Don't string me up but ...

Big man for smaller government?

Okay, this might destroy my blue bonafides, but I kind of admire this guy. He's tough, plain-spoken and breathlessly un-demagogic. I'm just grateful for every conservative politician who isn't foaming at the mouth about stem cells, reproductive rights, religion or guns. Maybe my standards have been lowered, but we have a history of pragmatic and respected Republican pols in PA -- from John Heinz who was lionized by the common people in Democratic PGH to Arlen Specter to Tom Ridge. We have some flakes too (cough Santorum). Christie is not a flake. He's a straight-ahead fiscal conservative which the folks across the river arguably need right now to prevent fiscal collapse.

Some people slap the "bully" label on him. Christie has stated that he advocates "adversarial collective bargaining," which sounds like tough-guy talk until you realize it is the norm in the private sector. Ed Rendell engaged in it in PHL during his first term as mayor and he is a Dem. folk hero.

As much as I support unions and the right to collective bargaining, nobody says it should be easy. Christie's point that if you're a CEO and it's your money, you negotiate as if it counts, because it does -- it's your bottom line. However negotiating in the public sector means "other people's money" and it is far too easy to give away the candy store with no pain to self and a positive payoff in campaign contributions if you are seen as union-friendly.

We're hemorrhaging here and you can blame the evil bankers and you'd not hear me raise a squawk, but it's we middleclass folk who have to take the brunt of it and make it work. We always do. It sucks, but that doesn't make it less true. Want to have a bonfire and roast some derivatives traders. I'll be there with bells on. But we all suffer from the rich men's greed until we put a stop to it. Different issue.  

Back to Chris Christie and NJ politics. My younger (Republican) brother was the mayor of a small NJ borough. He was elected with impressive numbers after he donated about a year's worth of legal assistance to secure flood relief for the township. Toward the end of his term, he had the temerity to propose that the borough's police and fire merge with the larger borough that surrounded his smaller one. A recent NY Times article talks about this unique situation in NJ, where every little podunk town has its own emergency response system which means a lot of waste and redundancy. In my brother's case, the savings would have been in the millions to the tax base and the good people of his constituency rewarded his prudence by egging his house, leaving threatening messages on his home phone. Needless to say, they tried to recall him while still in office then rode him out on the rails in the next election.

I told him no good deed goes unpunished. I told him about favorable coverage of Christie in the Inky last year. He was genuinely shocked that a "mainstream liberal paper" (not my opinion, mind you) had anything nice to say about the new guv. Unspoken, was that his Democratic older brother would have a similar positive take. 

What we don't get in these polarized times is that the fact based respectful debate between fiscal conservatism and social activism is balanced and necessary. We should help the neediest of our population. And we should be able to pay for it. Nobody should be demonized for taking one side or the other, as long as they're working with facts instead of pandering to emotions.

Make me barf!

I'll tell you, I saw the Time mag cover "Obama (hearts) Reagan" and it made me want to hurl. Reagan was the trendsetter for everything that is wrong about today's Republican party. Ideology over principle. Show without substance. Teflon. Telling people what they want to hear instead of what we need to hear. Reagan trained up a new army of wingnuts who think patriotism means selfishly voting with their wallets and prayerbooks instead of what's good for the entire country. Reagan might as well have been Gordon "Greed is good" Gekko. So what is the best hope for leadership in this country doing embracing a such a demagogue? 

I'd be far happier if O embraced the fleshy, still very much alive Chris Christie. Then we could have a real discussion about what's gone wrong and how to fix it.

One more thing. PA Guv Tom Corbett is talking about emulating Chris Christie. You want to make "smaller government" I say fine. Start with the boondoggle that is Harrisburg where we have more state reps per unit of population than any other state than New Hampshire. If Corbett sent about half of those hillbilly nosepickers back to their one horse towns, even I'd vote for him. PA is proof that more representation is not better representation. See table below:

