Rep. Hunter removes congressional painting he found offensive

San Diego Union-Tribune

Jan. 6, 2017 1:20 PM PT

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Reporting from San Diego — A controversial award-winning painting that depicts police officers as animals was removed Friday morning from a congressional wall by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, following complaints that it was offensive.

Joe Kasper, chief of staff for Hunter, said the congressman personally unscrewed the painting from the wall and delivered it to the office of Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Missouri, who sponsored the congressional competition won by the painting’s creator.

“It made a very strong statement today, and there’s been an outpouring of support,” Kasper said.

Law enforcement agencies had called for the painting’s removal, and several officers came to Hunter’s office Friday to thank him, Kasper said. The Peace Officers Research Association of California and Fraternal Order of Police also put out statements Friday in support of Hunter’s action, he said.

Steven Engelhardt, a spokesman for Clay, said the congressman from St. Louis may make a statement next week about the issue and whether the painting would be re-installed.

Kasper said Hunter would not take the painting down again if Clay put it back up.

“He gets along really well with Lacy Clay, who’s four doors down from us,” he said. “This isn’t anything personal. It’s not about him or Hunter.”

The painting was part of the national Congressional Art Competition. Congress members sponsor the student competition in their states, but do not select winners.

The 2016 winning painting from Missouri was created by David Pulphus, who at the time was a senior at Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School.

The spot where the controversial painting hung on a Capitol Hill wall.

Named “Untitled #1,” the painting depicts a clash between police and protesters on the street. One gun-wielding officer has a head that resembles a boar, while other officers’ heads appears to be a horse and a dog. One protester appears to be a panther or wolf, and people on the street hold signs that read “History,” “Justice Now” and “Racism Kills.”

The painting was selected as the Missouri winner last May and had hung for months in a tunnel that connects House office buildings to the U.S. Capitol.

Its presence became controversial over the past two weeks when conservative bloggers wrote about it and a Fox News commentator called for its removal.

Law enforcement agencies also had called for it to be taken down.

“I can’t believe it was up there in the first place,” said Gary Moore, president of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of San Diego County.

Moore said he had no problem with Hunter taking down the painting, which he saw as not helpful following a year when many police officers were killed in the line of duty.

“It’s certainly not part of the solution,” he said.

As the controversy grew, Clay issued a statement that clarified his involvement with the competition and defended freedom of expression.

“Members of Congress support student art competitions in our districts but we do not select the young artists and we do not judge the artwork,” Clay said. “I had no role in selecting the winner of this student art competition and would never attempt to approve or disapprove artistic expression. The U.S. Capitol is a symbol of freedom, not censorship.”

In a news release from Clay’s office last May, the painting was described as “a colorful landscape of symbolic characters representing social injustice, the tragic events in Ferguson, Missouri, and the lingering elements of inequality in modern American society.”

Clay’s district includes Ferguson, where in 2014 riots broke out after a white police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, an 18-year-old unarmed black man.

Hunter aide Kasper said the painting was discussed Friday morning in the House Republican Conference, where several representatives said they objected to it.

“When it rises to this level of controversy, somebody should make a move to take it down,” Kasper said. “The funny thing about this is, nobody was sure who had the authority to take it down, so Hunter said, ‘I’ll do it.’”

Hunter, who served as a Marine in Iraq, couldn’t be reached for comment Friday, but earlier had told a news outlet that he had been angered by the painting and wanted it removed.

“I’m in the Marine Corps,” he told FoxNews.com. “If you want it done, just call us.”

Kasper said the painting’s location was especially troubling because it was next to an entrance where officers usually are stationed.