This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by [log in to unmask] Interesting follow-up editorial on Giuliani's decency panel. Remember, this is not the first time he has come out swinging like this, especially when the artwork offends his Catholic theosophy. /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here: http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nytcirc/index.html \----------------------------------------------------------/ The Art of Rudy February 20, 2001 PUBLIC INTERESTS By GAIL COLLINS Bill Clinton's defense of the Marc Rich pardon may be seen by many as a plea for understanding. But I prefer to think of it as a bid for a slot on the Rudy Giuliani Decency Commission. Our mayor, as the world now knows, is looking for "basically decent people" to sit on a panel that will determine what sort of art should be banned from New York museums. Finding volunteers might be a problem. He had trouble getting recruits for his last controversial commission, and that one was just about charter revision. Mr. Giuliani was offended by a picture displayed at the Brooklyn Museum in which the figure of Christ at the Last Supper is replaced by a naked black woman. The piece made it through an exhibit in Ridgefield, Conn., without setting off any explosions. But New Yorkers are more easily shocked than people who have been toughened by life in the upscale commuter suburbs, and the mayor declared war. What the city really needs, he announced, is some sort of body that would "set decency standards for those institutions that are using your money, the taxpayers' money." Critics were quick to point out that Mr. Giuliani, who has a wife in Gracie Mansion and a girlfriend who he takes to official events, is not in an ideal position to anoint himself guardian of the city's morals. The mayor's team retorts that private behavior is beside the point, that the museums should be sensitive to public mores because they receive public money. Unfortunately this argument is going to force us, much against our will, to note that the mayoral girlfriend is guarded by city police at taxpayer expense, while the wife has both guards and a taxpayer-supported staff that helps her with her duties as estranged first lady. Still, if we're going to have a decency commission, we certainly want a world-class one. Unfortunately, the nation's supply of moral watchdogs is pretty well picked over right now, what with the demand for appointees to the Bush administration. And the people Mr. Giuliani chooses will have to be pretty canny — it's tricky deciphering exactly what decency standards the mayor has in mind. As Michael Kimmelman pointed out in The Times, the mayor did not have anything much to say when the Brooklyn Museum exhibited a work called "Wrecked" in which the figure of Christ at the Last Supper was replaced by a topless white woman. Perhaps he didn't know. Mr. Giuliani doesn't actually go to these art exhibits, and he is dependent on the media to tell him what's in them so he can get exercised about it. Part of the mayor's current outrage may arise from his belief that the Catholic Church is regarded as fair game for assaults that would not be tolerated if they were leveled at any other religion. Renee Cox, the artist responsible for the Last Supper picture, certainly sounded hostile. But then the only truly insightful thing Ms. Cox has been quoted as saying during this particular debate is, "I don't produce work that necessarily looks good over somebody's couch." Mr. Giuliani is not the only person worried about anti-Catholicism in American culture, but the decency commission has pretty much wiped out any chance of having a serious public conversation about the issue. Instead, if the mayor has his way, we're going to invest the city's money in yet another futile trip down to the Supreme Court. (Somebody really ought to set up an endowment at one of our local universities for the Rudolph Giuliani Chair in Bad Constitutional Law.) But first he needs to appoint a commission, and the mayor's usual pool of public-spirited real estate developers and former prosecutors doesn't seem quite right for the task. Lately, New York has acquired a large supply of former contestants on reality TV shows, but a strong background in Survivor Tribal Council may not be what we're looking for either. Your perfect commission recruits would be very smart, high-profile people with lots of leisure whose reluctance to join in such a loopy endeavor might be overcome by the desire to improve their résumés with an official designation as basically decent people. Mr. Clinton just might be available. While he has never shown any particular appetite for assaulting the First Amendment, there's always the chance that he could mutate into it, the way he did into pardoning fugitives from justice. Come to think of it, maybe Marc Rich would be interested, too. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/20/opinion/20COLL.html?020inside?ex=983698501&ei=1&en=6dea46a8fd2ba8ef /-----------------------------------------------------------------\ Visit NYTimes.com for complete access to the most authoritative news coverage on the Web, updated throughout the day. Become a member today! 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