If the Georgia State Capitol gets a monument honoring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who grew up in the Savannah area, it is not clear whether the public will know who funded it.
Over nearly two months of record reviews and interview requests, the USA Today Network was unable to determine where the money to commission the artwork would come from. According to the lawmaker who sponsored Senate Bill 69, Sen. Ben Watson (R-Savannah), the statue would be funded privately.
SB 69 passed the Senate in the 2023 session but failed to advance through the Georgia House. The legislation is eligible for passage again in the 2024 session.
The question over the statue funding source may again be relevant if the bill is passed by the Georgia House next session. Thomas has recently been in the news for accepting vacations and school tuition from Texas real estate mogul Harlan Crow. Crow has previously funded renaming a wing of a Savannah library for Thomas and paid to create a museum honoring the justice’s hometown of Pin Point.
More:Clarence Thomas accepted luxury gifts from GOP megadonor for decades without disclosing them: report
Funding process for new artwork is unclear
SB 69 reads, “Subject to the availability of funds, there shall be placed within the capitol building or grounds a monument honoring the Honorable Clarence Thomas.”
Such a monument would go through the Capitol Arts Standards Commission, an ad-hoc organization that meets when new art is acquired for the Capitol. The current chair, Marty Smith, serves as the State Property Officer in the Georgia Building Authority and was appointed as chair of the commission in December 2021 by Gov. Brian Kemp.
Smith said the commission only meets when there is a proposal for new artwork. The commission last met on Feb. 10, 2022, according to draft minutes shared in response to an open records request, and discussed a number of housekeeping issues. Legislators who attended the meeting did not respond to a request for…
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