Demand for flags that flew over U.S. Capitol staggering Delegation overwhelmed with requests from Mainers

WASHINGTON – With American flags adorning cars, windows, flagpoles and even people, demand for our national symbol is the highest in recent memory. And requests for Capitol flags from Maine residents are coming in faster than they can be filled.

Staff members at U.S. Rep. John Baldacci’s office say they can’t even keep track of how many requests they get each day from Maine residents who want to buy an American flag that has been flown over the U.S. Capitol. “We are processing requests as quickly as they come in,” said Doug Dunbar, spokesman for Baldacci.

Constituents throughout the country have bombarded their members of Congress with requests for flags flown at the Capitol since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“On a normal day, we fly 600 [flags] per day,” said Jim Forbes, director of communications for the House Administration Office. “Now we are flying 2,300 per day.”

Though the Capitol Flag Office has been flying nearly four times more flags than usual, 16,000 requests have yet to be filled, said Forbes.

Forbes said a four-person team of laborers works in an assembly-line manner at a post on the west front of the Capitol on the House side to raise, lower and fold the flags flown each day. “They attach the flag to the pole, raise it up to the top, fly it for two to three seconds and bring it back down,” explained Forbes.

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe’s office has been receiving several dozen flag requests a week, which is four times more than usual, said Dave Lackey, spokesman for Snowe.

Constituents and congressional members alike have been showing their support by flying the American flag. Lackey said that just as Maine residents are flying American flags, Snowe’s office is adorned with flags in each of the suite’s nine windows.

“In a situation like this everybody wants to stand by America and show their patriotism by flying a flag,” said Christine Benza, supervisor at the Architect of the Capitol Flag Office, which oversees the flying of the flags.

In the 41 years Benza has worked at the Flag Office, she said she cannot remember a time when the demand for flags has been higher. “We’re just swamped,” she said.

As of Thursday, the House stationery store was “completely out” of flags and didn’t expect any more in stock until Oct. 1, said one employee. The Senate stationery store sold 7,500 flags this month as compared with the 1,500 that were sold last September.

Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, chairman of the Committee on House Administration, wrote a letter to House members this week informing them that the price of the House flags will be lowered by $1 in response to “the horrific attacks on this country and the subsequent outpouring of patriotism.”

All flags are made in the United States and range in price from $7.50 for a 3-by-5-foot nylon flag to $18.75 for a 5-by-8 cotton flag. Flags flown over the Capitol incur an additional $4 charge for certification and flying costs.

Dunbar said it used to take about one week for constituents to receive a flag that was not flown over the Capitol; now the wait is at least three weeks. For flags flown over the Capitol, the wait is up to five weeks, he said.

Currently, the Flag Office is only flying flags requested by the families of victims lost in the Sept. 11 attacks and is holding all other requests until those flags have been flown.

Benza said she anticipates the high demand for flags to continue, as more citizens request flags to show their unity and support.