Rendell: DNC to Feature Lots of Fiberglass Donkeys

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Next year’s Democratic National Convention will feature painted fiberglass donkeys displayed across the city, former Gov. Ed Rendell has told a Pennsylvania newspaper.

PennLive reports the donkey display will be like the CowParade that launched in Chicago more than a decade ago — only featuring lots and lots of fiberglass donkeys around the city.

Rendell, who previously served as Pennsylvania governor, Philadelphia mayor and chairman of the Democratic Party, is talking about fiberglass donkeys.

“We’re going to have 55 of them, and we’re going to have each delegation, state or territory design their own take on the donkey,” he said.

As politics and public art merge, plans call for delegates decorating fiberglass donkeys in themes representative of their states. The finished products will be placed throughout Philadelphia during the convention, which will be held July 25-28, 2016 at the Wells Fargo Center.

In the meantime, officials are thinking about how to keep those donkeys — and all the humans who will be visiting town — safe.

“A pair of Democratic senators from Ohio and Pennsylvania — the states holding 2016’s major political conventions — have requested $100 million in security funding to be evenly split between the two events,” Cleveland.com reports. “In a Tuesday letter to leaders of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown and Robert P. Casey asked that the security funding be tacked onto a federal program that provides money for local law enforcement agencies.”