.”
The county’s courthouse flags remained at full staff, ignoring DeSantis’ Tuesday afternoon order directing its U.S. and Florida flags to be flown at half-staff. He also ordered Palm Beach and the state Capitol in Tallahassee to fly their flags at half-staff from sunrise to sunset Wednesday. Those flags were lowered.
Palm Beach County would only say it followed “normal protocols” on Wednesday, but Commissioner Melissa McKinlay posted a statement on Twitter saying, “The lowering of flags should be a unifying gesture during solemn occasions, such as in remembrance of the young lives lost during the Parkland High School massacre or first responder line of duty deaths.”
She was referring to the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in nearby Parkland that left 17 dead.
“Although Rush Limbaugh was a significant public figure, he was also an incredibly divisive one who hurt many people with his words and actions,” McKinlay said,
The governor’s press office issued a statement late Wednesday saying, “It is unfortunate that Palm Beach County would rather engage in petty politics than honor the death of one of their county’s and state’s most prominent residents and a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient.”
A year ago, then-President Donald Trump awarded Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, during his final State of the Union address. The day before, Limbaugh had announced that he was battling advanced lung cancer. Limbaugh had for decades championed conservatism — often stridently at the expense of liberals and Democrats.
Limbaugh, 70, died of lung cancer on Feb. 17.