The Martin Chronicles continues its periodic looks back.
Mike Martin was arrested for forgery in 2007. He had been signing his deceased mother’s name to child support checks from an ex-husband and then cashing them. During Martin’s trial, the judge granted several continuances allowing time for Martin to properly structure his role with his mother’s estate. Several people thought the judge was missing the point. Martin had not been arrested for theft. Again, he was arrested for forgery.
Then the judge made the inartful comment that because Martin had finally corrected his role with his mother’s estate, there was no longer “probable cause” to continue the case. Martin immediately seized on the judge’s comment, found an attorney in Lexington who was willing to represent him and filed a $1.505 million lawsuit against the taxpayers and the two police officers central in the forgery investigation.
Martin’s claim? He had been the target of malicious prosecution because he was uncovering corruption in city government. Martin said the judge admitted there was “no probable cause”. Martin’s claim of malicious prosecution was more than a phony flight of fancy. This tale was Martin’s Second Big Lie.
But several groups lapped up the lies. Civic Club types could assuage their collective conscience after recently going through an embarrassing embezzlement scandal. Maybe there was no embezzlement, they thought. Maybe the civic club was also the target of a government conspiracy designed to steal their property. If it happened to poor Mike Martin, maybe it happened to us too.
The crowd who didn’t like one of the two police officers named in the suit was falling all over themselves with joy. It didn’t matter to them that he was simply following up on an inquiry from Hamilton County, Ohio where the child support checks originated. The officials in Hamilton County were questioning why child support checks continued to be cashed after they learned the intended recipient had passed away years before. Can you imagine the firestorm if this officer had declined to investigate a city councilman? It was a no-win situation.
The Tea-Partiers and Liberty-Leaguers soaked it in as well. Why? That’s easy. It provided them yet another reason-with no basis in fact-to hate government. Look what they did to that poor little Christian fellow Mike Martin.
One local drooling loon, who himself had multiple lawsuits against the city for a disorderly conduct arrest, was so enthralled with Martin’s fantasy that he erected a “Fire Island” fluorescent pink billboard . . . yes, billboard . . . in his front yard to profess his deep love.
Martin’s mayoral campaign was largely based on this second big lie. Martin’s cronies distributed libelous literature door-to-door and a Martin-rallied lynch mob hammered candidates at the 2010 Civic Club candidates’ forum over the so-called “malicious prosecution”. Cordelia Schaber did so well questioning Councilman Greg Kilburn that she was later rewarded with a $47.50 per hour patronage job.
The worst part of Martin’s second big lie? It totally destroyed some long-standing friendships. You see, there were actually some very smart people who believed Martin was being unfairly targeted by the city’s administration. The facts would prove their thinking off-base, based on a misconception that Martin was a generous, Christian do-gooding zealot for good government. But to this very day, the damage has been done. Martin is a remarkably skilled liar. He is probably the only one who is still happy about this sorry turn of events. That is the “Martin way”.
Four separate judges gave Martin’s case a thorough and fair review and dismissed it as baseless. All the judges agreed that Martin’s actions fit the definition of forgery and that the police officers were guilty of doing nothing more than their job.
To increase the magnitude of his lie after his lawsuit was embarrassingly dismissed in appellate court, Martin actually told The Enquirer that he and his wife prayed and decided to “drop” their lawsuit.
Oh, by the way, every single one of the local drooling loon’s (of the fluorescent pink message of love billboard) lawsuits have also been tossed out of court. What a humorless joke.
