State Sen. Scott Wagner, R-Spring Garden Township, said he plans to introduce a resolution, calling for the end of the practice of hanging of portraits in the state Capitol of lawmakers who have been convicted of felonies relating to the abuse of public office.
“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,” Wagner said in a co-sponsorship memo on Tuesday.
Wagner said his resolution will call for an end to this practice for the Senate and urge colleagues in the House of Representatives to do the same.
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Wagner plans to introduce a resolution to take down the portrait of former Senate president pro tem Bob Mellow, sentenced in 2012 on corruption charges. His proposal would encourage the House to take down their side’s portraits of former speakers John Perzel and Bill DeWeese, also sentenced in 2012 on similar charges.
Spokesmen for the House Democrats and Senate Republicans have noted that the portraits represent matters of historical fact. Some who work at the Capitol have suggested that removing all artistic renderings of bad actors in the building’s history would require more than taking portraits off a wall.