TOP STORIES OVER THE YEARS

 

If you are a longtime reader of the Key West The Newspaper, you may know that I retired last November after running the paper for 18 years. But I may have one more adventure in me, so I have applied to join the Peace Corps. While that application is pending, I told new owners Naja and Arnaud Girard that I would be happy to make some editorial contributions to their new online venture, including an occasional look back at stories that appeared in the Blue Paper over the years.

In 2003, Key West The Newspaper was 10 years old. On page one of the January 3, 2003, issue, we did a look-back at various stories that we had published during our first decade. If you are a longtime reader of KWTN, see if this doesn’t take you for a ride down memory lane. If you haven’t been reading KWTN since 1994, rest assured that I am not making this stuff up.

MONROE COUNTY USED TO OWN BOCA CHICA AIRFIELD

In our tenth issue– March 11, 1994– in the midst of a debate over whether or not to build a new terminal building at the airport, we pushed editorially for joint use of the big Navy airfield on Boca Chica Key, pointing out that dozens of other cities across the nation share airports with the military. In that same issue, we also published the little-known story about how Boca Chica was once owned by the county and that, about 1940, construction had actually begun out there on a new airport to replace the Key West Airport. But with the start of World War II, the military took over Boca Chica– with the promise to return it to the county, with all improvements, after the war. But when the war was over, the Navy refused to give Boca Chica back and, over the years, had even refused to share it– even though everybody knew that the Key West Airport was approaching capacity.

The push for joint use got serious here in the mid-1990s. A joint navy-county study event reported that such an arrangement could work, and the local navy commander signed off on it. But in the end, somebody in Washington killed the deal.

THE FBI INVESTIGATION

During 1994, we kept hearing a rumor that the FBI was investigating corruption in the Key West city government, but we couldn’t publish anything because we couldn’t confirm the rumor.

City officials refused to confirm or deny and the FBI wouldn’t give us the time of day. I now know that the editors of the Key West Citizen and the Miami Herald had heard the same rumor, but they couldn’t publish it either for the same reason. But while working on another story, one of our reporters got to know a young FBI agent here– and, during a conversation, the young man blurted it out. So we were able to break the story, crediting a “well-connected” source. That first story didn’t have much meat in it, but we I felt comfortable publishing it because we knew it was true– even though, in the same story,  then-Mayor Dennis Wardlow denied it. That story was published on November 4, 1994.

For the next 17 weeks, we owned the story, primarily reporting who had been called to testify before a Grand Jury and when. Finally, in an interview published in KWTN on January 6, 1995, Wardlow admitted that the feds had, indeed, come to his home several months earlier. In that same story, Wardlow launched his campaign to fire then-Police Chief Ray Peterson– who Wardlow blamed for calling in the FBI. The FBI probe resulted in the Wardlow’s indictment on bribery charges. Wardlow was later acquitted, but was found guilty on the same charges by the State Ethics Commission and wads fined and publicly reprimanded. However, he was able to mastermind the forced retirement of Chief Peterson.

GOVERNMENT BY HOODWINK

In May 1994. we began a series of stories looking back at how the “Big Steel Building” was allowed to be built on the corner of Duval and Front without the required “Community Impact Assessment Statement” (CIAS) for buildings larger than 10,000 square feet. As it turned out, however, this series of stories was less about fraud than it was about what would come to be called “government by hoodwink.”

Initially, the developer’s attorney simply told the city commissioners that the building would be smaller that 10,000 square feet– and then-City Planner Ted Strader did not dispute that. Later, when it was exposed that the building really was going to be larger than 10,000 square feet, Strader and then-City Attorney Ginny Stone and Strader told the commissioners that they (the commissioners) had voted to waive the CIAS weeks earlier. Of course, none of the commissioners could recall such a vote– because it had never taken place. Then-City Commissioner Joe Pais asked for proof of such a vote, but city staff ignored him for weeks. Finally, Pais all but pounded on the table demanding proof that the commission had voted to waive the CIAS for the Big Steel Building. The answer was bizarre.

“I guess we had that project mixed up with another one,” explained Strader and Stone. “You didn’t ever vote to waive the CIAS for that building.”

“Well, let’s vote on it now,” Pais responded.

“Oh, no!” Attorney Stone warned the commissioners. The building permit has already been issued and if you try to require a CIAS now, he will sue and he will win.”

“We were hoodwinked!” said then-Commissioner Sally Lewis.”

“Government by Hoodwink” would be a pattern and practice we would report to you over the years. One thing we always found strange, however. Even when the commissioners realized that they had been hoodwinked, they almost never took any action to discipline the hoodwinkers.

MIAMI LAW FIRM NAMED AS CITY ATTORNEY

In Key West, there have been lots of job fix stories over the years– but few as in-your-face as the attempted city attorney job fix we reported in 1994. In April; of that year, City Attorney Ginny Stone resigned after the city commission failed to give her a $6000 raise. Then, as often happens, jockeying began to select a replacement. You may not realize that the city attorney may be the most powerful person in city government because he or she can influence the outcome of pending city commission votes by simply telling the commissioners that there is some kind of legal problem or that they might be sued– whether that is true or not. So when there is a vacancy in that position, a lot of private interests rush to use their influence to try to get the candidate selected who can later do favors for them.

In 1994, the selection process started with the city commission appointing a “blue ribbon” panel to solicit and screen applications. The panel received 37 applications. And, for some reason, panel members rejected all local candidates except former City Attorney Joe Allen III. The short list that went to the city commission included only Allen and several out-of-town law firms. And then-Mayor Dennis Wardlow immediately announced, “I will not vote for anyone who doesn’t pay taxes in this town!” Got the picture so far?

But at least three city commissioners didn’t want to put Allen back in the job. And when it came to a vote, they voted for Miami law firm Fowler, White, Burnett, Hurley, Benick & Stickroot. Three other commissioners voted for Allen. Commissioner Emery Major was absent. The tie vote forced a delay in the hiring decision until the next commission meeting, two weeks later. During that period, there were four important developments:

1. We uncovered and reported the details of a $202,000 malpractice settlement Joe Allen had agreed to two months earlier. We also reported that he had been publicly reprimanded.

2. State Senator Darryl Jones, a “rainmaker” for Fowler White, traveled to Key West to lobby Commissioner Major to vote for Fowler White. Major was the only black member of the city commission. Jones also happened to be black. Jones apparently snowed Major bigtime.

3. We reported that Emery Major was going to vote for Miami law firm Fowler White.

4. Joe Allen withdrew his name from consideration.

The following Tuesday, the commissioners took the rather bizarre action of naming an out-of-town law firm to represent the City of Key West as city attorney. A few weeks later, the president of the Monroe County Bar Association protested the appointment of Fowler White, saying that the rumor that the job had been fixed discouraged many local lawyers from applying. We reported that, also quoting Commissioner Major saying that he thought that Senator Jones would actually be working on the Key West account. He said that he had no idea that Jones’ only job with the Miami firm was to bring in new business– for a percentage of the fees.

CRITICS

The Blue Paper has had its critics over the years. As I was researching the commentary you just read, I ran across a little story we had published about one of our critics– a local lady attorney. She got so mad at us for something that we had published, she told her secretary to write every single one of our advertisers and tell them that, unless they pulled their ads out of the Blue Paper, she would withhold her patronage. But the secretary was not very selective. One of the letters went to an adult-oriented massage parlor.