Portraits mark political history, change of guard

Oil paintings of American politicians go back to George Washington. It's a tradition that's been made largely immune to budget pressures thanks to private funding.

But the practice isn't without its challenges. The commissioning and placement of the portraits — most consistently governors, but also legislators, justices and other statewide officials — can raise quirky questions.

What of the Ohio governor whose portrait probably took longer to paint than her 11-day tenure in office? Or the image of an Oregon governor whose past misdeeds were later revealed?

In Ohio, governors, lieutenant governors and presidents of the Ohio Senate all receive portraits. That includes the state's only female governor, Nancy Hollister, who served less than two weeks after moving into the job George Voinovich vacated to head to the U.S. Senate before a permanent successor was sworn in.

Gregg Dodd, a spokesman for the Ohio Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board that oversees Statehouse operations, said it's not a glut of historic paintings that's prompted a stash of out-of-sight works to pile up.

"They're awaiting restoration," he said. "Unfortunately, budget considerations caused those projects to be put on the back burner."

In Alabama, some fill-in governors are painted, some aren't. Gov. Jim Folsom, who completed the final two years of Gov. Guy Hunt's term, got a portrait. Lt. Gov. Jere Beasley, who filled in as governor for less than two weeks when Gov. George C. Wallace was recovering from an assassination attempt in 1972, did not.

Statehouses generally attempt to place official portraits in positions of prominence — with more recent figures closer to the front entrance. That is, until something goes awry.

Oregon relegated its portrait of former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt to a storage area at the Oregon Historical Society after he acknowledged having a long sexual relationship with a girl that began when she was 14 and he was mayor of Portland.