By: E&P Staff "Close to Home" Cartoonist John McPherson's speaking engagement at the Bureau of Public Debt was canceled last week after a leading Democratic Senator complained that the event was a waste of money.
In a statement released Wednesday by Universal Press Syndicate, the comic strip's distributor, McPherson joked, "It?s kind of funny if you think about it, except for the part about me being out the fee. I may need to make my incredibly humorous presentation to myself in order to relieve my newfound stress."
According to The Hill newspaper, Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D) intervened after seeing a link to a want ad posted on The Drudge Report. The ad called for contractors who were capable of "[creating] cartoons on the spot about [Bureau of the Public Debt] jobs." The ad also asked the cartoonist to "conduct two, 3-hour 'Humor in the Workplace' programs that will discuss the power of humor in the workplace [and] the close relationship between humor and stress."
Dorgan issued a statement last Friday saying "Of all the agencies, the Bureau of Public Debt should know that there is very little that is funny about today?s economic conditions ... I understand the need for motivation in the workplace, but I think we have a greater motivation to save the taxpayers some money."
In a rare moment of bipartisan agreement, a spokesman for South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint called the idea "ridiculous."
McPherson has drawn the single-panel strip since 1992. "Close to Home" is currently syndicated in over 500 newspapers.
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