Taylor, Willens, and Cox stand out in support of Carroll's controversial flag policy

Only some are anxious for the fray

Taylor, Willens, Cox

On Wednesday, Carroll County’s Board of Education enacted a controversial yet appropriate flag policy, which will have the practical effect of disallowing the display of pride flags in classroom settings.

As was expected, the negative reaction to the news from those on the left side of the political spectrum was swift and far-reaching, attracting scathing remarks from the likes of Montgomery County’s congressman Jamie Raskin and gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore.

More discouragingly though, was the lack of public support offered from Carroll’s incumbent and would be state representatives, whose constituents presumably have a favorable view of the policy.

In fact as far as we can tell, only three from the aforementioned group have come out in public support of the Board’s ruling, those three being:

• delegate turned gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox

• delegate candidate Sallie Taylor

• and delegate candidate Scott Willens

Taylor was physically present for the Board of Education meeting, and the next morning posted an affirming message to her public Facebook page, which reads in part:

Thank you Carroll County Board of Education for reflecting the Will of the people of Carroll last night.

Around the same time, Willens posted a more expansive message on his public Facebook page, in part reading:

It's about time we draw the line concerning the indoctrination of our children by secular regressives per the pride flag as their doorstop to the early oversexualization of our children.

A couple days later, Cox remarked on the subject as well:

I applaud the Carroll County Board of Education for ending politicization and sexualization of our children in classrooms and our public schools by ending the near continuous display of propaganda flags.

So what is it that Taylor, Willens, and Cox share?

Well of course Cox is running his campaign for the governorship as the quintessential outsider, and in a recent analysis of Carroll’s district 5 delegate race, we identified Taylor and Willens as taking the outside track as well.

As for the remaining insiders and incumbents, it would seem fair to wonder — does the angst of retaliation from the state really outweigh the benefit of validating the voice of your constituents?

**UPDATE**

As this article was being written, Carroll’s delegate turned state’s attorney candidate Haven Shoemaker and incumbent senator Justin Ready remarked indirectly on the policy, criticizing congressman Jamie Raskin for his mischaracterization of it, though not appearing to come out in straightforward support of it either.