We hear that the annual meeting of the once-prestigeous Key West Art & Historical Society (KWAHS) is coming up in mid-April. And we also hear that there will be some changes on the board, as well as a new board president. What if the first official act of the new board were to rescind the senseless firing of former Assistant Director Joe Pais? Wouldn't that simply be the right thing to do?
We have learned that some of those who have been tapped to be on the new board are inclined to vote for rescission. But they are under pressure from others to whom saving face may be more important than fairness. It will be interesting to watch and see what happens. Will the members of the new board vote to do the right thing— or will they be content to just continue the same shameful, cowardly legacy of the old board.
Unless you've been out of town for the Season, you probably know the story:
Last Dec. 3, KWAHS Director Kevin O'Brien abruptly fired Joe Pais. That morning, in Pais' regular column in Key West The Newspaper, he had recommended that brightly-lighted soft drink vending machines be banned from the Historic District. And he was critical of local soft drink company management for pushing the proliferation of the machines throughout the district— even in the cemetery.
O'Brien reportedly told Pais that he was being fired because he (O'Brian) had gotten pressure from local Pepsi-Cola executive Donn Vecchie-Campbell, a former KWAHS board member and a major contributor.
But what made O'Brien's action so bizarre is that Pais had already quit. He had already announced that he was resigning to accept a prestigious job with the State Division of Historic Resources in Tallahassee.
Another factor which made O'Brien's action questionable was that Pais was hardly your run-of-the-mill employee. He is an ex-City Commissioner, a former candidate for mayor and former chairman of the City Planning Board. He had played a major role in the restoration of the Key West Lighthouse and the old Customs House. He had just returned from Valley Forge, where he had received the George Washington Medal of Honor for the US Battleship Maine Centennial Commission, which he spearheaded.
He had been with the KWAHS 13 years!
The news of Pais' firing— after he had already quit— made all the local newspapers. But rather than explain what had happened and why, the management of the KWAHS did something inexplicable for an organization that is constantly begging the public and the government for money. Board members and employees were ordered to take a "no comment" position. In essence, the message to the public was: "It's an internal matter. It's none of your business. But don't let that stop you from sending us money."
Privately, however, we think the embarrassed KWAHS honchos were saying this: "We know O'Brien overreacted. But we don't know how to credibly explain what he did. Rescinding his action would be humiliating to him. It would also be humiliating to the board because we stood by and let O'Brien's action stand. So, let's do nothing and say nothing. And it will all go away."
Board President Susan Cardenas did break the conspiracy of silence briefly to publicly deny that neither Ms. Vecchie-Campbell nor Pepsi had anything to do with the firing. So, then, why was Pais fired? "No comment," she said.
But Pais said that O'Brien told him that he was being fired because he got pressure from Vecchie-Campbell. And board member Vera Schiff seems to back that up. She told KWTN that she had heard that O'Brien got lots of pressure from Vecchie-Campbell and/or her friends.
But we do also now know that O'Brien acted without authority, firing Pais without board approval. Then, after the fact, the board members were, one-by-one, manipulated into supporting the foul deed. Then, a "public relations" strategy was developed to deal with the growing public outrage: Just stonewall the press and anybody else who calls and we will get away with it.
But from the beginning, we here at Key West The Newspaper have vowed that we will not let this scandal just fade away. And if you know our newspaper, you would expect nothing less from us.
What is so absolutely absurd about this entire situation is that it all would just go away if they would just rescind the firing, an action that was senseless in the first place. Rescinding the firing would change nothing within the organization. It wouldn't cost any money. As far as we know, Pais doesn't want any money from the KWAHS and he doesn't want the job back. He was already headed to Tallahassee when he was fired. He just wants his record cleared. And that doesn't seem like a lot to ask after 13 years and the contribution Pais made to the Society.
All it would take is a one-sentence letter signed by the new president of the board: "We hereby rescind th firing of Joe Pais."
If they want an in-return statement from Pais, he would probably be willing to write one. But what should such a statement address? Keep in mind that, so far, they haven't officially told him why he was fired!
Vera Schiff told us that she thinks Pais should apologize to Ms. Vecchie-Campbell. But for what? Board President Cardenas swears that Pais' published comments about the management of the local soft drink companies had absolutely nothing to do with his getting fired. And Cardenas is a lawyer— so we can believe her. Right?
But even if the members of the new KWAHS board don't want to talk about why Director O'Brien flipped out on that fateful Friday afternoon back in December, they should still move to rescind his action. It's the right and honorable thing to do.
Incidentally, we hear that there may be pickets to welcome those who will be attending the annual meeting.
Stay tuned.