The frieze in the lieutenant governors suite -- lined with the portraits of each occupant of the office in the state Capitol since the 135-year-old position was created -- has room for just one more.
The late Catherine Baker Knoll of McKees Rocks -- the first woman to win the office -- might have been enshrined there, but $7,000 budgeted for her portrait was cut during the Legislature's 101-day state budget debate. Now her children are asking friends and political contacts for donations to commemorate their mother, who died Nov. 12, 2008.
"From what we all are given to understand, the history since the beginning of the commonwealth was that taxpayers fund portraits for governors, lieutenant governors and row officers," said her son, Charles A. Knoll Jr.
State taxpayers also pay for House and Senate leaders' portraits -- including one of former House Speaker John Perzel, the Philadelphia Republican charged last month in a massive corruption investigation.
"Of course, we're in extraordinarily challenging fiscal times, and among the things that I guess it made sense to cut was a few thousand that had been dedicated for mom's ... portrait," Knoll said.
In the two weeks since the fund drive began, more than 100 donors have given about $16,000, according to the state Capitol Preservation Committee, which looks after the Capitol's portraits and is collecting the checks.
"There's just a terrific outpouring," Knoll said.
The family doesn't know how much the portrait will cost, Knoll said, but he noted that former President Bill Clinton's White House portrait cost about $200,000.
"We're somewhere between a shopping-mall caricature and a real painter," Knoll said.
The real painter likely will be Nelson Shanks, a Bucks County artist to whom Gov. Ed Rendell presented the Distinguished Arts Award in 2006 in recognition of his international renown. His subjects include Clinton's portrait in the National Portrait Gallery in the Smithsonian; Princess Diana of Wales; and Britain's former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
"He's excited about the project -- which is half the battle there," Knoll said.
Rendell's budget proposal included $7,000 for Baker Knoll's portrait -- the going rate for paintings of governors and lieutenant governors, according to previous budgets.
As the recession worsened, lawmakers deadlocked for months over how to keep the state afloat. During the contentious budget impasse, Rendell recommended the cut, and Baker Knoll's commemoration went the way of half the state's economic-development funding.
Lawmakers were "looking for savings wherever it could be found," said Rendell spokesman Gary Tuma.
Rendell pledged to contribute an unspecified amount, Tuma said.
"He doesn't mind if this sets a precedent" of politicians paying for their own portraits, Tuma said, adding that it is a "safe assumption" that he will ask the General Assembly not to pay for his portrait when he leaves office in January 2011, Tuma sad.
Any excess money collected in Baker Knoll's name would go to her favorite charities -- such as Angel's Place, a Pittsburgh charity serving young parents. The Senator John Heinz History Center, which is putting together a commemorative display, might get some money, Knoll said.
"Perhaps it might be fitting for the Heinz History Center. If they're going to help perpetuate her legacy of public spirit and so forth, that maybe makes sense," Knoll said.
If lawmakers are looking for another way to commemorate Baker Knoll, her son said the building beside the Capitol bearing Speaker Matthew J. Ryan's name offers an example.
"On the other side (of the Capitol), there's a nice little courtyard that would be a nice little place to put an extension of Senate offices" named for Baker Knoll, who presided over the chamber, he said. "I've kind of mentioned it and, of course, nobody has any money in the budget."
