Why? Because had it not been for a skilled criminal defense attorney, Mike Martin may never have become mayor. Martin’s 2007 forgery arrest has seemingly been stuck in his craw now for nearly five years. A wise man would have thanked his lucky stars for escaping the results of conduct that four separate judges reviewing the claims in his lawsuit against the taxpayers and two police officers commented fit the very definition of forgery*.
But Mike Martin is not a wise man. He did not decide to accept his escape and get on with life. Ignoring his good fortune, Martin instead chose to file the aforementioned lawsuit asking for $1.505 MILLION. What followed was more than four years of LIES, SLANDER, LIBEL, and DEFAMATION. Martin was actually able to convince a sizable segment of Villa Hills’ residents that he had been falsely arrested and had his constitutional rights violated. Those incredible fabrications were a major reason why Martin won his 2010 mayoral race.
On June 7 2011, everyone learned that Martin had been lying when his outrageous claims were tossed out of court a second time. But by then it was far too late. The damage had already been done.
How so? Martin was already well on his way to decimating the Villa Hills Police Department. Martin announced-without offering any explanation-that the eighth officer would never be replaced. (Oddly, Martin now claims he will go door-to-door to explain his refusal to hire the eighth officer well more than a year after the fact**) Martin made matters even worse. Yet another police officer would be brow-beaten into retirement by the mayor within 100 days.
Martin begged council for emergency powers to do an end-run around the City’s Civil service Commission last November so that he could replace the seventh officer. Council gave him thirty days. Martin squandered all the time away accomplishing nothing.
Martin finally allowed the Civil Service Commission to find candidates. They sent the mayor candidates to interview. He botched their recommendations.
It appears Martin is finally going to hire a fine candidate recommended by the Civil Service Commission and Police Chief. Why? Only because the mayor has exhausted all the possible ways he can foul up the hiring process. Frankly, a good candidate will eventually join the ranks of the police department despite Martin rather than because of him.
One problem. Multiple sources confirm this solid candidate will have to attend the Police Academy. He will eventually be an excellent officer. But he will not be ready to patrol the streets alone until very late this year at best. Martin has mismanaged the police department so badly that it has unnecessarily struggled to serve the community while 25% below proper personnel levels for more than a year. Martin’s abject incompetence has also lead to an explosion in crime and an incredible amount overtime expense. These problems are going to continue for the foreseeable future.
Martin’s mishandling of the police department, along with so many other mayoral-generated problems over these past fifteen months, has been an embarrassment. The Martin Chronicles sincerely hopes that by the time the seventh police officer is ready to patrol Villa Hills’ streets, he will be working for a different mayor.
*Appellate Court Order of Dismissal, June 7 2011
** The Kentucky Enquirer, March 9 2012
