Follow the Money
by
Gail Christensen
Greed is a powerful motivator. Greed motivates people to succeed in business, in politics, and in crime. The business of fine art is not immune to this powerful force. Greed can motivate art dealers to defraud purchasers, can motivate galleries to engage in deceptive practices, and can convince politicians and law enforcement officials to ignore situations which cry out for their attention. If greed is the motivator, money is the goal, and to find the reason for unchecked graft in the art industry, one need only follow the money.
The Crime
In the realm of fine art, even defining what constitutes a crime is sometimes difficult. Many states in the USA have laws which define crimes common in the field of fine art dealing; other states are silent on the issue. On the surface, that makes sense. In New York and Los Angeles, one expects to find high rollers spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on paintings by Renoir or original drawings by Michelangelo or Vasari; in Tucson, Arizona, or Oxford, Mississippi, not so much. This might explain why California and New York have comprehensive laws on the books and Arizona and Mississippi, among most other states, do not.
In California and New York, the purity of the business is paramount to its success. In these two states, moneyed collectors abound. Legislators and other government officials are more often than not educated regarding the issues of the fine art trade as their knowledgeable constituents demand such knowledge from their representatives, governors, and law enforcement officials.
But what of towns such as Scottsdale, Arizona where small art galleries abound, and other states such as Michigan where at least one large art gallery flourishes? Why is there little or no legislation there, and why are laws that do exist not enforced?
Solving the Mystery
If one follows the money, the answers to the above questions become clear. Many in the business of fine art profit from the lack of legislation and loose law enforcement. Art galleries dealing in bogus prints, and shady art dealers selling questionable multiples currently make a great deal of money defrauding unwary buyers, and they use that money to ensure that their businesses will continue to profit. By making contributions to politicians, campaigns on the state and national level, and various political action committees (PACs), businesses of all sorts garner political clout and special attention in order to avoid legislation and regulations which could limit their activities. The art business is no exception. If one follows the money from the hands of art business owners to the coffers of those in the business of politics, it is clear that political contributions affect the art world.
The Money Trail
Fortunately, in the United States, it is fairly easy to follow political contributions both through the donors and the recipients. Campaign and other political donations are a matter of public record and there are several reliable web sites that offer searchable databases containing the information indexed by donor, recipient, locale and even the donor's employer. Following are several of those sites:
www.newsmeat.com; www.motherjones.com; www.followthemoney.org; and www.opensecrets.org.
All of these are very simple to use. All of them, with the exception of motherjones.com, contain similar search forms. Newsmeat and opensecrets provide information regarding national politics while followthemoney provides contribution statistics for the various states. Motherjones gives broader information regarding general political news including campaign contributions. All of the sites are searchable and provide clearly marked trailheads to begin one’s search for the money.
For example, the auction house Christie's is, according to Christie's, "the world's leading art business," and very interested in the legislation affecting that business. Christie's has a reputation that is trusted world wide, though not wholly without blemish. It is also interesting to note that Christie’s two salesrooms in the United States are located in California and New York, the two states in which there is comprehensive legislation regarding fine art dealings and the most effective protection for the purity of the industry to be found in any of the fifty states.
According to opensecrets, it at first appears that Christie's employees from various locations have donated in excess of $41,000.00 to political groups or candidates since 1994. I got that figure from plugging in "Christie's" to the employer box and leaving the others blank. I searched all cycles. A cursory inspection of the list of the persons who donated however makes it obvious that not all of these persons actually work for Christie's, the auction house. But that’s okay. It is pretty easy to see which ones do and to whom they donated. It is interesting to note that a search of Christie’s as a corporation shows no donations.
To take my search further, I searched one of the more prominent donors, on newsmeat. Ms. Martha L. Baer of Lakeville Connecticut claims to be an "art specialist" for Christie's Auction House. She has over the past several years donated a significant amount of money to Mr. Christopher Murphy. Mr. Murphy is the U.S. Congressional Representative for District five of Connecticut. He is a Democrat. I also learned from newsmeat that Barbara Streisand is among his most famous contributors. But who cares, right? All of that information is pretty innocuous.
From here I went to the Washington Post web site where I was able to get an alphabetical list of all of the members of congress and their individual voting records. I clicked on Mr. Murphy's name and found that Mr. Murphy votes along party lines 96.6% of the time, he is in favor of a bill to amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to extend and improve the Children's Health Insurance Program, and voted Yes on a resolution to commend the Louisiana State University Tigers Football Team for Winning the 2007 Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game, but nothing about codifying business practices in the world of fine art.
A similar search on followthemoney showed that Christie's is not currently making donations to politicians on the state level in New York or California. In this instance, I really found nothing that raised any suspicions, but remember that Christie’s and likely its employees have every reason to favor strict legislation of their business practices. So what of those who may desire otherwise?
I next looked for Park West Gallery in much the same way. Park West, as you may know purports to be a fine art dealer and gallery and operates primarily aboard cruise ships with its gallery/warehouse in Michigan. I also searched its owners, Albert and Amelia Scaglione. As recently as February 10, 2008, Amelia Scaglione of Park West Gallery donated $4,600.00 to Mr. Carl Levin and specifically to "The Friends of Carl Levin," a political action committee (PAC). Mr. Levin is a Democrat and a United States Senator from Michigan. His voting record is available on the same Washington Post web site.
