Political figures past and present were on hand in the Statehouse rotunda to honor seven former speakers of the house, going back 50 years. The ceremony was used to unveil portraits of those former leaders.
Republican former Speaker Bill Batchelder, who served from 2011 to 2015, was very pleased with his portrait by Leslie Adams.
“Oh, it’s beautiful. It’s just beautiful. As a matter of fact, I don’t look that good.”
Batchelder’s Democratic predecessor Armond Budish was similarly humble about his portrait by Daniel Greene.
“It’s hard to make me look good. They had to put me in the right light and touch it up about 50 times, but they did a nice job.”
Portraits of Charles Kurfess, A.G. Lancione, Vern Riffe, Larry Householder and Jon Husted were also unveiled. The first woman House Speaker, JoAnn Davidson, was the first to have a portrait, back in 2013.
The portraits featured include:
- Charles F. Kurfess (R) 1967 - 1972 by Ned Bittinger
- A.G. Lancione (D) 1973-1975 by Ned Bittinger
- Vernal G. Riffe Jr. (D) 1975 - 1995 by Daniel E. Greene
- Larry Householder (R) 2001 - 2005 by Daniel E. Greene
- Jon A. Husted (R) 2005 - 2009 by Ned Bittinger
- Armond Budish (D) 2009 - 2011 by Daniel E. Greene
- William G. Batchelder (R) 2011 - 2015 by Leslie Adams
