Benton: State will not pay for painting

Submitted by bkrueger on May 29, 2008 - 1:44pm.
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The state will not pay for a portrait of the director of the new Central Regional Hospital in Butner.

Dempsey Benton, head of the state Department of Health and Human Services, announced this afternoon that no state funds will be used to pay for a portrait that a department employee did of her boss, hospital director Patsy Christian.

Benton has also asked the State Bureau of Investigation to look into the events surrounding the painting to make sure no laws were broken.

"This was not a department-initiated action," Benton said in a statement. "There will be no state expenditure of funds for this painting, and I have directed that any funds thus far expended be reimbursed immediately to the state. This portrait will not be a state asset."

The painting was to hang in the new state psychiatric hospital.

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