We aren’t exactly sure what has been happening to Councilman Greg Kilburn. In the 2010 election he was one of the few people who had the guts to forcefully say that then-mayoral candidate Mike Martin was suing the taxpayers of Villa Hills for $1.505 million. This despite the fact that Martin was spinning dishonest flights of fancy, writing that he was “happy to tell you (the voters) that I am not suing the city”. Kilburn spread the truth, ignoring the fact that Martin had organized a veritable lynch mob of family and “friends” craving city government largesse who all participated in a libelous campaign so disgusting that it sparked a very serious lawsuit.
Kilburn correctly predicted, and did so quite publically, that Martin was hoping to win only so that he could deal out payback to the police and all others who had offended him. Kilburn was correct. It is precisely what is now happening. And a whole lot more has gone haywire because Martin can’t see past his burning desire for vengeance.
Kilburn paid a price. Martin and his cronies savaged him in the 2010 election. Kilburn held on to his council seat by the narrowest of margins. But as a sage observer once opined, they’re all line drives in the box score. What do they call the Villa Hills council candidate who gets six more votes than the seventh place finisher? They call him “councilman”. So what has happened?
Clearly, Greg Kilburn is rattled. Many people have seen it. The Martin Chronicles believes he is getting some supremely bad advice. How do you vote to hire a mediator and then backtrack when you take criticism, announcing that you won’t attend any of the mediator’s sessions? That is precisely what Kilburn did. He seems to be doing inexplicable things in search of future votes that will never be cast for him no matter how many fences he straddles.
How did Kilburn author the license fee increase in 2007 for the worthy cause of a street program and then recently and inexplicably vote to exempt people with company cars and out-of-state licenses and make it impossible for the local police to enforce the fee? A situation calling for “selective enforcement” was created by this wrong-headed vote. Kilburn cast such a vote at the last council meeting.
Special Counsel Phil Taliaferro was hired last September. Several sources say that the special counsel and his talented assistants are skillfully putting together a solid case that clearly warrants Martin’s removal from office. But Martin will not go quietly. History proves that. Martin will pull out all the stops to bully and blackmail his opponents from voting “yes” for his removal. Everyone has skeletons in their closets. Martin will reveal them. But the die is cast. Everyone is either all in or all out. And it is far too late to fold without taking a tremendous loss.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “If you shoot at the king, you must kill him.” Council took a justified, metaphorical “shot” at Villa Hills’ allegedly corrupt “king” when they hired Taliaferro. If they are not successful or, worse yet, cut and run because of the Martin mudslinging that is sure to come, they will fall victim to a blood-letting the likes the town has never seen.
Greg Kilburn needs to once again find his backbone. The entire council has to. It is going to get a lot uglier before it is over. Kilburn has to refuse to listen to uninformed useful idiots like Judge Executive Steve Arlinghaus. Kilburn needs to re-learn how to take a solid punch and keep fighting like he has in the past, because more vicious punches are coming.
The rest of council cannot sit back waiting for evidence in the form of singed papers recovered from Martin’s January 5 fiery destruction of city records delivered to them on a silver platter. Martin has now made an intentionally vague claim that the records he destroyed were meaningless duplicates. This despite the fact that the mayor has been crying for a year that no records at all even existed. That has been the mayor’s rationale for his failure to fill Open Records requests. The council must challenge Martin’s claim. There is a serious lawsuit staring them all in the face. They have to take the initiative. They must be proactive. There must be a sense of urgency to see this through. They all have flown well past “Point Option”. No one has enough fuel left in their tanks for a successful flight back to safety. It’s stand up and fight, or be mowed down. The Martin Chronicles wishes them luck. We also wish for them the courage that is needed to pay the steep price they will all surely pay.
At the end of this fight either council will still be standing tall in defense of what is right for the City, or Martin will remain“the king”. If Martin "gets away with it" yet again, there will be hell to pay.
