Finan may be planning to have this eventually installed at his gravesite after he dies...
Posted on 04/05/2012 11:45:49 AM PDT by nickcarraway
The turf battle over a Holocaust memorial at the Ohio Statehouse now involves Donald Duck.
And members of Ohio’s Jewish community are not happy about it.
Gov. John Kasich’s proposal for a memorial to Ohio survivors of the World War II Holocaust and their liberators ran afoul of Richard H. Finan of Cincinnati, former Ohio Senate president and current president of the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board. Finan questions the appropriateness of the memorial for the Statehouse.
In response to a Dispatch story, Finan complained that Kasich bypassed his agency that oversees the Statehouse and grounds . He told reporters that Kasich’s push declares “open season” for groups lobbying for adding statues and memorials at the Statehouse.
“All one has to do now is go to the governor and say, ‘I want a statue of Donald Duck on the Statehouse grounds’ and if he gets convinced of it, boom!” Finan said.
Joyce Garver Keller, executive director of Ohio Jewish Communities, who has been helping coordinate plans for the memorial for several months, called Finan’s comments “very distressing” and “insensitive on so many levels.”
“First, we didn’t go to the governor and ask to build the memorial,” Keller said. “Second, it’s (a) bad comparison to compare a memorial for the Holocaust and a statue of Donald Duck.
“Lastly, no governor, including this governor, would disrespect the Statehouse grounds.”
She added: “This Friday, Jews around the world will celebrate Passover and leaving the pharaoh behind. We don’t have a pharaoh anymore.”
There is some urgency to moving ahead with a memorial, Keller said. Ohio has at most 1,800 living Holocaust survivors. Their average age is 85.
Legislation signed on Friday by Kasich calls for an outside memorial “to victims of the Holocaust and to the Ohioans who participated in the liberation of the death camps during World War II.” The location of the memorial, how it will look and the cost are not specified. The state will pay for preliminary site work; private funds are to cover the rest.
The idea sprang from Kasich on May 4 while attending the annual Statehouse Holocaust memorial observance. This year’s observance is on April 17.
“Richard H. Finan of Cincinnati, former Ohio Senate president ....”
Given the lack of a party identifier, would I be correct in assuming that Mr. Finan is a Democrat?
I checked. You’d NOT be correct.
What gov *wouldn’t* want a Donald Duck statue on the statehouse grounds?
Thanks. I’m amazed that the press missed an opportunity to insert an (R) next to an embarrassing remark.
That was the real surprise for me.
This whole issue is just plain ‘quackers’.
In any case, no statue of the “Quantum Duck”.
I claim total innocence of ever having been a Senator, but I was on the Design Review Committee in a city of over 70,000 for ten years and know that some members of "review committees" can be annoying tin dictator dicks.
The Finns banned Donald Duck cartoons because he doesn’t wear pants. Judge for yourself:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4AEXdEoytLo/TVq5ShEq_sI/AAAAAAAAAb4/jqwKquvAJwo/s1600/donald.jpg
At least he’s wearing a shirt. Daffy Duck wore nothing.
I’m sure some government or university study has addressed these matters.
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