ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 15, 1996 TAG: 9602150102
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: RACHEL L. JONES KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
NEWT GINGRICH AND $75,000 are all that stand in the way of activists who want the suffragist's likeness in the Capitol Rotunda.
Susan B. Anthony may be rolling in her grave, but she won't be moving from the Capitol's crypt to the Rotunda any time soon.
Thursday is the 176th birthday of the legendary voting-rights activist, and her many fans had hoped to give her a special posthumous present. In fact, they've been trying for several years to have a 3-ton marble statue that depicts Anthony and two other women's-rights leaders moved from the Capitol's crypt to the Rotunda.
But activists from around the country say they've battled monumental stalling from Congress in their effort to move the so-called Portrait Monument. First they were told it was too heavy, next the House of Representatives adjourned before it could vote on the matter, and then they were told it was too costly.
So today, supporters will launch a $75,000 fund-raising drive to help fill what they see as a crucial gap in the Capitol's history.
``This is a city of symbols, and the Capitol is the place where we shaped our country's image,' said Karen Staser, co-chair of the Woman Suffrage Statue Coalition.``Women were integral in our history, so how can this statue NOT be in that building's place of honor?''
They'll ask for $1 from every woman in every woman's organization in the country to defray moving costs. And they've gained strong support from Sen. John Warner, R-Va., in their effort to move the statue honoring 19th century voting-rights activists Anthony, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
This latest campaign follows last year's 75th anniversary of the constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote in August 1920. Supporters had hoped to have the statue moved in time for that celebration in Washington last summer.
But though a resolution to move the monument eventually sailed through the House and Senate, it has stalled on the desk of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. Some supporters believe that Gingrich is blocking the move, for reasons they can't fathom.``Who would have dreamed there'd be this kind of opposition?'' said Caroline Sparks, an assistant professor at George Washington University and chair of last year's anniversary celebration.
``How can you not interpret refusing to honor the mothers of woman suffrage as blatant disrespect for women voters?'' said Caroline Sparks, an assistant professor at George Washington University and chair of last year's anniversary celebration.
Calls to Gingrich's spokesperson were not returned Wednesday. But last year, Gingrich cited a report by the Architect of the Capitol stating that the statue's heavy marble base would make it too difficult and too costly to move.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 linesby CNB