East Lake Blister

Recent events at the East Lake Tarpon Special Fire District (ELFD) have raised serious doubts about the leadership abilities of Commissioner Thomas C. McKone III, the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners.

Most glaringly, Commissioner McKone failed to take immediate and decisive action after learning that his vice chairman, Commissioner Wilbur Cannon, had posted a nude photo of himself on the Internet and that an anonymous person was passing around copies of it. Commissioner McKone took no action to protect the interests of the East Lake Fire Department nor the community.

As chairman, he made no attempt to urge Commissioner Cannon to stand down and resign for the good of the department and the community. Instead, Commissioner McKone sat there like a bump on a log.

How do we know? A copy of Commissioner Cannon’s Internet trolling photo was "left at the door of this newspaper in an unmarked envelope" on Thursday, February 4. After opening the envelope, we immediately consulted our lawyer who said we could publish the photo if certain body parts were covered.

We declined and immediately gave the photo to Fire Chief Malzone, telling him that the East Lake Blister is not a tabloid and would not publish the photo. We requested that he give it to the ELFD lawyer who in turn should turn it over to the chairman, Commissioner McKone for his action.

To our knowledge Commissioner McKone did nothing. Three days after we notified the fire chief, Commissioner McKone, later stated in an email to us on March 1, 2010 writing, “I called the board's attorney on Saturday as I did not think it was appropriate for me to call Mr. Cannon without checking with him first. He called me back on Sunday. He told me it was ok to call Mr. Cannon. I called Mr. Cannon and told him that I had heard that there were naked pictures of him making the rounds and that I believed that someone was going to use them as a political weapon. Mr. Cannon said he would call me back but never did.” The Chairman did nothing more until after a St. Petersburg Times article revealed the content of the picture.

We would have expected a dedicated leader to have taken Commissioner Cannon aside and urge that he immediately resign and quickly fade into the sunset. Such action would have minimized the public embarrassment of the East Lake Fire Department, as well as of Commissioner Cannon. This scandal is somewhat similar to when Pinellas County Commissioner Bruce Tyndall was found in a hotel room on Sand Key with a young lady and some narcotics in hand, back in December 1996. He resigned quickly, without leaving too much scandal on the commission, which he served, and the citizens of Pinellas County. But this did not happen at the East Lake Fire Department.

Not withstanding, whoever was distributing this photograph anonymously sent it the Governor of Florida, the Florida State Ethics Chairman, the St. Petersburg Times, the Pinellas County Administrator, each of the East Lake Fire Commissioners and, lastly and most dastardly, Commissioner Cannon’s wife.

The cat was out of the bag and a critical opportunity to contain the scandal was lost due to a lack of leadership by Commissioner McKone. Had he nipped this situation in the bud three weeks prior to the public revelation, possibly distribution would have been much less widespread.

Once the news came out, Commissioner McKone was questioned about the photo by a St. Petersburg Times newspaperman. "I don't think it has any affect on the job he has done for East Lake," Commissioner McKone said. "Whatever he does outside of work is his private business as long as it isn't illegal. There really isn't anything that should be done about it." Commissioner McKone uttered not one word of concern about the scandal or the stigma it has left on the fire department and the community.

Interviewed by the same newspaperman, Commissioner Chuck Schultz replied, “Once you run for election, you no longer have a private life. That’s what we put in for. To save face, he should resign.” This commissioner seems to have his head screwed on right. In this particular instance, Commissioner Schult came to the correct conclusion.

Before the Commissioner Cannon scandal, however, another leadership question was already looming over the ELFD. Chief Malzone had formally filed charges of harassment against Mr. McKone and the Lt. Finley charge against Chief Malzone. These still-pending charges will not be addressed before mid-April or early May. The leadership of the East Lake Fire Department Board is in total disarray.

We believe Commissioner McKone should stand down from the chairman’s position, move the three remaining commissioners to the higher office chairs and wait the five or six weeks that the board has decided to put off addressing these two different charges of harassment and the replacement of Commissioner Cannon.

This organization must remain functional and with all the fluid situations now occurring a chairman under question is the last thing needed by the East Lake Tarpon Special Fire District. This will certainly be a test of leadership.

However, in Commissioner McKone's case selfishness and survival seems to be his only characteristics after all he has been running for more than a year to defeat incumbent State Representative Peter Nehr (R) District 48. Suddenly, gloom is on the horizon of the political scene. Is this a correlation of what is to come?