There Is No Bottom To It

The Martin Chronicles has been reporting on Villa Hills malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin’s mayhem since October 8, 2011. Nearly 130,000 visits later, we have always been able to explain even the most bizarre things Martin has done. We’ve covered his endless false allegations and assertions. We have covered his persistent inability to fill State Statute-mandated Open Records requests. We thoroughly explained his bizarre, ongoing and incredibly illegal destruction of City records. We have explained why his unlicensed business practices do affect City business. But-we must confess-we are having a very difficult time explaining this most recent turn of events.

 As we have previously reported, Martin recently suspended Assistant Chief Joe Schutzman without pay as a prelude to a hearing by the Civil Service board where Martin publicly stated he intended to ask for Schutzman’s termination.  Why? Because Martin claimed Schutzman was guilty of “intimidation” and “political activity”.

 The Civil Service board held a meeting last Friday night to chart their course. Schutzman’s attorney Jeff Otis asked the board to dismiss Martin’s charges on the basis that Martin offered no evidence of his charges against his client. The board decided to proceed with a hearing beginning this Thursday evening. Why? We believe the board wanted to hear the evidence of Martin’s charges. The board gave Martin until 4PM Monday to present that evidence. So what happened?

We have learned that the Civil Service board is holding a meeting tonight. Why? Because Martin’s two TAXPAYER-FUNDED attorneys are going to ask the board to dismiss Martin’s charges against Schutzman without prejudice. Oh, really. Is that a fact? You don’t say? So what the heck happened?

Well, not surprisingly, Martin produced no evidence and revealed no witnesses against Schutzman to prove “intimidation” or “political activity” by the 4PM deadline. No, they produced nothing. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Keep in mind that Martin’s two TAXPAYER-FUNDED attorneys did not object to the Monday 4PM deadline imposed by the board at last Friday’s meeting.

So again, what the heck happened? It seems clear that there was no evidence. It appears that all we got was confirmation that Martin was simply continuing to push his agenda of revenge for his 2007 FORGERY ARREST. It appears that Martin was tripped up by his own lust for vengeance.

We hope you understand that this Martin foul-up is going to be a costly one. Martin added THREE TAXPAYER-FUNDED ATTORNEYS TO THE CITY PAYROLL FOR THIS VENDETTA. Rest assured all three attorneys will be billing for everything they did. Even though it was A WITCH HUNT.

Here’s the catch. We are fine with the board dismissing the charges. But-and it is a huge “but”-it should be done with prejudice. Why? Because otherwise Martin is free to continue to pursue his persistent pattern of intimidation and harassment of Schutzman and the rest of the Villa Hill Police Department. And it would be outrageous for the board to allow that to continue.

Hopefully, the taxpayers will finally wake up to what is happening. Martin must go on November 4, 2014. Or Martin will absolutely destroy the City that was voted the best City in Northern Kentucky just a few months before he deceived a razor-thin majority of voters to elect him in 2010.

It appears now that when the question is asked, How bad can this get?"- there is no bottom to it.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: We are trying to confirm a rumor that one of the attorneys Martin hired for this fiasco-Chris Wiest-is police-hating Councilmember Brian Wischer's BROTHER-IN-LAW. If true, BOY HOWDY!]

[PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Man, oh man do we love reading Facebook. You can always tell a loony Martin Kool-aid drinker when they comment that a respected news outlet like wcpo.com is "biased". Pathetic. By the way, The Martin Chronicles freely admits that we are biased. We are biased against corrupt and incompetent politicians like Martin.]