The Martin Chronicles continues its examination of the series of circumstances that has led Villa Hills to become the butt of Northern Kentucky's political humorists for the second time in roughly a dozen years. We have spent weeks conducting interviews and doing research.
As we wrote in Part One, today's situation is eerily similar to what took place during the administration of Mayor Steve Clark. Speaking on background, one long-time observer sees a major difference. "Despite the many controversial things Steve Clark did, he was basically an honest guy. Mike Martin is as dishonest as they come. He runs an illegal contracting business. He constantly lies and is unfazed when he is caught in a lie. Lying is just a way of life for Martin."
Today we explore the arrival of Mike Pope. Pope's initial foray into the public eye was the creation of a very odd website called cityofvillyhills.com (yes, villyhills). As is generally the case, Pope had an axe to grind. He was upset because a rear window in his pickup truck shattered. Pope believed that the police were not sufficiently helpful to him and used the website to attack their efforts.
Pope's big break came when a local developer decided to expand the size of what is commonly referred to as the Ameristop strip center on Amsterdam Road in 2004. Witnesses say Pope burst into a public hearing and immediately began to launch into a tirade, attacking the developer and the City. This despite the fact that Pope had no facts.
After the "Ameristop" expansion was approved, Pope stepped up his attacks on Zoning Administrator Joe Schutzman, Mayor Mike Sadouskas and the City administrative staff. Pope actually-and creepily-tape recorded a phone conversation with one of the clerks and emailed it to the council, presenting the conversation as some "gotcha moment". Pope's problem? No one else saw it that way.
Well, almost no one. First year Councilman Mike Martin decided he would help Pope. It made sense to Martin. Martin was already conducting his own investigation of Zoning Administrator Schutzman.
A third party also entered the mix. Ken Kennedy, who lived next door to the "Ameristop" expansion, was on his own personal quest to stop the development. Kennedy was arrested for disorderly conduct, creating a scene in the Villa Hills City Building before it was open to the public. Years of nuisance lawsuits and attacks on Schutzman and Sadouskas followed. It is no surprise that Kennedy was soon allied with Martin and Pope.
Several sources say that Martin planned to run for mayor against Sadouskas in 2006. These same sources claim that Martin planned to conduct a mudslinging campaign, accusing Sadouskas of all manner of wrongdoing. Martin chose instead to run for re-election to council at the last moment. Thanks to these sources, we now know his dirtbag 2010 mayoral campaign was already in the making in 2006.
Pope had filed to run for city council in 2006. He expected Martin to challenge Sadouskas. After Martin bailed out, Pope decided to instead run as a write-in challenger to Sadouskas.
It is very interesting to read Pope's campaign literature six year later. In fact, we plan to do a post on 2006 Pope versus 2012 Pope in the very near future.
One of the finer moments of the 2006 mayor's race? Pope came within a whisker of being arrested when he went over to Sadouskas' house the weekend before the election and terrorized the mayor's wife. What was Pope's motivation? We have learned that Mary Koenig falsely told Pope that Sadouskas campaign workers were stealing Pope literature. Pope flew into a rage.
It gets weirder. Pope tape recorded his little trip and posted it on his 2006 campaign website. Sources tell us that Pope gave a running commentary of his little trip. "The light is on. The light is off. You can hear the leaves. Can you hear the dogs barking? The light is on again."
Despite his bizarre antics, Pope ran a very effective write-in campaign. He carried out the usual attacks launched by challengers-spending and taxes. Pope also focused harsh criticism on Zoning Administrator Schutzman and the Crescent Springs-Villa Hills Fire Department.
While Pope lost, he received a significant number of votes. Observers tell us there is no question that the constant attacks by Pope, Martin, Koenig, Kennedy and others were really beginning to take their toll on people's view of Sadouskas and the entire City government.
Councilman Greg Kilburn proposed the now-infamous UNFAIR $40 PER CAR STICKER TAX shortly after the 2006 election. It immediately became highly controversial. As we know, Pope used Kilburn's UNFAIR $40 PER CAR STICKER TAX as a "political hammer" to beat Sadouskas over the head with. This hammer was a major reason Pope was elected to city council in 2008.
From the moment Pope took office in 2009, he used his newly launched "alternative reality" city website and the council meetings to poison the atmosphere of City government. He attacked everything without proposing any alternative. The pieces were beginning to fall into place for Martin.
The most important thing Villa Hills voters should remember in just 154 days is that, despite all of his wailing and gnashing of teeth, Mike Pope has never-not even once-made a motion to repeal Greg Kilburn's UNFAIR $40 PER CAR STICKER TAX. In fact, Pope revealed his support of the UNFAIR $40 PER CAR STICKER TAX by casting a vote in favor of the tax now being collected by the billious blowhard County Boss Steve Arlinghaus' County Court House. How can anyone who has paid any attention at all believe anything Mike Pope says.
[PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Next up. How the Villa Hills Civic Club's shocking embezzlement scandal of hundreds of thousands of dollars actually helped Mike Martin gain the mayor's office.]
