Why Is Our Government Paying Exorbitant Amounts For Paintings Of Bureaucrats? If They Want Their Picture Taken, Give Them A $200 Camera!

Senators Take Aim At Taxpayer-Funded Oil Paintings For Bureaucrats

December 16, 2013 by Sam Rolley

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PHOTOS.COM

When politicians hop on the soapbox to decry wasteful spending in government, they often cite social welfare programs or corporate tax breaks as the biggest reasons that America is broke. Usually undiscussed by the political class is the amount of money gratuitously spent by the Nation’s leadership to inflate their own mammoth egos.

A bill introduced last week by Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) takes aim at one such misuse of taxpayer dollars in seeking to put an end to the practice of “lavish” government spending on oil paintings of government officials. Currently, the cost of such paintings is sometimes more than $50,000 apiece.

“Hardworking taxpayers shouldn’t foot the bill for lavish official portraits, especially when government officials spend more on paintings of themselves than some Americans make in a year,” Coburn said. “This bill reins in excessive spending on such portraits and protects taxpayers from funding waste.”

The Responsible Use of Taxpayer Dollars for Portraits Act would top taxpayer payout for portraits at $20,000. When that money is exhausted, the bill says that other funds may be used. The bill would also disallow Federal funding for any lawmakers not in line for the Presidency.

“At a time when vital services and programs are facing cuts, we need to be looking at every way we can stop excessive spending practices in Washington,” Shaheen said. “Official portraits should be done in a way that protects taxpayers, as we do in New Hampshire.”

According to a Washington Times report last year, the Administration of President Barack Obama has spent at least $400,000 on commissioned portraits of agency directors and Cabinet secretaries over the past two years.

Some of that spending included:

• $41,200 for a portrait of Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley.
• $40,000 on a portrait of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.
• $22,500 on a portrait of Agriculture Department Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack.

Other Administrations have used taxpayer money similarly for portraits, sometimes drawing fire from watchdog groups.

“I think most people like the tradition of presidents having their portraits painted,” Ryan Alexander, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, told The Washington Post in 2008. “But where does the line get drawn? Somewhere between the president to Cabinet agency to sub-Cabinet — somewhere along the way, I’m pretty sure that you’d lose wide public support.”