The Clinton Presidential Library is taking back the portrait of President Clinton hanging in our state Capitol. Building officials are scurrying to find a replacement or get permission to keep the current portrait indefinitely. Otherwise, a gaping hole will be left in what is now a complete set of presidential portraits in the third-floor gallery.
The library notified Colorado in August that the painting is due back in Little Rock on March 30.
Rep. Paul Weissmann, a member of the State Capitol Building Advisory Committee, said the library, which is part of the National Archives, is collecting Clinton art from around the country to put in storage, but library officials denied that.
Curator Christine Muow said the painting is a “loan that’s come due.” She said the library might extend the loan until May to give Colorado time to make a replica.
Weissmann has asked Colorado’s congressional delegation to intercede though it is unimaginable why they’d get involved. “Let the Clinton folks come and pick it off the wall,” said Weissmann, D-Louisville. “They would have to bring their own ladder.”
Owens portrait pending
Speaking of portraits, former Gov. Bill Owens’ is expected to be completed by May. A space has been reserved for it in the Capitol’s West Wing. The standard protocol when the painting is finished is for Owens to ask the building’s advisory committee to accept the portrait as a permanent gift.
Wine at grocers
Proponents of expanding liquor sales in Colorado are quietly working on a measure that would allow the sale of beer and wine in grocery stores. The proposal would let King Soopers, Safeway and other grocers with pharmacies and a certain percentage of revenues from meat and fresh produce sell the beverages. The plan would not include big discounters like Wal- Mart.
The proposal would not impinge on the state’s Blue Laws, which prohibit the sale of liquor on Sundays. Grocers could not ring up liquor sales on that day.
Not surprisingly, many liquor merchants oppose the idea. Scott Robinson, owner of Argonaut Liquors, Denver’s largest liquor retailer, said that while his store will surely survive, many mom-and- pop operations could be forced out of business. Proponents are not rushing to introduce the bill. This year might be devoted to “gauging interest,” they said.
Mustache rates chatter
Given all the critical issues at the Capitol, you’d think Sen. Abel Tapia’s here-today-gone-tomorrow mustache would have gone unnoticed. But Tapia is chairman of the powerful Joint Budget Committee, so his facial hair has been the subject of spirited chatter in Capitol corridors.
When the normally clean-shaven Pueblo Democrat arrived at the Capitol this year, he sported a short-cropped – albeit bristly – mustache and goatee. Days later, the goatee had disappeared, but the mustache remained. The day he was to pose for the picture that will hang in the Capitol, Tapia arrived with a smooth upper lip. He said he didn’t want the facial hair identifying him for posterity.
Teasing from Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald didn’t help matters. Freshman Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Douglas County, was more supportive. He said Tapia’s decision to go clean cut was a good one. “Some people can pull off a mustache – like Burt Reynolds,” said McNulty. “Abel Tapia is no Burt Reynolds.”
Dome to reopen
The Capitol dome reopens to the public tomorrow.
As tourists climb the 99 steps, they can stop and browse in a new state history museum called Mr. Brown’s Attic. The dome, closed since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, has new surveillance and safety equipment.
Julia C. Martinez (jmartinez@denverpost.com) is a member of the Denver Post editorial board.
