Ax, Lies, & Audiotape

When Santa and the Easter Bunny brawl, everybody loses

Comments (0) By Chuck Strouse Thursday, Jan 17 2002

Miller's taped message translated into the January 10 Sun-Sentinel story, which attributed to committee member Alan Koslow that the board had agreed to move the painting. Never happened.

Koslow says he left the meeting early. "It was a simple misunderstanding," he says. "I thought we were moving it from a central area to a remote one. But it was already there."

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Miller at first declined to comment on the story when I stopped by on January 11. Then she acknowledged that her statement to Anderson was "misleading.... But is it our place to point that out?" she asked. Later, she said she had been playing phone tag with the Sun-Sentinel. Finally, she acknowledged lying to Anderson: "There's nothing worse I could have done."

As of Tuesday, the newspaper had not issued a correction. But after my questions raised community outrage, the paper began work on a story.

In the final measure, everyone involved in the debate should be ashamed. Those activists who attacked the exhibit should most certainly not have called for censorship. City commissioners should have shut up about their best venue's artwork. And Miller should have told the truth. As for the painting, I think it's a fine example of Schorr's exacting technique and wicked humor. It should be celebrated.

"Not everything is created for a G audience," Schorr points out. "And it shouldn't be."