Several sources confirm that the November 30 “closed door” meeting of the Villa Hills Ethics Board was a textbook-or possibly lawbook-catastrophe. The Martin Chronicles will have a lot more on this story in future posts.
We have learned that a film crew was in the chambers recording the disaster as it unfolded. No doubt the video will be posted on You Tube for Villa Hills’ residents to enjoy. Who knows? Attendees believe that the ethics board members were not pleased by the presence of the film crew-or anyone else for that matter. It seems odd for-of all groups-the ethics board serving under a mayor who campaigned on a promise of his-we can now plainly see-odd definition of greater transparency to be rattled by the presence of a video camera.
The fear of transparency seems to be a growing problem for the Martin Administration.
As we have reported, Councilman Mike Pope’s finance committee has made a regular habit of canceling and rescheduling their meetings. Observers are convinced that Pope is moving the meetings around like a con artist playing a shell game because he is skittish about the prospects of a film crew recording their proceedings.
Why the concern? One likely reason is that if the public sees how clueless Martin friend and clerk/bookkeeper Cordelia Schaber is they will get very angry about paying her $47.50 per hour.
It is important that we share another observation. We are told that the ethics board had a very hard time masking their annoyance with the residents in attendance. Much like our report of Mike Pope’s recent nasty e-mail to a resident, the ethics board seems to prefer attacking the messenger rather than addressing the problem. Now they may have a bigger problem on their hands. And it probably won't do much to boost the public's confidence in their city government.
The Martin Chronicles is convinced that Mike Martin’s sinking ship of state is still a long way from hitting the bottom.
