Arizona Military Museum’s embattled leader to resign post
The embattled leader of a museum dedicated to Arizona military history says he will step down, though whether that will appease state leaders enough to reopen the exhibits to the public remains uncertain.
The Arizona Military Museum was closed in August by state officials, who cited a dispute among leaders of the nonprofit that runs the facility. That rift grew out of concerns about the longtime director’s leadership and his public comments, which came to a head when he made an offensive remark on a tour of the museum in February.
That leader, Joe Abodeely, told The Arizona Republic on Wednesday he would resign from the post he has held for 40 years.
“I developed it, it has my imprint all over it, and I just hope that the new people will continue to keep it going,” he said of the museum.
On Tuesday, he provided written notice of his resignation to other museum leaders and officials within the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs, which houses the Arizona National Guard.
The museum has been run by the Arizona National Guard Historical Society, a nonprofit. But it sits on the Papago Park Military Reservation, which is controlled by the National Guard. Being on government property gives the state power to control whether the museum is open to the public or not.
The Guard gave the nonprofit until Dec. 18 to provide it with a plan to remove its property, maintaining that Abodeely could not have a role interacting with the public going forward. That deadline passed on Monday.
Guard spokesperson Capt. Erin Hannigan said Tuesday the board dispute appeared to be unresolved, and the Guard did not receive a plan from the nonprofit to remove its possessions from the museum.
“The (Arizona National Guard) is considering next steps,” Hannigan said. “We do not anticipate any significant developments until after the holidays.”
Abodeely, an 80-year-old Vietnam War veteran, was instrumental in opening the museum over 40 years ago and growing its collections ever since. But his comments to visitors and use of profanity led to complaints, and ultimately the state’s top Guard official, Adjutant General Kerry Muehlenbeck, lost confidence in his ability to interact with Arizonans.
“Eventually they will replace me with some Gay, Black, Woman, woke Jew who will ruin the place,” Abodeely said on a February tour, leading to a complaint and an investigation by the Guard. Concerns about Abodeely led board members to vote him out of museum leadership, a vote that Abodeely disputed and said was illegitimate.
The members of two competing boards, one faithful to Abodeely and one faithful to another longtime board member, Mike Snozek, continue to work toward a compromise. They have been in discussions with leaders of the Museum Association of Arizona and Arizona Historical Society to find a way forward, Snozek said.
The museum association’s “goal in bringing everyone together is to ensure that the mission of the Arizona Military Museum and its collections can be maintained, to both benefit the general public, and to honor the contributions of those serving, past and present,” said Janice Klein, executive director.
Snozek said those discussions included another offer that he and Abodeely could both resign from their respective boards, and the members of the dueling boards would form one united group and agree upon a new president. Those discussions are still ongoing.
Even if they do work it out, it is unclear if that will satisfy the Guard leadership enough to reopen the facility.
“I am optimistic, because as things stand right now, we’re living on borrowed time purely on the grace of the Guard people that have so far been extremely tolerant,” Snozek said. “If they really wanted to shut the door, they could’ve done it already.”
Abodeely is not so confident. He maintains he is being ousted because of a personal vendetta held by Muehlenbeck, which she has disputed through a spokesperson. Abodeely claims the Guard wants to close the museum.
“I fell on my sword for that, but that’s all right, it’s not about me. It’s about it’s a neat museum,” he said. “People from all over the world have really appreciated that museum.”