When Rep. Lacy Clay, a Democrat from Missouri, decided to display a painting depicting police officers as pigs in the U.S. Capitol complex, law enforcement groups were understandably upset. More than 27,000 police officers took to protesting the display of artwork, which they labeled "repugnant and repulsive," while other groups called upon House Speaker Paul Ryan to have the controversial painting removed.
With groups of activists and congressmen tied up in a seemingly endless debate over the painting, which has been on display since June, one Republican congressman decided he'd had it up to his eyeballs with bureaucracy and took matters into his own hands by grabbing a screwdriver and taking down the offensive piece himself.
Hunter has nothing against Clay
"I was angry," explained Rep. Duncan Hunter to Fox News. Hunter, a Marine who represents California's 50th district, walked over to the painting on Friday morning with a handful of colleagues and unscrewed it. He then personally delivered the painting to Clay's office. While Hunter admitted that he liked Lacy Clay personally, referring to him as a "great guy," he stated to Fox News: "Lacy can put it back up, I guess, if he wants to. But I’m allowed to take it down.”
Painting took top honors in student competition
The painting at the heart of the controversy was created by a high school student named David Pulphus, who submitted the piece to a congressional student art competition in St.
Louis, where it picked up the top prize. The piece depicts a pig dressed in a police officer's uniform aiming a gun at Black Lives Matter protesters, along with one black protester being crucified while holding a scale of justice. Since June the painting had been on display in the hallway between the Capitol building and the House office building.
Duncan Hunter, who quit his job as a tech analyst on September 11, 2001, to join the Marine Corps, served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He continues to serve in the Marine Corps Reserve. After removing the painting, he told Fox News: "I’m in the Marine Corps. If you want it done, just call us.”