Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Spin Control

Where’s Joe’s picture?

There's no picture of Vice President Joe Biden in the federal building, reader Carol Nestor notes.

There's a full-color shot of President Barack Obama on the walls, but no Biden, anywhere. What gives?

Turns out there's no photos of Biden in federal buildings anywhere. Ross Buffington of the regional office for the General Services Administration -- them's the folks that operate and maintain federal buildings -- says the official Biden photo hasn't arrived yet, although the official Obama portrait shot arrived back in March and went up then.

So is this normal?

Hard to say....

...Normal is not a very easy concept for something that only happens every four or eight years, Buffington said.

Photos of the former president and vice president always come down on inauguration day. (Sorry for fans of "WKRP" but they wouldn't have a situation where a federal office is such a backwater that they have the last president's picture up.)

This is a bit later than the photo changeover for the Bush-Cheney administration.

Those arrived, together, a few weeks after the inauguration in 2001.

In past administrations, the photos were supplied by the political parties, Buffington said. This time, they're being printed by GSA at their print shop. The Biden photos are on order, and expected soon, he said.



The Spokesman-Review's political team keeps a critical eye on local, state and national politics.