rolanni | And the children that died, there was seventy-three

So, for those of you who have been paying attention to the political comedy going on in other parts of the forest, Maine has been having a little bit of an outing regarding a mural commissioned by the state and paid for by Federal grant money, which used to hang in the lobby of the Maine Department of Labor (the mural, not the grant money).

An anonymous troll took exception to this mural, as a supposed business owner, and sent an anonymous fax to Mayor LePage there in the Governor's Office. The Mayor is a man who can be moved deeply by anonymous commentary and he therefore ordered the mural removed, because, as he said, it was "one sided" (to quote the Daily Show's reaction to that particular comment: "Do you know how murals *work*?") and favored the story of labor over the story of business. He therefore, over citizen protest, during off-hours, had the mural taken down (it's reportedly being stored in an electrical closet in the Department of Labor building until a "more appropriate venue" can be found for its display.)

Now, leaving aside the essential boneheadedness of his argument, and the justifiable thought that perhaps someone who is being paid to act as the governor of a state might have better things to do than be moving paintings around in public buildings, there are a couple of things wrong with this high-handed removal of public artwork.

First, the State of Maine had a contract with the artist. That contract stated in part that the mural was to be hung in the Department of Labor. It also stated that, should the mural have to be moved, the artist would be notified and the Maine Commission for the Arts would be notified and involved in the relocation of the artwork.

Neither one of those things happened. Mayor LePage's apologist in the governor's office states that the contract was reviewed by lawyers who found there was no breach. I'm hoping that's just a fabrication woven to cover the Mayor's backside; otherwise, if this is an example of the work done by the lawyers who are going to be representing Maine, vetting and signing contracts with these businesses that we're supposed to be welcoming any day now? We are so screwed.

So, anyhow, breach of contract, a very bad sign, I think, from a man who venerates business. Maine has a considerable artistic community; art is one of the things that we do here, and the artist who painted the mural is a businessperson. Too small a business to count, I guess, and not responsible for enough, I dunno, air pollution or something.

The second thing that was wrong about the removal of the mural? You saw that note above, where I said that the work was paid for by a Federal grant? Right. Grants come with conditions. And one of the conditions attached to the funding of this piece of artwork was that it hang -- in the Department of Labor, amazingly enough, exactly where it had been.

Since the mural has now been removed, the Federal Government wants its money back.

Honest to ghu, this is more fun than comedy night at local blues club.

I'm making popcorn -- who wants some?
-----------
Footnotes:

FedGov wants its money back

Rally to save the mural

Federal suit filed regarding mural removal