WEEKENDER: What Came First, The Chicken Or The Toad?

The Martin Chronicles intelligent readers know we think Villa Hills malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin exhibited terrible judgment-huge surprise-hiring his personal attorney Toad McMurtry to also serve as the TAXPAYER-FUNDED City Attorney. McMurtry comes in to the fray already burdened with a heavy load of ill will he himself generated when he accused several City employees and former council people of committing all manner of crimes during his dreadful performance at Martin's removal hearing last October.

There are also unanswered questions about the timing of McMurtry's hiring. We know that McMurtry's former law firm billed the City of Villa Hills roughly $1,500 for a review of the City's Personnel Policy Manual back in September 2012. We also know that McMurtry was engaged as Martin's personal attorney somewhere in that same time frame.

Sources believe it is possible that there was a conflict created when Martin engaged McMurtry as his personal attorney while McMurtry's law firm was also doing work for the City government. A close look at the Toad McMurtry/Mike Martin paper trail could resolve some of these concerns.

It's common practice for a "waiver of conflict" to be signed under these circumstances. Did that happen? And if so, who signed it? Would it be appropriate for Martin to sign the "waiver of conflict" document when he was a central figure in that conflict? Did the previous City Attorney review the matter? If so, is there a record of that review? These are all fair-and important-questions that should be answered. But is there anyone on City Council with the courage to ask the questions?

Why would council people be hesitant to seek answers? We have no doubt that the spectacle of Martin's hillbilly lynchmob-adorned in their ridge-runner "witch hunt" hats- is fresh in the minds of these council people. Who really wants to contend with that?

Besides, Martin has demonstrated time and again that he believes the rules simply don't apply to him. Sources have given us some background on Toad McMurtry that seems to indicate that Martin's personal-and now also TAXPAYER-FUNDED City-Attorney has that same dismissive attitude about those rules everyone else is expected to follow. For that reason, we don't expect any properly-documented explanation any time soon.

While we're on the subject of Toad, people are still laughing about the letter-to-the-editor published in this week's weekly newspaper. Why? One wag was overheard saying, "So calling McMurtry 'Toad' means you write The Martin Chronicles? What the heck? EVERYBODY is calling McMurtry 'Toad' now. It just fits!"

"Ich bin ein Martin Chronicles."