Do Portraits of Felons Hang at the Capitol?

True or False: Portraits of Felons are Hanging in the Sate Capitol

The answer is "True", unfortunately.

Speakers of the House and the President Pro-Tempore of the Senate have traditionally been honored with an oil painting that is hung in the capitol. Four of the lawmakers featured in portraits are felons.

Three of the men were convicted recently. John Perzel and Bill DeWeese were snared by then Attorney General Tom Corbett in the Computergate and Bonusgate investigations. Bob Mellow was convicted on federal corruption charges. The fourth man, Herb Fineman was convicted for obstruction of justice in 1977 according to PennLive.

Following through on his threats to shake up Harrisburg, Sen. Scott Wagner released his first co-sponsorship memo. According to the memo:

"In the near future, I will be introducing a resolution regarding the hanging of portraits in the state Capitol honoring lawmakers who have been convicted of felonies relating to the abuse of their public office. Act 140 of 1978 requires state lawmakers convicted of certain felonies to forfeit their pension benefit, yet we honor some of these same individuals with portraits in our state Capitol. While I recognize that many of these individuals have played critical roles in our Commonwealth’s history and it is impractical to leave them out of that history, I believe that to revere them with portraits is a line that we should not cross.

"My resolution will call for an end to this practice in the Senate and urge our colleagues in the House of Representatives to resolve the same."

Removing the portraits will not solve the problems of corruption at the state capitol, but it is certainly a step in the right direction.

Contact your Senator and ask them to support this resolution.

Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania (CAP) is a non-profit organization founded to raise the standard of living of all Pennsylvanians by restoring limited government, economic freedom, and personal responsibility. By empowering the Commonwealth’s employers and taxpayers to break state government’s "Iron Triangle" of career politicians, bureaucrats, and Big Government lobbyists, this restoration will occur and Pennsylvania will prosper.

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