Population and State Legislative Size Population   Legislatures            State  In  2005  Population  Rank  Total  Size  Total  Rank*  Senate  Size  Senate  Rank*  House  Size  House  Rank*  Alabama  4,557,808  23  140   24   35  16  105  16  Alaska  663,661  47  60   39   20   25   40   30   Arizona  5,939,292  17  90  35  30  20  60  26  Arkansas  2,779,154  32  135  26  35  16  100  18  California  36,132,147  1  120  29  40  12  80  22  Colorado  4,665,177  22  100  34  35  16  65  25  Connecticut  3,510,297  29  187  9  36  15  151  6  Delaware  843,524  45  62  38  21  24  41  29  Florida  17,789,864  4  160  17  40  12  120  13  Georgia  9,072,576  9  236  3  56  4  180  3  Hawaii  1,275,194  42  76  36  25  22  51  27  Idaho  1,429,096  39  105  32  35  16  70  24  Illinois  12,763,371  5  177  13  59  3  118  14  Indiana  6,271,973  15  150  18  50  6  100  18  Iowa  2,966,334  30  150  18  50  6  100  18  Kansas  2,744,687  33  165  16  40  12  125  10  Kentucky  4,173,405  26  138  25  38  14  100  18  Louisiana  4,523,687  24  144  22  39  13  105  16  Maine  1,321,505  40  186  10  35  16  151  6  Maryland  5,600,388  19  188  8  47  9  141  8  Massachusetts  6,398,743  13  200  6  40  12  160  5  Michigan  10,120,860  8  148  20  38  14  110  15  Minnesota  5,132,799  21  201  5  67  1  134  9  Mississippi  2,921,088  31  174  14  52  5  122  12  Missouri  5,800,310  18  197  7  34  17  163  4  Montana  935,670  44  150  18  50  6  100  18  Nebraska  1,758,787  38  49  40  49  7  N/A  N/A  Nevada  2,414,807  35  63  37  21  24  42  28  New Hampshire  1,309,940  41  424  1  24  23  400  1  New Jersey  8,717,925  10  120  29  40  12  80  22  New Mexico  1,928,384  36  112  31  42  11  70  24  New York  19,254,630  3  212  4  62  2  150  7  North Carolina  8,683,242  11  170  15  50  6  120  13  North Dakota  636,677  48  141  23  47  9  94  21  Ohio  11,464,042  7  132  28  33  18  99  19  Oklahoma  3,547,884  28  149  19  48  8  101  17  Oregon  3,641,056  27  90  35  30  20  60  26  Pennsylvania  12,429,616  6  253  2  50  6  203  2  Rhode Island  1,076,189  43  113  30  38  14  75  23  South Carolina  4,255,083  25  170  15  46  10  124  11  South Dakota  775,933  46  105  32  35  16  70  24  Tennessee  5,962,959  16  132  28  33  18  99  19  Texas  22,859,968  2  181  11  31  19  150  7  Utah  2,469,585  34  104  33  29  21  75  23  Vermont  623,050  49  180  12  30  20  150  7  Virginia  7,567,465  12  140  24  40  12  100  18  Washington  6,287,759  14  147  21  49  7  98  20  West Virginia  1,816,856  37  134  27  34  17  100  18  Wisconsin  5,536,201  20  132  28  33  18  99  19  Wyoming  509,294  50  90  35  30  20  60  26  TOTAL 296,410,404   7,382  1,971  5,411 * Due to equal sizes of legislatures or legislative chambers, rankings may not range from 1 to 50. Source: http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=13527

The Curse of Dr. Barnes

Before

After

The Barnes Foundation, according to its own website "is home to one of the world's largest collections of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and early Modern paintings, with extensive holdings by Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, Renoir and Modigliani, as well as important examples of African sculpture."

The design for the new home of the worldclass impressionist collection amassed by the uber-contentious Dr. Al Barnes bears an eerie and unwelcome resemblance to the Juvenile Detention Center which it replaces.

A Bit of Barnesian Background

The Barnes Collection has one of the most embattled legacies in the history of American art collection, even inspiring a movie with the overwrought title “The Art of the Steal."  The good doctor who died in 1951, made a fortune in nostrums and patent medicines. He also had a true talent for shopping in Europe and managed to scoop up a lot of "bargain basement" art at firesale prices.  I haven't seen "The Art of the Steal." I wonder if it even touches on how this shiny collector and creator of Argyrol, nickled the starving artists whose works he bought for a song. But that's art in the age of commerce for you--a sad tale, but scarcely worth a historical footnote.

What makes the infamous Barnes backstory fascinating is that Doc B had no great love of the city and its business and cultural leaders. Seems they turned up their narrow blue noses at his self-made, new money social ascendancy, so he got his payback. Using his collection as a sort of cultural hostage, he forged a will he clearly intended to be unbreakable. Then he used it as a hammer to hit the art establishment over the head with, long after he was gone. Basically, the will said that The Collection could never:

• Be broken up
• Exhibited/toured
• Or worse, moved!

Call it karma, but Barnes died of a tragic auto accident, his legacy still very much in flux. One wonders if he was a victim of self-inflicted road rage. While other private art foundations manage quite well, the Barnes made the news with its odd choice of stewardship and its court battles. Today, Dr. B may be heartened that his unquiet spirit transmigrated to cohabit with certain quixotic forces who still battle to prevent the collection's move.

Maybe a hundred years hence, the Barnesiacs and the township of Merion will band together and take a page from the Egyptians who after decades of righteous contention, were able to repatriate their priceless antiquities from the Louvre.  The fact is that languishing out in leafy Merion, PA, mired in restrictive visitation policies, the prickly half-love of its neighbors and the bizarre internecine politics of its dysfunctional board, the Foundation and its Collection was drowning in red ink. The Pew and the Lenfest Foundations stepped in and threw Barnes a lifeline, but the bailout inked a devil's deal. It required the collection to move to the city where it can finally be appreciated by Philadelphia residents and visitors without special papal dispensation.

