Palm Beach County says it won’t follow Gov. DeSantis’ order to fly flags at half-staff to honor Rush Limbaugh

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Palm Beach County won’t follow Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order to lower flags at the county courthouse to honor the late conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, officials said late Tuesday.

The governor ordered the U.S. and Florida state flags to be flown at half-staff Wednesday at Florida’s Capitol, the Palm Beach County courthouse in West Palm Beach and at the town hall in Palm Beach.

Limbaugh, who DeSantis called “America’s anchorman,” died Feb. 17 from lung cancer at age 70. He was a long-time resident of Palm Beach.

Last week, DeSantis said he would order flags lowered at all state offices. Democratic leaders swiftly lashed out at the decision, saying DeSantis had politicized an honor usually reserved for the death of prominent government officials, police officers or firefighters who die in the line of duty, members of the armed forces or tragic events such as the mass shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.

Palm Beach County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay tweeted late Tuesday that the flag at the courthouse would not be lowered on Wednesday. Other Palm Beach County and Town of Palm Beach officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

Just before 9:30 p.m., McKinlay posted a statement on Twitter. “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 wrote. “Although Rush Limbaugh was a significant public figure, he was also an incredibly divisive one who hurt many people with his words and actions. I cannot and will not support the lowering of flags in his memory.”

At the direction of the White House, U.S. flags on public buildings and grounds are already flying at half-staff to honor the 500,000 Americans who have died from the COVID-19 pandemic. That would include Florida’s Capitol, the Palm Beach County courthouse and Palm Beach’s town hall. The White House ordered flags at half-staff until sunset on Friday.

McKinlay said she wasn’t sure how the White House’s proclamation would affect the county’s decision not to lower the courthouse flags. County Administrator Verdenia Baker made the call after the county attorney determined there would be no legal ramifications for defying the order, McKinlay said.

“It was determined by Legal that the order was non-compliant with flag protocol and there were no implications for noncompliance,” she wrote in a text message to the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Tuesday night.

Some Democrats said they would ignore any order to honor Limbaugh. Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried had said earlier that she would ignore any order to honor Limbaugh at her state offices. Fried’s agency — the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services — oversees numerous state offices, including nine regional licensing offices, 38 state forests and 23 agricultural law enforcement inspection stations.

None are included in DeSantis’ order, issued after 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Fried is the only Democrat elected statewide. She is widely considered to be a possible challenger to DeSantis in 2022, although she hasn’t officially announced her candidacy.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, urged local mayors to ignore any order. She accused DeSantis of going outside standard protocols and said the order serves no unifying purpose.

“Rush Limbaugh spent his career normalizing and popularizing hatred and bigotry against people of color, immigrants, women, and the LGBTQ+ community,” she wrote in a letter to mayors in her South Florida district. “He built a brand around disgusting insults, bolstering rape culture, spewing lies about the AIDS crisis, and nonstop bullying. ... To the end, he stoked the environment that led to an insurrectionist attack on our Capitol, and dismissed calls to end such violence.”

Staff writer Skyler Swisher contributed to this report.

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