'Party Animals' pose problem in capitol

WASHINGTON -- The idea seemed simple enough. Scatter some whimsical donkey and elephant statues around the nation's capital to coax some smiles. So what do the locals do? Turn it into politics, as usual.\nWashington's venture into one of those citywide art projects inspired by Chicago's Cows on Parade has landed the city in court twice. Organizers were accused of being too political in one case and, in the other, of not letting an artist be political enough. The American Civil Liberties Union got involved.\nOne painted elephant even drew a complaint from the Marines.\n"We're in a city that tends to take itself very seriously," said Tony Gittens, executive director of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which organized the summertime exhibit modeled after projects in dozens of cities over the past four years.\nSome legal opponents say the commission created the problem by choosing to bedeck Washington with the symbols of the Democratic and Republican parties.\nThe Green Party considers the "Party Animals" display of 100 donkeys and 100 elephants, each 4-feet tall and weighing 800 pounds, an affront to all other political parties, as well as to independent voters.\n"What if the commission had chosen just the elephant?" said Scott McLarty, spokesman for the D.C. Statehood Green Party. "The Democrats would have gone on the warpath."\nThe Greens demanded equal time in the form of giant sunflowers, their symbol, displayed in polyurethane alongside the other parties' animals.\nU.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy threw out their lawsuit.\nBut animal rights activists, aided by the ACLU, refused to be muzzled.\nPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals convinced another judge that the city violated their First Amendment right to protest the treatment of circus animals when it rejected their portrayal of a weeping, shackled elephant.\nThe elephant, which cost PETA $5,000 to sponsor, was scheduled to be installed on a busy street corner Thursday, about a month before the temporary exhibit begins coming down. It wears a feathery headdress and a blanket proclaiming, "The circus is coming, see shackles, bull hooks, loneliness all under the big top."\nThe city's argument that the elephant will dampen the exhibit's festive tone, designed to foster "an atmosphere of enjoyment and amusement," was rejected by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon.\nLeon said the arts commission was inconsistent, accepting other entries with political messages: A mosaic-covered elephant bears the words "Just Say No to Ivory." A Monopoly board-style elephant, called "GOPoly," has squares labeled "$TAX CUTS$" and "Social Security?"\nAs the city mulled a possible appeal, Gittens said the art exhibit has achieved its goals: "to have fun and to attract tourists."\nWashington's more aggressive art critics smashed a donkey with a baseball bat and pounded an elephant with a steel bar, prompting the city to post a $5,000 reward.\n"They were cowardly acts by people who came in the middle of the night," said Gittens, adding that other cities' artwork has been vandalized, too.\nThe commission moved an elephant away from the Marine Barracks on Capitol Hill, the nation's oldest Marine Corps post, dating to 1801, after military officials complained it gave the impression they were endorsing the Republican Party. Some corporate sponsors felt obliged to pay for two animals, an elephant and a donkey, to remain bipartisan.\nThe animals will come off the streets Sept. 20, more than a week earlier than planned, because of fear of damage by protesters expected to be in the capital for the International Monetary Fund's Sept. 29 meeting, said project manager Alexandra MacMaster. They will be displayed on a hotel's grounds until they are auctioned in late October to raise money for arts grants.\nWhile tourists and children are drawn to the colorful creatures, some locals are ready to say goodbye.\n"Two-hundred or something, it's too much. They're an eyesore," said cabbie Jay Vaughn.