January 10, 2017 03:53 PM UTC

At Least Doug Lamborn Probably Isn't Your Congressman

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• by: Colorado Pols

In another edition of our long-running series, “At Least They’re Not Your Legislator,” we take you to the U.S. Capitol, where Republican members of Congress apparently don’t have enough work to do to keep them busy.

As NBC San Diego reports, at least four members of Congress — including Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado Springs) — have literally been spending time carrying a painting around the building:

[Congressman Duncan Hunter] personally removed the painting last week from an area designated for finalists in the annual Congressional Art Competition. The piece by David Pulphus, an 18-year-old from Missouri, depicts police officers as pigs, with one aiming a gun at a black panther.

The piece won first place in the Congressional Art Competition in Missouri’s First District. But Hunter said he found the piece offensive, and believes it violates the rules of the art competition.

U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay, D-Mo., and members of the Congressional Black Caucus hung the painting back in place in a hallway in the Cannon Office Building basement Tuesday.

“I do not agree or disagree with this painting but I will fight to defend this young man’s right to express himself,” Clay said. “He is entitled to that protection under the law.”…

…After the painting was put back in its position Tuesday, another member of Congress, Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., removed it. Clay confirmed to NBC News the piece was put back minutes later. [Pols emphasis]

We’re not going to get into an argument about whether or not this painting by a high school student — which won first place in a Congressional Art Competition in Missouri — is appropriate to hang in the U.S. Capitol. There’s a larger point to address here: Multiple Members of Congress took time out of their day to literally remove this painting from the walls and return it to the office of Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Missouri).

We can only guess at the number of conversations that took place surrounding this topic, and the amount of time spent lugging said painting around the Capitol, at the same time that the Senate is holding confirmation hearings on Donald Trump’s cabinet appointments and plotting a strategy to eliminate the Affordable Care Act. If you are a constituent of Rep. Lamborn who might have been trying to contact the Congressman today, you cannot rest assured that he was busy doing something important.