West is being accused of violating the U.S. Code by putting the flag in water. West targeted after diving with flag

Rep. Allen West is in hot water with a local blogger after he led a group of veterans on a scubadiving trip off the coast of his Florida district over the weekend and planted an American flag underwater on an artificial reef.

The blogger on the Broward-Palm Beach New Times’s website is accusing him of violating the United States Code by putting the flag in water and flying it below ground level.


“Rep. Allen West going diving off the coast of Deerfield Beach with a bunch of military veterans — except for the fact that he violated U.S. federal law in the process and provided a pictorial of himself doing so,” a blogger on the Broward-Palm Beach New Times’s website wrote early Tuesday morning.

The accusation which, incidentally, comes on Flag Day, is that West, a first-term tea-party-backed Republican, violated the Flag Code, which stipulates that “[t]he flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.”

But West’s office quickly threw cold water on the charge.

“Congressman West participated in an event to bring attention to scuba diving off the coast of his Congressional District,” West’s communications director, Angela Sachitano, said in an email to POLITICO.

“He went diving with several disabled veterans who fought to defend the American Flag and this nation. Congressman West displayed the American Flag on an underwater wreck as a sign of respect for the flag and the accomplishment for these veterans who each and every day work to overcome their disability. In addition, Congressman West would like to wish everyone a Happy Flag Day.”

At the Sunday event in Deerfield Beach, West, an Army veteran, told the Miami Herald that “it’s important wherever we are, that the flag flies.” The paper said that half a dozen veterans and several dozen civilian divers were on hand as West planted the flag underwater as fish swam by.

The event was part of Fort Lauderdale’s June Learn to Dive month.

This article tagged under: Florida

Bloggers

Allen West