Alas, as he has done for the last dreadful fifteen months of his woeful administration, Martin let us down yet again. Every single reporter lost their bet. It was a colossal letdown.
As we have already reported, Martin’s “bombshell” was nothing more than the far-less-than-shocking announcement that Councilman Tim Sogar does not have a Kenton County Occupational License. Mr. Sogar is a sales rep who travels to several states and Canada marketing his company’s products. So what? He works out of his house. What the heck? That’s it? That’s a “bombshell”?
Besides, County Boss Steve Arlinghaus already came to a Villa Hills council meeting a few months ago to offer his opinion from on high that the failure to secure an Occupational License is no big deal. We can only guess that Kenton County doesn’t need the tax revenue. So what’s the point? Where is the “bombshell”? The increasingly unpopular Arlinghaus even went so far as to describe criticism of someone for not having an Occupational License as “a witch hunt”. So what in the wide, wide world of sports was Martin thinking?
But Martin seems to think it is a big deal. For some inexplicable reason Martin seems to think that Mr. Sogar’s lack of an Occupational License somehow absolves the mayor of all of his many sins.
Our reporters heard Mrs. Martin argue with Mr. Sogar during the meeting, alleging that Sogar’s lack of an Occupational License was somehow a “double standard”? Witnesses tell The Martin Chronicles that Mrs. Martin even followed Mr. Sogar as he made his way to the bathroom during the meeting. Mrs. Martin’s mission? We can only assume that she intended to continue to harangue Mr. Sogar about the “double standard”. Sogar’s response? Witnesses say he closed the bathroom door in Mrs. Martin’s face.
Let’s assume for the sake of argument that Mr. Sogar needs an Occupational License. What will he do? He will do the right thing. Mr. Sogar will secure the proper licenses through his company. The Martin Chronicles has done some checking. And, well, uh, how to put this-that is not what Martin has done since launching Mike Martin Electric several years ago after he put the cookie factory out of business.
You see, a few years Martin did secure an Occupational License. Most years? Well, most years he did not. Funny thing is that the couple of years he complied with the law coincided with years he was running for election. What does that tell you? It tells you that the years Martin knowingly chose not to purchase the license he also knew he was not complying with the law. It also tells you that, knowing he was violating the law, he wanted to avoid an election year issue.
There is more. Councilman Greg Kilburn works out of his house for an out-of-town company. Should he also have an Occupational License? Would Mike Martin describe that as a “triple standard”? And then there is the Villa-Hills-is- just-a-convenient-stepping-stone-State-Senate-candidate Councilman Jim Noll. He claims to be running a law firm from his home. Does he have an Occupational License? If not, would Mike Martin describe that transgression as evidence of a “quadruple standard”?
What the (EXPLETIVE)? Maybe every single woman, man and child in Villa Hills should secure an occupational license to escape the mindlessly-mud-slinging wrath of Mike Martin.
The Martin Chronicles sees where this is headed. Martin will not heed the advice of the friend who came to the podium at the last council meeting and counseled him to resign. Instead, Martin will do what he always does and throw mud at his perceived enemies. It will be “scorched earth”. That is all Martin is good at.
We are also convinced that Martin is not doing his dirt-digging and mud-slinging alone. Let’s face it. He’s not very bright. We have a reporter digging into that. Several sources are convinced that Martin is getting assistance from a very experienced battle-axe in these efforts to discredit his perceived enemies. We have a pretty good idea who it is and are working to confirm it.
The Special Counsel may very well be presenting his initial findings on April 30. When Mr. Taliaferro is finished laying out the many misdeed of Mike Martin, his failure to secure an Occupational License will seem meaningless. 