It is likely the City has at least three representatives on the Board of the
Brooklyn Museum (representatives of the Mayor' office, the Boro President's
office and the Dept of Cultural Affairs).  If the City didn't know about
this exhibition beforehand, then the City's board representatives dropped
the ball.  When the board approved the this year's budget, this exhibition I
presume would have been on it.  If the City's board representatives had any
questions about the nature of the show they should have asked at the budget
approval stage.  It's a bit disingenuous to claim innocence of the content
of the show at this point.  These representatives know their boss and should
have known to tell him about this show beforehand.  I know this is cynical
but I believe it's just a political ploy on the Mayor's part to force
Hillary Clinton to have to support dung-smeared Madonnas in defense of the
first amendment and therefore look foolish.

I am more distressed about the silence on the part of the New York City
Culturals who are obviously terrified of saying the wrong thing and losing
city funding as a consequence. Talk about putting a damper on freedom of
expression...Believe me, this is the REAL problem -- culturals only doing
"safe" shows to stay on the good side of the mayor.  Sometimes New York can
be so provincial....

>From: "David E. Haberstich" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Fw: Beautiful Brooklyn the man who lisps incessantly
>Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 01:44:35 EDT
>
>While I am no fan of Mayor Giuliani, I do think that complaints about his
>statements and actions should be fair and relevant.  Emotional arguments
>merely undermine one's position.  I think a claim that an attack on the
>Brooklyn Museum is an extension of his attack on "the poor" would be pretty
>hard to substantiate.  Also, whether he could have known or should have
>known
>the nature of the exhibition much earlier hardly seems relevant.  After
>all,
>he's a busy man, and may have been distracted by other issues when he
>should
>have been studying controversial art.  Maybe he's not a quick study...
>
>David Haberstich
>
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