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This response from Andy Maybo, president of The Fraternal Order of Police District of Columbia Lodge #1, sums up our feelings precisely, “During a time in our society when tensions are so high that someone can be offended by a single word, this painting does nothing but attack law enforcement to its core...The fact that a member of Congress would advocate and praise such a painting is reprehensible.”

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The St. Louis County Police Association is calling a painting placed in the U.S. Capitol complex by Rep. William Lacy Clay a “punch in the mouth” for depicting police officers as animals.

Clay, D-St. Louis, said he would not take it down, despite criticism from conservative bloggers and a call from a Fox News commentator for it to be taken down.

The painting, which has hung for months in a tunnel that connects House office buildings with the U.S. Capitol, was chosen the winner of Clay’s annual art competition for St. Louis students last spring. It was done by then-Cardinal Ritter Prep senior David Pulphus.

[snip]

Joe Patterson, president of the St. Louis County Police Association, said that “we are not about censorship, but good art and good taste are sometimes not the same thing.”

“This is an extraordinarily disrespectful piece at a minimum,” he said.

“We in the law enforcement community have been continuing to work to build bridges and come to a better understanding with our minority community…and then we have irresponsible leadership from elected officials pouring gasoline on bridges haven’t even finished being built yet,” Patterson said of Clay. “He’s picking at these wounds that we’re trying to heal.”

When the winning piece was chosen last spring, Clay told the St. Louis American that he considered it “the most creative expression that I’ve witnessed in the last 16 years” of the competition.

Pulphus, the artist, told the St. Louis American then that “it is hard to imagine that as a young African-American man from St. Louis, I could receive such a prestigious award by the U.S. Congress.”

The father of the artist, Jonathan Pulphus Sr., said the family had received only positive feedback about the painting. He said he was unaware of anyone upset about it until he was contacted by a reporter on Friday.

“It is art,” Pulphus said. “It is meant to evoke emotion and a perspective.”

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http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-...e640bb003e.html

Gee, I wonder if Clay and dad Pulphus would be quite so committed to art and free expression if the painting had depicted a lynching. Clay, btw, will suffer no negative effects from this as he is a black representing a predominately black Congressional district. Why the House cannot take action and remove this disgusting piece of "art" is beyond me.

God news, but note the Congressman who put it up didn't take it down, and he has the option of putting it up again. In any case, well done, Duncan Hunter.

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A Republican lawmaker removed a high school student's painting from a Capitol Hill display Friday because it shows a pig in a police uniform aiming a gun at African-American protesters. The image was inspired by the shooting and protests in Ferguson, Missouri.

Rep. Duncan Hunter of California unscrewed the painting from a hallway display that includes hundreds of works of art and returned it to the office of Democratic Rep. William Lacy Clay, who sponsored the work and represents a St. Louis congressional district.

Joe Kasper, a spokesman for Hunter, said "there's nothing appropriate" about the painting. He said the artwork was the subject of discussion when GOP lawmakers gathered for a morning caucus meeting. When Hunter left the meeting, he walked to the display and took it off the wall.

"He made sure he returned it safe and sound, all in one piece," Kasper said.

Hunter did not speak with Clay about the portrait, and Kasper said it was Clay's prerogative to return the painting to the display. A spokesman for Clay says the congressman was unavailable for comment.

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http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/lawm...-police-uniform

After being put up again, taken down again, and put up again, it appears this despicable painting is going to be down for good. Why did it take so long?

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As Republicans began the process of dismantling ObamaCare this week, they also struggled to dismantle an offensive anti-police painting that is still hanging on a wall in a Capitol Hill hallway.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said on Thursday that he was confident the painting depicting police officers as pigs would soon come down from a wall in the Capitol, calling it "disgusting."

Via The Hill:

'“This is disgusting and not befitting of the Capitol,” Ryan told conservative radio host Mike Gallagher.

The Speaker’s remarks came a day after Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.), a former sheriff, argued in a letter to the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) that the painting should be removed because it violates the rules of the annual high school art competition run by the AOC.

The rules prohibit artwork “depicting subjects of contemporary political controversy or a sensationalistic or gruesome nature.” The AOC is currently reviewing that GOP request, Ryan said.

Ryan told Gallagher that he is confident it will come down soon.'

The Architect of the Capitol got back to House Republicans late Friday to let them know that the painting does indeed violate contest rules. Fox News reported that the painting will come down on Tuesday.

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new.php?thread=331005&forum=57&reply=1&replyid=38674

Burn it. In front of Cong. Clay

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House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi made a vigorous but ultimately futile argument on Friday to keep student artwork hanging near the Capitol that portrays police as pigs, noting other politically themed paintings remain on the wall.

The controversial painting was selected as part of a student art competition in Rep. William Lacy Clay's district. The Missouri Democrat hung it in the Capitol, and Republicans immediately demanded that it should be taken down.

After the Architect of the Capitol agreed the painting should be removed, Pelosi appealed the decision to the House Office Building Commission. Pelosi herself sits on that panel, which also includes House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

The panel rejected her appeal in a 2-1 vote, as Ryan and McCarthy voted to uphold the Architect's decision, and Pelosi voted to reverse it.

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http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/pelosi...article/2613875

What motivated this fool woman to try to get this painting rehung? Possibly it was meant to pander to the black community as she must have known she would lose that vote.

It's resurfaced again.

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Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) will file a federal lawsuit on Tuesday against the Architect of the Capitol for removing a constituent's painting that depicted police officers as animals from the Capitol complex. 
 
Clay will argue that the painting's removal, which followed outcry from House Republicans and police advocacy groups, violated his constituent's First Amendment rights to free expression. 

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http://thehill.com/homenews/house/320331...police-painting

His constituent may have a right to "free expression", but he doesn't [and neither does Clay] have a right to have his expression hang in the Capitol complex.