NASSAU COUNTY, N.Y. (1010 WINS) — Nassau County has not joined the nation in lowering its flags half-staff in memory of former President Jimmy Carter, who died on Sunday and whose national funeral processions began Saturday.
Carter, the 39th United States president and a Democrat, died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100. On the same day, President Joe Biden ordered that all flags on public buildings be kept at half-staff for 30 days, and was quickly followed by Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who gave similar orders.
Nassau County Legislator Seth Koslow told 1010 WINS that he requested that Executive Bruce Blakeman lower the flags in their area, but was refused.
“This is not a political thing. This is not something that is going to be divisive. This is respect,” Koslow said. “This is about understanding how we represent and show our support to the people who are willing to support us and work for us.”
Blakeman on Sunday confirmed that the flags will be lowered, but only for three of the 30 days ordered by the president and governor.
"The flags in Nassau County will be at half-staff for President Carter from the commencement of Lying in State on January 7th through burial on January 9th,” Blakeman said in a statement to 1010 WINS.
Koslow said that he has been contacted through Facebook and other social media platforms by disgruntled constituents who have called the move “disgraceful.”
“How do I explain that to my children?,” Koslow asked. “How do I tell them that Nassau County doesn’t care about the president who passed away as much as another area does?”
Blakeman is a political ally of President-elect Donald Trump, who offered his condolences when news broke of Carter’s death, calling him a “truly good man” despite their philosophical and political disagreements.
Only days later, Trump criticized Democrats for being “giddy” that flags would be half-mast during his inauguration on Jan. 20.
“The Democrats are all ‘giddy’ about our magnificent American Flag potentially being at ‘half mast’ during my Inauguration,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday afternoon. “They think it’s so great, and are so happy about it because, in actuality, they don’t love our Country, they only think about themselves.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a White House briefing on Friday that Biden would not consider reevaluating the flag order.
Parameters for when flags are lowered are set by the U.S. flag codes, which include a stipulation that they be flown at half-staff for a 30 day period to honor the death of a current or former president. The order applies to federal buildings and grounds, U.S. embassies, facilities abroad and military stations.
Having the flag lowered during an inauguration has historical precedent from January 1973. Republican President Richard Nixon kept flags at half-staff during his second-term inauguration to honor the death of former President Harry S. Truman.
“Someone is going to have to challenge [Blakeman] in federal court for a violation of the federal flag code,” New York Law School professor Jeff Wice told 1010 WINS. “Then you have to see what would happen in terms of whether a court construes the federal code to be mandatory as a shall, lower-the-flag requirement, or whether there is some flexibility.”
Suffolk County lowered its flags on Dec. 30 and they will remain lowered through Jan. 28, per Biden’s order.