Another crack appeared in the Key West Art & Historical Society's (KWAHS) conspiracy of silence last Tuesday when board member Vera Schiff called Key West The Newspaper (KWTN) to talk about the Society's controversial firing of former KWAHS Assistant Director Joe Pais last December. "The entire controversy surrounding the firing of Joe Pais would go away if he would just apologize to Donn Vecchie-Campbell," Schiff said. But most observers think it should be the other way around— the KWAHS should apologize to Pais.
Last Dec. 3, writing in his regular column in KWTN, Pais called for a ban on brightly-lighted soft drink machines in the Historic District— and he was critical of the management of the companies who place those machines.
Pais, a former Key West City Commissioner and mayoral candidate, had been employed at the KWAHS for 13 years and had been a major player in the conversion of the old Custom House to a world-class museum and the coordination of the Battleship Maine Centennial celebration.
Ms. Vecchie-Campbell, whose family owns the local Pepsi-Cola franchise, is a former KWAHS board member and, reportedly, a major contributor to the Society.
KWAHS Director Kevin O'Brien fired Pais just a few hours after the column appeared— even though Pais had already resigned to accept a position with the State Division of Historic Resources in Tallahassee.
The next day, Pais told KWTN: "O'Brien told me he was firing me because he had gotten pressure from Vecchie-Campbell"— even though Pais did not name Vecchie-Campbell in his column and did not even name Pepsi or Coca-Cola specifically, except when he wrote, "I still like an occasional Coke or Pepsi."
But in a letter-to-the-editor published in the Key West Citizen, KWAHS Board President Susan Cardenas denied that Pais' firing had anything to do with Pepsi or Vecchie-Campbell. And she's a lawyer so, surely, we can believe what she tells us.
In a subsequent meeting with Pais and his attorney, however, both Cardenas and O'Brien reportedly admitted that Pais had, indeed, been fired because of pressure from Vecchie-Campbell.
One reason it has been difficult to get to the bottom of what really happened is because, from the beginning, Cardenas has advised all board members and KWAHS staffers to maintain a "no comment" position. Tuesday, Vera Schiff became the first board member to break this wall of silence on the record— although at least two board members have talked to us off the record. Schiff's comments seem to support Pais' side of the story.
"I wasn't there, but I heard he was fired because he publicly insulted Donn and, then, wouldn't back off," Schiff said. "What he wrote in his column hurt her and her family."
Schiff also confirmed that O'Brien's action had not been approved by the board in advance. "But it was discussed with each of us individually," she said.
In Pais' December column, he referred to the soft drink vending machines as "brightly-lit vampires of the night." But then he wrote:
"This writer does not particularly care if the soda companies are making big bucks— in fact, I honestly feel they are welcome to every dollar they make. I still like an occasional Coke or Pepsi.
"It is also none of my concern if kids can drink sugar at school, on the way home from school, or at 3 o'clock in the morning. I don't tell vampires how to run their businesses or raise their kids.
"But this writer does get a little upset when the soft drink barons try to ruin my community. Back-lit soda machines on porches, sidewalks, staring out of main street windows and doors, are ruining the serenity, beauty and charm of Key West."
Responding to Pais in a letter-to-the-editor published in KWTN on Dec. 10, Ms. Vecchie-Campbell said that Pais had the right to publish his opinion about soft drink vending machine, "but comparing us to vampires made this a personal attack," she said.
As the Pais firing evolved into a scandal, City Commissioner Harry Bethel called the KWAHS to find out what happened. Rather than simply explain to him the reason Pais was fired (whatever that reason really was), they told Bethel "no comment." In essence: It's none of your damned business, Mr. Commissioner!
Big mistake.
Harry immediately asked City Attorney Bob Tischenkel to research the laws concerning lighted soft drink vending machines in Old Town. Tischenkel reported that HARC (Historic Architecture Review Commission) guidelines prohibit vending machine located where visible from the public way.
He also said that the machines appear to violate the City Sign Code in two ways. Interior-illuminated signs are prohibited. And plastic signs are prohibited.
Almost immediately, James Bogoeff, the local Coca-Cola sales manager, notified the City that his company would turn off all the lights in its vending machines in Old Town. (Reportedly, Coke executives had not gone ballistic after the appearance of the Pais column.)
Local Pepsi management has repeatedly failed to respond to questions from KWTN about what action that company will take, if any. Maybe Bethel will call the Pepsi people and see if he can get an answer. (Our suggestion to the Pepsi folks: Don't stonewall Harry Bethel!)
Meanwhile, citizens continue to criticize the KWAHS for firing Pais and refusing to explain it. Some have threatened to boycott the Society.
During her call on Tuesday, Vera Schiff appealed to us to help make this controversy go away. While we agree with her that this flap needs to be history, we can't buy into the idea that an organization that exists by begging money from the public can arbitrarily fire a popular community figure— or any other longterm employee— without good cause. And we don't think that, in this case, they had good cause. If they had, they would have explained it when the incident happened and that would have been the end of it.
The reason the wall of silence was thrown up is that they couldn't credibly explain what they did.
We think that O'Brien's firing of Pais was a rogue act and that the embarrassed board members were manipulated into supporting that act after the fact. Then they were ill-advised to "just keep quiet about it and it will go away."
This is the attitude the KWAHS management is conveying to the people of Key West: "You people are stupid! What we did is none of your business. But don't let that keep you from sending us money."
But Vera Schiff has a point about trying to put this controversy in the past and move on. Here's a modest proposal for consideration by both sides:
What if Joe Pais writes a note reaffirming what he's told us more than once— that he never intended to characterize any of the management of any of the soft drink companies as "vampires"? We bet that Joe would do that. He worked with Ms. Vecchie-Campbell for years. Why would he intentionally set out to hurt her or her family?
And what if Kevin O'Brien writes a note stipulating that he may have overreacted just a tad when he fired Pais after the had already resigned? And he could rescind that firing.
Wouldn't that be nice? And easy? How about it, guys?
A settlement now would be timely. We understand that the KWAHS's annual membership meeting is coming up next month. That's when members get to ask questions about the management of the Society. And that's when board members get elected— or unelected.
That could be an interesting meeting.