Special Note to Pennsylvanians
Friends of the Barnes Foundation discovered a previously
unknown state appropriation of $100 million in Senate Bill 1213 for “Construction
of a building to house the Barnes art collection in Philadelphia” was
passed in the Pennsylvania Senate in 2002 --two
years before the 2004 court opinion granting permission to move. There are a number
of disturbing elements to this information:
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This appropriation, buried deep inside a capital spending bill
unwittingly makes Pennsylvania taxpayers partners to a plan for destruction
of a world-renowned cultural treasure.
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Friends of the Barnes Foundation believes that it is improper to
use money raised from all Pennsylvania taxpayers to assist a private
organization to move from Montgomery County (which wants to keep
that organization) to Philadelphia. The existence of this fund is
especially ironic because only a small fraction of that amount would
be sufficient to keep the Barnes Foundation in Merion, where it belongs. (See
more in Memorandum to Attorney General Tom Corbett.)
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The appropriation secures funding for a controversial project about
which the public has not been fully informed at a time when funding
for important public services are being cut.
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The region’s major newspaper, The Philadelphia Inquirer,
specifically chose not to publish the information about the appropriation,
saying, “There is no story.” Stories did appear
in The Evening Bulletin (a quality paper, but one without
wide circulation yet) in “Was
Barnes Foundation Crying Poor With $100 Million On The Way?” by Jim McCaffrey and The
Los Angeles Times in art critic Christopher Knight’s column, “What
the Court Didn’t Know.”
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Key individuals involved in the 2004 Barnes case in Montgomery
County Orphan’s Court deny knowledge of the $100 million appropriation. This
includes Judge Stanley Ott, Barnes Foundation Board President, Bernard
Watson, Deputies of Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett, Pew
Charitable Trusts Head, Rebecca Rimel.
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Email: barnesfriends@comcast.net
Write: 7615 St. Martin’s Lane
Philadelphia, PA 19118
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