It appears that both Albert and Amelia Scaglione regularly contribute to various campaigns and political action committees on the national level and they are not shy about listing their respective occupations as owner/President and Executive Vice President of Park West Gallery. Mr. and Mrs. Scaglione have donated more than eighty-six thousand dollars to various political groups and candidates in national politics since 2000. They have given more than $7,000.00 to Mr. Carl Levin and his brother Sander over the past two years. On the state level, the Scagliones have invested more than $67,000.00 in Michigan State politics, their contributions going primarily to various gubernatorial candidates from 2000 through 2007. It is interesting to note that while Michigan has an Art Multiples Sales Act, the law lacks significant sanctions and is largely ignored.
Another similar company, Global Fine Art, Inc., also conducts shipboard art auctions exclusively aboard Princess Cruise Line vessels and appears to be owned by Princess. A search on opensecrets reveals that Princess Cruise Line has its own political action committee and that Princess regularly donates to its own PAC as well as to other national candidates and political organizations. A search of Princess Cruises employees found 163 records totaling nearly $200,000.00 in political donations since 1990.
Political Economics
One might ask at this point, so what? Why does it matter whether companies or their employees give to politicians or to political organizations on the state or national level? While the answer appears obvious—to garner political favors—there is more to the story. Companies and individuals benefit from political connections in many ways. Companies such as the ones mentioned above use contributions to purchase the attention of a candidate or official.
While such a purchase may or may not directly buy favors, it can serve to grab the ear of a politician long enough to remind that official of the benefit a particular company provides to a state or important community. How much tax revenue does Princess Cruise Lines bring into the state of California? How would a serious decline in the gross profits of Park West Gallery affect the economy of Farmington Hills, Michigan?
In the words of Mr. Daniel Cherrin, public relations consultant for Park West Gallery and professional lobbyist, companies invest in government and particularly in lobbyists "to keep government from doing anything that would hurt a corporation." Those same corporations donate funds to political candidates in order to ensure that their lobbyists will be heard.
Politicians, reminded of the rippling economic affects of the loss of any large business may well sweep consumer complaints under the rug at least for a time. A politician made aware of a business's contributions to his or her state may resist legislation which would regulate the industry in which the contributing business thrives. There is even research which suggests that a company's bottom line may be positively affected by the size of donations and the length of a donatives relationship with a candidate or politician (see http://www.ur.umich.edu/0607/Jan22_07/12.shtml).
A Clamor For Change
When we follow the money to the end of the trail, it is easy to see why there is little regulation and almost no legislation regarding fine art dealings. There is simply too much money to be made through abuse, and exponentially, too much power in the hands of those making the money.
But those of us who care enough about the industry to take action are not powerless. It is possible to break new ground on the money trail.
By making politicians aware of known abuses and especially numerous and specific examples of those abuses, constituents can bend the ears of the same politicians in another direction. Candidates seldom want to be connected to unseemly business practices, least of all by accepting donations from companies engaging in consumer fraud. Government officials can be made aware of abusive or fraudulent transactions in the business of fine art.
Those in political office carefully monitor constituent concerns voiced via e-mail and telephone calls as well as through the more costly and time consuming method of regular mail. When, by virtue of the din of complaints, they are no longer allowed to ignore them, politicians can be convinced to consider legislation outlawing abusive practices.
We can all do something to wrest the power away from those who would see the business of fine art destroyed by greed. One day whether by virtue of similar legislation in all fifty states or by a national uniform code, art lovers will reclaim the business of art and make it whole again.
Steps to Take
Political activity need not be a negative term, and becoming politically active does not have to be complicated or messy or even controversial. We can become politically active simply by participating in what should be a system of representation requiring open and frequent communication. You can participate in politics and more importantly in government simply by voicing your requests and concerns in an e-mail, fax, telephone call, or letter, much the same as you might communicate with your closest friends. It's that easy.
In order to tell your national representatives what you want, you need to know who represents you. To find out, simply visit http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm. This site will tell you, by state, who your senators are. Each listing contains a web form that you can print out and fax or mail, you may simply submit the form on-line. This site explains that due to recent threats to security, U.S. mail to the Senate is often interrupted, so you might want to choose the other options. However, each senator also has a link to his or her own web site which contains local contact information.
While each state has just two Senators, each has a varied number of Representatives in the House of Representatives who also should be contacted. In order to find out who represents you in the House, go to https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml. There you can type in your state and zip code to see who to contact regarding your concerns. A form automatically pops up once you answer a simple math problem designed to screen out spam. From there, just as for the Senate, you can simply fill in the text of your message and send it electronically to the appropriate person. To mail or fax your representative you will need to visit the Representative's website to get local contact information as well as information for contacting the Representative in Washington D.C. A link to the left of the web page can direct you to the appropriate Representative.
To contact your state and local government officials, you will need to visit your state's legislative web site to obtain contact information. If you do not have web access, your local telephone directory will have the same information. While I did not visit all fifty states to confirm ease of access, the dozen or so that I did visit, with the exception of Mississippi, all contained contact information and a mechanism for figuring out who represents which constituents. In Mississippi it appears that constituents must either call the legislature to get the information or visit the sites of each legislator to ascertain which areas of the state they represent.
Contact information for local city and town counsel persons is also readily available in the internet. Most websites contain on-line contact forms or e-mail links.
My experience with my own national, state, and local government, here in Arizona, is that your representatives are attentive to what you have to say. Of course, the squeaky wheel always gets the oil, so squeak as loudly as you are able, and do it in numbers. Tell those who govern you to stop fraudulent practices in the field of fine art. Point them to model legislation such as the statutes in California and New York. Push for uniform national legislation. Tell your story if you have been a victim of art crime or fraud, and name names wherever possible. Together, we can make a change for the better.
— by Gail Christensen
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March 12, 2008
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