ATTORNEY GENERAL ASKED TO INVESTIGATE FRESNO MUSEUM’S SALE

The Fresno Bee reports that local attorney Robert Rosati is asking the state attorney general’s office to investigate whether it is proper for the Fresno Metropolitan Museum to sell off its collection to satisfy its debts.

Rosati’s action comes as the museum is scheduled to auction its non-art property today, with proceeds going toward the four million dollars in debt that led in part to the museum’s demise last month.

Rosati claims that the museum, in being granted nonprofit status, agreed that its assets were public and would be used for public purposes. If the museum ever dissolved, Rosati contends, its assets should continue to be used for a public purpose.

That would mean, Rosati said, transferring the items to another public charity such as the Fresno Historical Society or the Fresno Art Museum.

The museum’s collection will be “sold to who knows whom,” Rosati said. “This is art given by people in the Central Valley for people in the Central Valley. It should stay in the Central Valley.”