The Martin Chronicles is disappointed in people who fret that the city council should surrender their principles and ignore what they know is right and just turn a blind eye to all of the recently-revealed criminal activity and official misconduct of Villa Hills Mayor Mike Martin. If their actual goal is to save the City from further embarrassment, these hand-wringers need to choose another course of action.
We fully understand the sanctity of the electoral process in these United States. This process is generally what makes democracy work. A slim majority of Villa Hills voters did choose Mike Martin to serve as their mayor in the 2010 election for any number of reasons. We checked. Martin won the election by 89 votes. No question about that.
However, in rare exceptions most of the fifty states provide some method to remove elected officials who are later discovered to have done something seriously wrong. Some states have provisions for recall elections. Kentucky does not provide for recall. The way terrible electoral mistakes are corrected in Kentucky cities is by a unanimous vote of its city council. Again, it should be the rare exception. In 2012 Villa Hills, council is facing that rare exception.
Martin has already received four serious reprimands from city council. One of these four reprimands was by a unanimous vote. This despite the fact that one councilman is solely concerned about his State Senate race and another is slavishly devoted to Martin.
The newly cautious Villa Hills Ethics Board has also delivered a "confidential" reprimand to Martin for what sources tell us was misuse of City personnel and resources. The Ethics Board reprimand takes any discussion about Martin's removal completely out of the realm of what some would explain away as "politics" or "infighting".
Martin's January 5, 2012 destruction of City records has yet to be addressed. That is except for the serious "dressing down" delivered by a judge on April 26, 2012. The judge strongly admonished Martin and his attorneys, saying his actions did great harm to the residents of Villa Hills.
But what was not addressed by the judge? That would be Martin's ham-handed attempt to cover-up the wilful records destruction-after Martin knew he had been caught. Despite efforts to blame some temporary hire, it was Martin who told the Public Works Director to continue the burning when he was contacted on the afternoon of January 5.
Martin also later advised the Public Works Director not to tell anyone about the destruction of the records. Martin said he didn't want a repeat of the incident where he ordered the City safe crushed open by a backhoe. It is important to note that the "safe crushing" led to a 6-0 reprimand from the city council.
The records destruction got worse. Despite being caught on January 5, sources say Martin continued to shred City documents for several days. Once gain, Martin's wanton destruction of City records was discovered-and placed into evidence.
The Martin Chronicles knows that city council is being cautious with this issue. They are rightfully concerned about the taxpayers' standing in a current, very serious lawsuit. But being proactive about Martin's egregious attempt to cover up his "records barbecue" wrongdoing may ultimately lessen the taxpayers' exposure.
Martin has engaged in behavior that is potentially a Class D FELONY. This type of behavior more than warrants removal from office.
The hand-wringers need to stop simply pining for peace. They need to let ALL the council members (especially Pope and Noll) know that they need to stop worrying about State senate elections and their slavish devotion to Martin.
It is time for Villa Hills to hit the RESET BUTTON. Martin needs to be sent packing. Will it take another 897 days for that to happen. If so, how much more damage will Martin do?
