The Martin Chronicles believes that for one veteran attorney, it wasn't quite the best of times. For a far less experienced attorney-who also happens to serve on Villa Hills City Council-it was the absolute worst of times.
We have the greatest respect for Villa Hills' Special Counsel Phil Taliaferro's long and successful body of work. His is a storied career of great achievement. While we think its fair to respectfully say that last night's Special Counsel presentation had stylistic problems, it laid out very substantial concerns about the conduct of Mayor Mike Martin. Special Counsel provided the six council members with a 45-page report to review. The report deserves a very thorough examination.
But then there is the other attorney. Namely, attorney, councilman and State Senate candidate Jim Noll. His post-presentation behavior was the worst of times. His comments were one of the reasons so many people have a strong dislike for lawyers.
Unlike the other council members who correctly stated that they now need to carefully review the intricacies of Special Counsel's report, Noll rushed to the cameras and microphones in full State Senate campaign mode. Trying to portray himself as a "voice of reason", Noll played along with Martin's dreadful spin that the investigation was about "trying to undo the last election". He knows that's tripe. Special Counsel focused solely on Martin's (mis)conduct since January 1, 2011. And it is plentiful and serious.
While we know Noll was simply playing the role of hack flak for Martin, even we were surprised by Noll's comment that he "heard nothing new" in Special Counsel's report. So are we to conclude that Noll was already aware of Martin's unlicensed electrical work? So Noll already knew that Martin lied about what documents were burned on January 5? Noll has no problem with criminal conduct? Isn't that something.
We can only surmise that Noll was making some craven, State-Senate-run vote equation with his pronouncement that he would not vote to remove Martin. Perhaps it would have made more sense to read the 45-page report before jumping to conclusions. Just a thought.
Despite Noll's premature exhonoration, the media seems to fully grasp the fact that there are real, serious problems in the Villa Hills Mayor's office. Council must decide what to do next. We hope the other five council members at least read the report first.
