Gov. Scott Walker: Children are to be neither seen nor heard

From the Milwakee Journal Sentinel:

Artist David Lenz has seen his work displayed prominently in the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery and the Milwaukee Art Museum.

But Lenz couldn't make the cut with Gov. Scott Walker and the Executive Residence.

Earlier this year, the governor and first lady Tonette Walker took down Lenz's painting "Wishes in the Wind," a realistic portrait of three children - one black, one Hispanic and one white - playing with bubble wands on a Milwaukee street.

Commissioned by the foundation that runs the governor's Maple Bluff residence, the painting was completed and placed prominently above the fireplace mantel in the drawing room in November.

The governor and first lady have replaced it with a century-old painting of Old Abe, a Civil War-era bald eagle from Wisconsin...

In 2005, the state Executive Residence Foundation began commissioning paintings by Wisconsin artists on subjects intended to remind state leaders of the people they represent. Milwaukee-area businessman Richard Pieper and his wife, Suzanne, fund the project...

In an interview, Lenz said he carefully selected the three children portrayed in "Wishes in the Wind." The African-American girl, featured in a Journal Sentinel column on homelessness, spent three months at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission with her mother. The Hispanic girl is a member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. And the boy's father and brother were killed by a drunken driver in 2009.

"The homeless, central city children and victims of drunk drivers normally do not have a voice in politics," Lenz explained in an email. "This painting was an opportunity for future governors to look these three children in the eye, and I hope, contemplate how their public policies might affect them and other children like them."

He added: "I guess that was a conversation Governor Walker did not want to have."...

The Governor's office issued a press release trying to make the excuse that more people will see the painting at its new location in the Milwaukee Public Library. But at least one member of the Milwaukee library board isn't buying that.

The library board will display the painting at its central building downtown. But in truth, Kovac said, the people of Milwaukee don't need a Lenz painting to be reminded of the importance of Milwaukee children. He said the work would have served a greater purpose in Madison.