The Martin Chronicles is proud of its accuracy predicting what would come in 2013. The only prognostication we made on December 31, 2012 that has yet to happen is Councilman Mary Koenig's ordinance to defy State statute and prohibit city council from investigating the mayor. Not to worry. There is still plenty of time for Koenig to offer up that piece of illegal lunacy.
So now we are more than a half a year down that rocky road that many vainly hoped would be Villa Hills malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin's "golden moment". We think it best to paraphrase Eighteenth Century Scottish poet Robert Burns when describing how 2013 has actually gone for Villa Hills. Describing contemporary Villa Hills, Burns would have penned, "The best laid plans of Mayor Mighty Mouse and his henchmen often go awry". To say things in Villa Hills City government have gone awry is being incredibly polite.
Well, what happens next? Anyone who thinks its a sure bet that the voters will decide to send the City Circus packing better think again. Everyone should bear in mind that the mendacious Martin is-if not much else-a remarkably skilled con man. Don't expect him to simply run up the white flag without several more rounds of dishonest mudslinging. The election is creeping closer, but it still remains 470 days away.
What will the diminutive dictator do? The editorial staff held a "dog days of summer" retreat in an undisclosed, but not-so-remote location this weekend discussing exactly that. First, look for a major public relations campaign to begin.
Oh, it will have much the same flavor as Martin's 2010 dirtbag mayoral campaign. Poor Mayor Martin. City Council just doesn't understand his profound wisdom and insight. No one is ever willing to work with him. He has been the victim of one massive conspiracy after another just because he wants to shake up the status quo (he will, of course, not mention that the status quo was a Villa Hills that was ranked the "Number One City in Northern Kentucky" by outside observers in 2010).
Look for personal-and now City-Attorney Toad V. McMurtry also begin to cynically tout to anyone who will listen how Martin has returned "lawfulness and normalcy" to the embattled City despite all of the evidence to the contrary. And why not? McMurtry has certainly discovered that there's taxpayer-funded gold in them there Villa Hills!
Also look for a lot of taxpayer money to be spent. Despite the fact that Martin reneged on his promise to repeal the dreaded unfair $40 per car sticker tax, virtually no road repair has been done in the past three construction seasons. We expect Martin will follow the lead of his wasteful mentor County Judge Executive Steve "Spendthrift" Arlinghaus by pouring asphalt and concrete over everything in sight as we head towards Election Day, 2014.
In fact, don't be surprised if the misdirecting Martin pushes hard to replace the hated and unfair $40 per car sticker tax. Again, we write "replace". Why? Because Martin will only eliminate the unfair $40 per car sticker tax if he can replace it with significant hikes in the City's payroll and insurance premium taxes.
If that push is made, you will hear Martin, Koenig and others crow that an increase in the payroll tax is "beautiful" because it gouges mostly non-residents who toil at the Madonna Manor and the City's two schools. You'll also be "comforted" by the fact that the City's current insurance premium tax rate is "one of the lowest in Kenton County". So an increase is a good thing, huh?
Also, plan to be regaled by tall tales of all the money Martin and his cronies have "found". The totals will be legendary. They will also be lies. But Martin will calculate that the voters bought his bull dung in 2010. So they may buy it again in 2014. Who knows? He may be calculating correctly.
Remember what Abraham Lincoln famously said? "You can fool some of the people all of the time. You can fool all of the people some of the time. But you can't fool all of the people all of the time".
True enough. But Martin only has to fool "fifty per cent of the voters-plus one more" in 2014 to be given new life to unleash his incompetence and corruption on Villa Hills.
We are watching closely.
