The Martin Chronicles isn't writing about the work of Charles Darwin. That is the subject matter for another blog. Instead, we have been conducting extensive research and interviews now for many weeks in an attempt to learn how it is that Villa Hills has become Northern Kentucky's epicenter of embarrassment for the second time in about a dozen years.
The simple answer is its mayor. And that is of course true. But how is it that a City purportedly populated with people of above average intelligence elected-albeit by a very slim margin-someone as unremarkable and corrupt as Mike Martin to manage the affairs of their municipality.
The City is once again embroiled in great controversy that is very reminiscent of the Mayor Steve Clark era. Today's situation is almost eerily similar, right down to attorney Phil Taliaferro reprising his role as Special Counsel investigating the mayor. So how did Villa Hills get here?
We'll begin this story all the way back in 1998. That is when then-Councilmember Mary Koenig recruited the virtually unknown Steve Clark to run against nine-year incumbent Mayor Dennis Stein. Steve Clark was an empty slate upon which the voters could create any image they wanted. Unlike Mike Martin, Clark ran a clean campaign based on some fuzzy need for new ideas. Clark won the election-also by a fairly narrow margin-and almost immediately ran into strong resistance.
In fairness, Clark wasn't given much of a chance in the beginning. Unlike Martin, Clark actually had a council who was reluctant to work with him. Also unlike Martin, the main reason that council was unwilling to work with Clark was in large part actually based on loyalty to his predecessor. One councilman convinced the majority to name the City Building after Clark's predecessor within months of the new mayors election. While such an honor was deserved, it was proposed for the wrong reasons. Another councilman was also trying to protect his taxpayer-funded gravy train. The whole situation was a prescription for disaster.
Putting it mildly, the first two years were tumultuous. The situation legitimately turned for the worse when serious questions arose over the disposition of a $25,025 check that was cut supposedly for the purposes of sidewalk construction. This led to many months of investigation and the empanelling of a grand jury.
The $25,025 check crisis came to an end in late 1999 when the grand jury decided not to indict Clark. What didn't end was the deep division in City government. Any attempt at cooperation was over. And, reportedly spurred on by outgoing Councilmember Mary Koenig, Clark planned to "settle some scores".
The retribution began when the State Auditor was brought in and delivered a scathing report on some of the spending of the previous administration. Sources showed us copies of a shocking $800-plus, taxpayer-funded bar tab that was published in the now-defunct Kentucky Post. The atmosphere in City Government was now toxic.
Clark eventually began his undoing when he over-reached by firing the very popular Police Chief Corky Brown and another employee in December 2000. A large coalition of residents rallied in support of the terminated employees. Phil Taliaferro was hired to investigate Clark's actions. Hundreds of these residents attended several public meetings demanding that the fired employees be re-hired. Mike Martin surfaced for the first time at these meetings.
Clark finally resigned under severe pressure in March 2001. Our sources and our research tell us that a large minority of the citizenry were convinced that Clark was railroaded in part because the terms of Clark's departure were more or less undisclosed. Martin's stage was slowly being set.
Sources also say it was at that moment that now-former Councilmember Mary Koening committed herself to getting even. No matter how long it took.
[PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Next up. Koenig's two failed mayoral candidates and the entrance of Mike Pope.]
