By The News Service of Florida
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried intends to defy a call by Gov. Ron DeSantis to lower flags to half-staff to honor conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who died last week.
Fried, the only statewide elected Democrat, issued a statement Monday that she will direct offices within her Cabinet agency not to lower flags.
“Lowering to half-staff the flag of the United States of America is a sacred honor that pays respect to fallen heroes and patriots. It is not a partisan political tool,” Fried said. “Therefore, I will notify all state offices under my direction to disregard the governor’s forthcoming order to lower flags for Mr. Limbaugh — because we will not celebrate hate speech, bigotry, and division.”
Fried added that “our flags will remain flying high to celebrate the American values of diversity, inclusion, and respect for all.”
Fried oversees the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which includes nine regional licensing offices, 38 state forests and 23 agricultural law-enforcement inspection stations.
On Friday, DeSantis said Florida will lower flags to half-staff after funeral plans are set for Limbaugh, a Palm Beach resident who died Wednesday after a battle with cancer.
“When there’s things of this magnitude, once the date of internment for Rush is announced, we’re going to be lowering the flags to half-staff,” DeSantis said during a campaign-style press event at the Hilton Palm Beach Airport in West Palm Beach.
In a statement Wednesday, DeSantis praised Limbaugh for having an ability to “connect with his listeners across the fruited plain — the hard-working, God-fearing and patriotic Americans who were and are the subject of derision and ridicule by the legacy media.”
Fried is widely rumored to be considering a run against DeSantis in 2022.
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Rush may not have served in the Military but he was surely a Patriot.
The woman is a menace and a publicity hound is all… just like the other local NaxiCrat hacks that snub their hate-filled dirty noses at the State and US Constitutions. Nikki Fried-brain is just seeking publicity for her futile desire to run for Governor of Florida.
I would trust the miserable hag to run a bath, let alone a State.
This is the same clown that during early Covid lockdown , and no state to state travel left Florida in the middle of the night to pick up “stepchildren in Atlanta. But the best part is she had time to do a local TV interview with Channel 2 news.
She is a joke, enjoy your position now Nikki, you will not win again. And oh by the way do not come to Georgia we do not want you here. We are having enough trouble finding a state that will take Stacy lying Abrams!
She is not important enough to make such a decision.
I think if you can lower a flag last year for a woman who is partly responsible for ending the life of babies, you can do it for anyone.
That’s hysterically rich from a party who has no qualms with using our flag as a politician statement. Spare me. I still fully believe her election was the result of a poorly formulated ballot. The lone Democrat to win a state level seat? Yeah, makes no sense at all.
Remember Nikki Fried Chicken ran on “Weapons, Weed and Water” and is a typical liberal Democrat. She, like most of the Lib-Tards, hates everyone that disagrees with her. Rush Limbaugh wasn’t her enemy. He simply disagreed with her. As far as I can tell, Nikki Fried Chicken has made it more inconvenient to renew your Concealed Carry Permit, nothing to make marijuana and other illegal drugs easier to get and my water is the same. I seriously doubt she is a “Devout Catholic or Christian” like Plugs Biden claims. She, like the balance of Democrats, are simply doing Satan’s work.
Legislature should just remove her from office already. This is the smallest abuse she’s done.
Constant drama in her personal life and her incompetence will guarantee this will be the end of her political career.
The energy expended on her inapt protest takes away from the people she is elected and took an oath to serve.
Of course a large part of what Nikki is doing is trying to set the Governor up to over react thus having campaign fodder for her dream of being Governor herself.
I dont think Nikki is going to get the over reaction but she’s trying.
I do remember in the last campaign he went into hiding for 2 weeks after the famous “monkey it up” dust up which caused the election to come within a frogs hair of a Gillum win.
Should be fun to watch this little dust up play itself out.
Be careful Gov. Nikki’s got game.
“Yo, Nikki, you might want to check out the Florida Constitution the first sentence of which says, “The supreme executive power shall be vested in a governor” . You may have some responsibility regarding the agricultural interest of the state but the flag we are talking about lowering to honor a prominent Floridian is the FLORIDA flag and how it is flown is determined by the chief executive.
“… because we will not celebrate hate speech, bigotry, and division.” = classic Alinsky Projection… for it is the NaziCrats who are the hate-filled, racist, bigots, miserable, vindictive, and divisive people. They have and continue to demonstrate the unmitigated disdain for America, Her Constitution, Her Laws, Her People, and what She stands for.
Thank you Mark E for clarifying the “legal” reality. And Frank is 100% correct… Fried’s clear and present public statements of hate and ignorance – which also represent a Violation of her Oath and Dereliction of Duty – should be formally censured by the Florida State Legislature… without hesitation.
Miss Nikki Fried and all those HRC clones are misguided fools, because of personal insecurity issues, who find themselves unattractive to men. Poor baby!
Miss Fried should be censured by the Legislature.
What a mean, hateful, spiteful thing for any individual to do. Yet she has the gall to call Rush a bigot, divisive, and hate speech.
Is anything more hateful, divisive, and bigoted than what she is doing and saying. She is the number one example of what is wrong with this country. Typical Democrat.
FS 256.015?Display of state flag; protocol.—
(1)?The Governor shall adopt a protocol on flag display. The protocol must provide guidelines for the proper display of the state flag and for the lowering of the state flag to half-staff on appropriate occasions, such as on holidays and upon the death of high-ranking state officials, uniformed law enforcement and fire service personnel, and prominent citizens.
(2)?The Governor may adopt, repeal, or modify any rule or custom as the Governor deems appropriate which pertains to the display of the state flag.
“and prominent citizens”
Nikki needs to stand down and accept that she is not the Governor. Typical divisive political behavior. What ever happened to civility?
Nikki = typical leftist hate monger.
Nothing she’s doing or saying should shock anyone.
Its like pretending to hate a dog because the dog barks. Its just what dogs do and what’s on display is just what Nikki does.
We should pray for her dark and tortured hater soul. Probley her best idea of a way of trying to position herself as the next Andrew Gillum in the party of hate and division.