LAT20170111

Capitol tug of war over a painting

not a modern art mus eum,”

Hunter’s chief of staff, Joe

Kasper, said Tuesday. “It’s

not the right placeto have

anything that calls atten-

tion to police officers as

swine.”

Clay gathered with mem-

bers of the Congressional

Black Caucus anda handful

of other membersto hang

the painting back upTues-

day morning.

“I do not agree or dis-

agree withthe painting, but

Iwill fight to protect this

young man’s rightto ex-

press himself,” Clay, whose

district includesFerguson,

Mo., told reporters af ter-

ward.

Rep. Alan Lowenthal

(D-Long Beach) helped

hang the painting back up

and saida handful of House

members shouldn’t be able

to decide willy-nilly what is

appropriate art.

“It’s not theroad we

should be going down, and

of all the things we should

be dealing with, this is ...”

Lowenthal said, trailing off.

“For themto decide that

they now are the censor of

the Congress ... is totally

inappropriate.”

Clay said he triedto seek

theft charges against Hunt-

er forremoving the paint-

ing, but CapitolPolice

wouldn’t take the report.

Kasperdismissed

threats of theftcharges as

“grandstanding.”

“That’s a punk move,” he

said.

Hours later, the painting

was pulled downtwice

more, once bya Colorado

representative, anda short

time later by Reps. Dana

Rohrabacher (R-Costa

Mesa) and Brian Babin

(R-Texas). Both times it

was rehung soonafter.

“We support freedom of

speech, butyou don’t put

something attacking police-

men, treating them like pigs,

WASHINGTON— The
painting had been hanging
in a Capitol hallway for six
months,attracting no pub-
lic complaints.
Then, shortly before the
new year, a conservative
website publishedthis
headline: “Painting of Cops
as Pigs Hung Proudly in US
Capitol.” The story was
picked up byFox News and
raised the ire of se veral law
enforcement associations
across thecountry.
Nowit’s the subject of a
tug of war between House
Republicansand some
Democrats. Republican
representatives have been
pullingitoffthe wall,aDe-
mocrat who put it back tried
to involve the police, and the
speaker of the House has
said he’lloverrule the office
in charge of the building in
orderto get rid of the paint-
ing.
The painting depicts a
clash between police and
protesters ona street. In it,
gun-wielding officers have
heads thatresemble pigs,
while one protester appears
to be a panther orwolf, and
people on the street hold
signs thatread “History,”
“JusticeNow” and “Racism
Kills.”A black man hangs
from a cruci fix, thescales of
justice in his hands.
The painting was a win-
ner of an annual high school
art competition and is
among hundreds that line a
block-longtunnel used by
visitors and members of
Congress to travel between
the House office buildings

and the Capitol.

Frustrated that the

paintingremained on the

wall, Rep. Duncan Hunter

(R-Alpine) pulled it down

last week after it was dis-

cussed ina closed-door

Republican meeting. He

delivered itto the office of

Rep.WilliamLacy Clay

(D-Mo.), whoseconstituent

painted it.

“The U.S. Capitol, espe-

cially in thiscorridor ... is

here in the Capitol,” Rohra-

bachertold Roll Call.

While the Missouri paint-

ing is being criticized for

depicting police as pigs, it’s

not the only one in thetun-

nel dealing with raceand

police.A student painting

from Georgia titled“The

Rules” depictstwo white

officerstearinga black man

from his seatat a checkers

table and citesa1930s Ala-

bama law that prohibited

black and white peoplefrom

playing board games to-

gether.

As the dayworeon,

members of the Congres-

sional Black Caucus be-

camefrust rated: “We may

just have to kick somebody's

ass and stop them,” caucus

Chairman Cedric Rich-

mond (D-La.)told Politico.

Former sheriff and Rep.

Dave Reic hert (R-Wash.) is

asking the Architectof the

Capitol, the agencyrespon-

sible for the building and

grounds, to remove the

painting. Reichert says it

violates the competition’s

rules, which state that “ex-

hibits depicting subjects of

contemporary political

controversy ora sensation-

alistic orgruesome nature

are not allowed.”

Hunter, who says he

remains friends with Clay,

will not personally pull the

painting down again,

Kaspersaid.Claysaidhe’s

asked Hunter for an apolo-

gy.

“Sometimesyou have to

do things like thatto draw

attention of people and get

it taken down,” Kasper said.

“Mission accomplished.”

House Speaker PaulD.

Ryan (R-Wis.) told Republi-

cans ina closed-door meet-

ing Tuesday that he and

Republican leaders will pull

down the painting if the

architectchooses notto

remove it, accor dingto a

staff member in theroom

who asked notto be named

because the person is not

permitted to release such

information. Hunter also

confirmed Ryan’s state-

mentto Politico.

[email protected]

POLITICSWATCH

Depiction of police

officers as pigs triggers

back-and-forth among

Congress members.

SARAHD. WIRE

REPS. CEDRIC RICHMOND(D-La.),WilliamLacyClay (D-Mo.) and AlmaAdams (D-N.C.) rehang a painting on Tuesday that was

removed from aCapitol wallbyRep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) because hefound its depictions of police officers as pigs offensive.

