O.C. Opposes ‘Catch’ on NEA Funds, Poll Finds

Despite growing sentiment in Congress to outlaw federal support for controversial artwork, most Orange County residents oppose imposition of government decency standards on publicly financed art, according to a new Times Orange County Poll.

In a survey of Orange County registered voters, 57% disapprove of the federal government setting standards based on obscenity or controversy. Such standards would determine which works of art receive federal grants.

Only 32% support creation of such standards, while 11% are undecided.

The telephone poll of 600 registered Orange County voters was conducted for the Times Orange County Edition from May 21 to 23 by Mark Baldassare & Associates of Irvine. The margin of error for the poll is plus or minus four percentage points.

“The government is not nearly as expert in this field as the people who endeavor to participate in it,” said Dr. Robert Turner, 46, an optometrist who lives in Orange. “I don’t believe the government should (impose) standards on a small part of the society even if they are financing it.”

“Art is supposed to be freedom of expression,” said Darce Richards, 24, an accounting student from Santa Ana. Telling artists who receive federal support what they can and cannot produce “is a form of infringing on their constitutional rights,” she added. “To me, that’s like a form of communism.”

On the other hand, Ralph E. Henry, 54, of Westminster said the federal government should set standards for decency that reflect the views of the majority of taxpayers.

“You’re not going to get all people to agree on all things. If it’s going to be democratic, it’s going to have to be (based) on what the majority feel,” Henry said. “It would be the same thing if (an artist) were commissioned by an individual. He would have to appease the individual as to what he wants.”

Kingdon Lou, 67, of Santa Ana agreed. “It’s our money,” he said. “I’m not a conservative, I’m not a Jerry Falwell type of person, but it’s my money and I think it should go to (legitimate) art. . . . I think it should be in good taste.”

In the past year, a political firestorm has erupted over government sponsorship of works of art that some critics have branded obscene or sacrilegious.

At the center of the controversy is the National Endowment for the Arts, a 25-year-old federal agency. The NEA uses most of its annual budget of more than $170 million to award grants to artists and state arts agencies to underwrite arts projects.

The NEA was attacked last year by evangelists, family values groups and congressional conservatives after the agency helped finance exhibits that included a photograph of a crucifix immersed in a jar of urine and a series of homoerotic photos by the late Robert Mapplethorpe.

Artists and civil libertarians have fought back, denouncing the criticism as an effort to foster government censorship of controversial or unpopular points of view. The battle has drawn an army of artists, including major film stars such as Paul Newman, to Capitol Hill to lobby for their cause.

Among the NEA’s most vocal critics is Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Lomita), who represents the coastal section of Orange County south to Huntington Beach, as well as parts of southern Los Angeles County.

Rohrabacher led an unsuccessful fight last year to cut all funding for the agency. Along with conservative Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), Rohrabacher also attempted to insert into the NEA funding legislation language that would have banned federal funding of any artwork that is “obscene” or “indecent,” or that casts slurs upon any religious or ethnic group.

Congress finally approved language that restricts NEA financing of artwork that is deemed to be obscene, although the language does not specify what standards of obscenity would apply.

In the coming weeks, Congress will consider legislation to extend the life of the NEA for another five years. Although President Bush has proposed an NEA reauthorization bill that would allow it to continue its work unfettered by federal decency standards, most Washington observers expect that Congress will include some standards language in the NEA legislation.

Rohrabacher, for one, has vowed to introduce in the House an amendment to the reauthorization bill that would set specific standards for making NEA grants.

Later this summer, Congress will act on separate legislation appropriating money to operate the NEA in the 1991 fiscal year. The Administration has asked for a budget of $175 million. At that time, Rohrabacher has said he will again move to eliminate funding for the agency.

A conservative Republican steeped in libertarian philosophy, Rohrabacher has said that government has no legitimate interest in helping pay for artwork. What an artist chooses to do “on his own time, with his own dime” is none of the government’s business, he has said.

Rohrabacher argues that the issue is not censorship, but taxpayer sponsorship of artwork that would offend most of the taxpayers who are helping to pay for it.

Creating strict federal standards to ensure that NEA grants are handed out for projects that are not obscene or otherwise offensive is a fallback position, Rohrabacher contends.

Some Orange County residents who oppose government decency standards for artwork apparently share some of Rohrabacher’s views.

Turner, for example, said that if the NEA is going to hand out money to artists, he opposes imposition of government standards. He added, however: “My personal belief is that the government shouldn’t be subsidizing anything that can’t take care of itself. . . . I don’t notice them supporting the National Football League.”

ORANGE COUNTY POLL

“Do you approve or disapprove of the federal government setting content standards to decide what artwork to fund and what artwork not to fund because it is controversial or obscene?”

Disapprove: 57%

Approve: 32%

Don’t know: 11%

Democrats Republicans Appove 31% 36% Disapprove 59 53 Don’t know 10 11

Results are from a telephone survey of 600 registered voters conducted May 21 to 23. The margin of error for a sample this size is +/-4%.

Source: Times Orange County Poll