Samuel C. Stretton, arguing to reopen the Barnes case, cited "new information" that he said demonstrates that former Attorney General Mike Fisher pressured the board of Lincoln University to accept a diminished role on the Barnes board of trustees. Lincoln controlled the foundation under an indenture drawn up by patent-medicine maker and art connoisseur Albert C. Barnes, who died in 1951.
The "new information" was contained in the 2009 movie The Art of the Steal, which largely recapitulated material contained in stories that appeared in The Inquirer from 2002 to 2005.
Lawrence Barth, senior deputy attorney general, argued that his office investigated the financial conditions surrounding the foundation prior to litigation and determined "something had to be done" to preserve the Barnes.
His office, Barth said, is not expected to be neutral.
"The attorney general represents the public interest," Barth told Ott, and in this case, the office determined that the public and the foundation would best be served by the move to Philadelphia.
Stretton took issue with that, asking, "What is his role? Just a supervisor?"
Ott, who had chided the Attorney General's Office for seeming passivity during the original Barnes hearings several years ago, told Stretton that Barth "didn't hide his position from me" during those hearings.
The 90-minute hearing was held to determine whether the case should be reopened and if opponents of the move had legal standing. Standing has been repeatedly denied in the case.
Richard Ralph Feudale, a lawyer and author of Barnes Rune 2012: Decoding the Mysteries of Pennsylvania's Barnes Foundation, A Special American Place, also argued that the case should be reopened. Ott combined his petition with the other opponents' to expedite a ruling, but did not indicate when he would issue it.
Contact culture writer Stephan Salisbury at 215-854-5594, ssalisbury@phillynews.com, or @SPSalisbury on Twitter