Photographs byJoe RaedleGetty Images

AFTERClay and others replaced the painting, Hunter, above, said hewould not

removeit again. But other Republican congressmen did, and it was rehungtwice.

‘I do not agree or

disagree with the

painting, but I will

fighttoprotect

thisyoung man’s

rightto express

himself.’

—William Lacy Clay,

Democraticcongressman who

rehung the painting done by

one of hisconstituents

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ment psychologist.

“Frankly, I think that 72

hours isjust too short a

periodafter someone has

been ina traumaticevent,

like an officer-involved

shooting,to be back in the

field,”Johnson said. “I think

there should bea longer

period of time anda couple

of sessions witha counselor

to make sure that person is

OK andready to be back.”

Beck said hewould di-

rect LAPD psychologists to

prepare a report on the

72-hour timeframe and

whether there weresuitable

alternatives, such as ex-

tending thewaiting period.

“Every individual is

different. I’mconfident that

many peopleare ready to

return in thatamountof

time, but some may not be,”

Beck said after the meeting.

“We want to do the right

thing for our police officers.

We want to keep them safe.

We want to keep them men-

The Los AngelesPolice

Department will now re-

quire officers whofire their

guns on thejob to complete

training before theyreturn

to the field andto meet with

department psychologists

more often.

The changes, approved

by the L.A.Police Commis-

sion on Tuesday, represent

asubtle but significant shift

in how the LAPD treats

officers after shootings.

The civilian board di-

rectedtop brass last fallto

take a fresh look at the

training, psychological help

and other support officers

receive after shootings. The

request was inspired in part

by a report prepared for the

commission that showed

officers at other police agen-

cies often spent more time

away from work, in training

and witha mental health

professional after firing

theirweapons.

Although policecommis-

sioners praised the depart-

ment forthe changes, some

asked for more. Commis-

sion PresidentMatt John-

son said hewould like to see

more mandatory counseling

for officers before they

return to workand asked

whether they should bekept

out of thefield longer.

LAPD Chief Charlie

Becktypically decides

whetherto return an officer

to the field after what’s

known asa 72-hour briefing,

where he reviews the initial

investigation into the en-

counter, the officer’s history

and whether the officer has

been cleared bya depart-

tally sound.”

Under the new approach,

officers must meet with a

psychologisttwo additional

times, although officials

said thefirst session would

be a few weeks after the

shooting and the second a

few months after it. Psychol-

ogists may still instruct

officersto attend extra

sessions, officials said.

Officers will also be ableto

take part in a new voluntary

program in which they meet

with others who have fired

theirguns on duty.

In addition, officers will

not be ableto return to the

field until they have c om-

pleteda refresher training

course that includesa re-

view of LAPD policy and

real-life scenarios thatcould

leadto deadly force.Until

now, officers could go back

before they finished that

training.

[email protected]

LAW ENFORCEMENT

LAPD bolsters training, support

for its officers after shootings

They’ll havetotake a

refresher before they

returntoduty, andsee

psychologists more.

KATEMATHER

SACRAMENTO —
Legislative leaders brought
in the legal bigguns to fend
off President-elect Donald
Trump when they an-
nounced last week they
selected former U.S. Atty.
Gen. Eric Holder Jr. to help
craft policy andcourtroom
strategy against the incom-
ing president.
But Republican Assem-
blyman Kevin Kiley says the
new hire is against the law.
Kiley, a freshman law-
makerrepresenting the
Sacramento suburbs, as-
serted late last week that by
retaining Holder’s firm,
Covington & Burling, the
Legislature violated the
state Constitution.
In a letter to the state
attorneygeneral’s office,
Kiley cites Article VII of the
California Constitution,
which forbids the state from
privatelycontracting for
services thatcould beren-
dered “adequately and

competently” by existing

civil employees.

Kiley notes that the state

attorneygeneral’s office

consists of more than1,

attorneys and professional

staff, includinga division

thatcoordinates the attor-

ney general’s communica-

tions with the Legislature.

“In light of these facts, I

respectfully askyour legal

opinion asto whether the

1,592 attorneys and legal

staffat the State Attorney

General’s Office can per-

form ‘adequatelyand com-

petently’ the legal services

for which Covington &

Burling has beenretained

by the Legislature,” Kiley

wrote.

He requested that the

attorneygeneral’s office

respond witha legal opinion

to his query — aprocess

thatcould take months.

Aidesto Senate Presi-

dent Pro Tem Kevin de León

(D-Los Angeles) and As-

sembly Speaker Anthony

Rendon (D-Paramount)

dismissed Kiley’s charge,

noting the Legislature has

retained outsidecounsel for

legal advice in the past.

“The Legislature has

inherent power to obtain

the services of the best

resources available to it to

understand the implica-

tions of public policy in its

lawmaking function, includ-

ing the interaction between

state and federal law,” said

Anthony Reyes,a spokes-

man for De León.“The

provisions of law requiring a

state agencyto obtain the

consent of the attorney

general before employing

outsidecounselexpressly

exclude the Legislature.”

melanie.mason

@latimes.com

POLITICSWATCH

Assemblyman

says hiring Holder

breaks state law

GOP lawmakerblasts

movetocontract

services withex-U.S.

attorneygeneral.

MELANIEMASON

ERICHolder will offer

legal counsel to state.

J. ScottApplewhiteAP