There has been, as they say in diplomatic circles, some "movement" in the longrunning Key West Art & Historical Society (KWAHS) controversy over the bizarre firing of longtime Assistant Director Joe Pais last December.
Following the first meeting of the new KWAHS board last week, Director Kevin O'Brien— the man who fired Pais— resigned. KWTN has learned that O'Brien had been looking for another job for some time.
Claudia Pennington has been named as the new director.
The board also approved a "settlement" for Pais, according to Attorney Bob Feldman, the new president of the KWAHS board. But he did not reveal the details of that package.
But Feldman said that the board refused to rescind Pais' firing.
"The hiring and firing of personnel is the responsibility of the Director," Feldman said, "and the board should not meddle in those decisions."
But another source pointed out that this policy opens the door for Pennington to rescind the Pais firing, if she chooses to do so, to "clear the air."
The Key West Art & Historical Society has been in the news since O'Brien abruptly fired Pais last Dec. 3. What made that firing so bizarre is that Pais had already resigned to accept a prestigious position in Tallahassee with the State Division of Historical Resources.
Pais, a former Key West City Commissioner, mayoral candidate and Planning Board chairman, had been with the Society for 13 years. 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 accepted the George Washington Medal of Honor for the U.S. Battleship Maine Centennial Commission, which he spearheaded.
Another bizarre aspect to the firing of Joe Pais is that neither O'Brien nor the board have ever issued a public statement saying why he was fired. The official position has been "no comment."
"I believe thay are embarrassed about the real reason he was fired," said a source close to the Society.
Board member Vera Schiff told Key West The Newspaper last March that Pais was fired because, in his weekly column in KWTN, he may have offended a major contributor to the Society. "I wasn't there," she said, "but I heard he was fired because he publicly insulted Donn Vecchie-Campbell," Schiff said.
Vecchie-Campbell's family reportedly owns the local Pepsi-Cola franchise. Ms. Vecchie-Campbell is a former KWAHS board member.
In Pais' column, which appeared on the same day he was fired, he recommended that brightly-lighted soft drink vending machines be banned in the Historic District.
"O'Brien told me that I was being fired because he had gotten pressure from Vecchie-Campbell," Pais said.
But Vecchie-Campbell has told friends that she didn't do that. And former KWAHS board president Susan Cardenas has also publicly denied that neither Vecchie-Campbell nor Pepsi were involved.
Okay, then why was Pais fired? KWAHS officials still won't talk.
The firing of Pais— and the secrecy surrounding that action— triggered a firestorm of protest among both KWAHS members and non-members. This year, the Society's annual meeting, normally open to the public, was closed to all but members, presumably in an effort to keep protesters from potentially disrupting the proceedings.
Several hundred KWTN readers sent in signed petitions protesting Pais' treatment. And a number of longtime members are withholding support until the Pais firing is rescinded.
"I would like to continue my personal membership and support, but I cannot until this wrong is righted, said J.T, Thompson in an open letter to the Society. Thompson is a founding partner and art director at Solares Hill Design Group. "I know others who are also withholding their membership checks until they hear something positive from the new board.
"We all want the KWAHS to succeed. It can unify the island with world-class events, or it can continue to stonewall and let this fiasco fester forever in the minds of disenchanted supporters," he said.