This battle waged famously for years in Philadelphia Orphan's Court. Recently Barnes' grudge-drenched will was broken in a gust of sulfur and smoke and what I'm sure are several legal precedents. Philadelphia Lawyers may moan, but art lovers of all stripes are the beneficiaries. Albert Barnes' vitriol was ultimately his foundation's aqua regia.  The experience of the Barnes an object lesson in how even great philanthropy can run aground when a benefactor's nits and gripes overshadow a more expansive, enduring vision of contribution to society. Anger, art and philanthropy make for a gritty salad.

I'm just a little guy with a big mouth and I doubt I'll ever be able to put the following principle to the test. But I believe that if you have the resources to acquire great art, it comes with an implicit noblesse oblige to share your spoils with society. What Barnes did was like commissioning a Mozart symphony, then restricting its performance to his basement. Great art demands the greatest possible audience--access by ordinary people who would be its patrons. Not an elite few. However much money and power you have, you can't narrowcast a cultural legacy in perpetuity. That's the nutshell. Now back to the future.

The House that Barnes Didn't Build

Call it "the takeover of the imperial art establishment" or just call it inevitable triumph of good sense; it seems in any case to be a done deal, a baked cookie. What feels half-baked, is the design by Todd Williams and Billie Tsien. Look at their spectacular design for the Phoenix Art Museum then come back and compare. Though in an Inquirer online reader feedback poll people seem to prefer the new design by a large margin, I ask:

'Where is the visual drama worthy of the collection?'

Why must so much Philadelphia architecture be confined to pedestrian brick and stone? Why don't the commissions who rubber stamp blandchitecture like this have the cojones to point the fancy out-of-town architects back to their drawing boards with the stern admonition to really "bring it" next time. Don't the architects who design for this city have more contemporary and uplifting materials in their palettes?  In the case of Williams and Tsien, they do, they just ain't sharin' it with Philly. Everywhere I go in Philly, I see new buildings going up that look like more of the same. They think they're reflecting the spirit of the city, when in my humble, each new uninspired brick and stonefaced edifice reinforces an anti-progressive, provincial frumpiness this city is trying so hard to shake off.

It's not that I'm looking for wild radicalism like Frank Gehry's scary metal monster in Bilbao, though love it, hate it, or think it resembles a Transformer, at least it makes a impression. Inga Saffron, whose every opinion I normally dote on like a starry-eyed fanboy, praised the punched windows resembling those in the facade of the Barnes' neoclassical home in Merion.


Yawn. So what? A handful of punched windows aren't going to mollify the Barnesiacs who'd rather see their precious collection shuttered than exhibited the way worldclass art should be.

What is the virtue of such nostalgic tribute when weighed in the balance with an opportunity to create a bold, visual exclamation point to Philadelphia's aspirations to evolve as a center of art and culture?  We deserve better.

Don't get me wrong, I am gladdened that this historic collection is finally about to be wrested out of its snuggery in the Land of Lockjaw, but it should come downtown and present its face to the Parkway. It should announce itself with drama and pride, not landscaping.

I walk The Parkway nearly every day. This corridor, one of my favorites in a gloriously walkable city, has so much potential. Yet I fear it will never be as grand as it could be, especially if one of its anchor tenants turns its face away.

"It is an absolutely masterful design. Those who don't understand the design are looking at it from a selfish point of view," according to Moe Brooker of the Philadelphia Art Commission.

I'm just a selfish guy. Well harumph!

Am I missing something?

I think not.

I think the old curmudgeon has spun twice and is now cackling in his grave.

Maybe there's another movie in it

Call it, "The Revenge of Dr. Barnes."

Too bad Vincent Price isn't around to play the lead.

Sen. Arlen Specter will switch parties, run as Democrat in 2010

Election. Defection. Rejection!

When John Heinz was still alive, the Republican Party in PA had two wise, pragmatic leaders in him and Arlen Specter. As a Dem, I voted for both of them without hesitation. In the Senate, Heinz focused on retirement and the elderly, health care, international trade, finance and banking, environmental issues, human development and education. He chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee (96th and 99th Congresses) and a member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging (97th through 99th Congresses). Does this guy sound like any Republican you've heard of lately? Why he sounds downright pinko liberal. Definitely of another era. Like Specter.

They represented my state and neither ever spouted the reactionary demagoguery that incredibly, is still GOP standard issue. I can't wait to see Rick Santorum's smirking OPED reaction in Thursday's Inquirer. Being the Republican poster boy (ahem, former Republican poster boy) I'm sure he's feverishly pounding out his peevish and consistently irrelevant response to all this "bad" news. Don’t you get it yet? To all young Republicans out there – wishes for a long, long life. My generation will be gone and you’ll be old and gray before you see another GOP centrist or a conservative Republican US President.