The Martin Chronicles has been watching Villa Hills malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin scurrying around trying to cover his tracks ever since he tripped over his own tongue and betrayed the long-standing lie he was telling about not having a radical plan to disband the local police department. Because of course Martin does have a radical plan to disband the local police department. A noticeable majority of residents have reacted very negatively.
While we know this was never possible-because he is an incompetent and corrupt fool-what if Martin had pursued his radical plan in a logical, common-sense way? Suppose he had announced very early on that he was going to study every aspect of the City government-not just the police department-in search of ways to lower costs and shift funding to what he believed were more pressing needs?
What if he had created a committee to explore the possibility of contracting for snow removal and park maintenance? What if he had created a committee to explore the possibility of reducing administrative costs instead of almost immediately hiring a crony to do the City's bookkeeping for an offensive $47.50 per hour? Perhaps it would not been so obvious that his nearly three-year long assault on the Villa Hills police department has been nothing more than payback for his 2007 FORGERY ARREST.
We read the social networks. We find the exchanges revealing. It appears that the Martin apologists now say they support Martin's radical police plan to outsource because of the pay received by Police Chief Dan Goodenough and Assistant Chief Joe Schutzman. What these apologists don't say-but what our investigation has revealed-is that Martin had the opportunity to do something about it when he first took office but did absolutely nothing.
You see, Goodenough's and Schutzman's pay was temporarily increased in late 2010 to compensate for the extra duties that had been assigned to them. These extra duties were supposed to cease when Martin took office in January 2011. How do we know this? Because Martin himself said so during his dirtbag 2010 campaign. Had Martin been a man and sat down with Goodenough and Schutzman to address that issue, well, it wouldn't be an issue now.
We have been told that Martin is bitterly complaining to those who will listen-and that number is shrinking noticeably-that his attorney told him he just couldn't sit down with Goodenough and Schutzman back then. Why? Because he was suing the two police officers-and the residents of Villa Hills-for $1.505 MILLION. Okay. Who the hell's fault is that? Survey says, IT'S MARTIN!!!
Besides, if Schutzman's extra pay was such a huge problem, why did Martin later sign him to a new contract for building inspection services that would pay Schutzman another $24K a year over and above what the Assistant Chief was already making? A reasonable person can see that Martin's inexplicable act punched a hole in the apologists' "pay too high" argument big enough to sail the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower through. The problem? The dwindling number of Martin apologists are simply not reasonable people.
Those who make excuses for Martin's mismanagement and corruption by blaming Goodenough and Schutzman will end up the stuff of legend. Martin's personal-and now City Attorney-Toad V. McMurtry called Goodenough unethical, said it was the Police Chief's fault for not telling Martin that the diminutive dictator was not allowed to break the law and accused Schutzman of planting evidence. Martin's City Administrator, er, uh, City Clerk Craig Bohman has accused Schutzman of harassment and selective traffic enforcement. This despite the fact that Bohman was never given a ticket or even stopped.
The good news about McMurtry's and Bohman's disgraceful-and false-assertions? The next mayor will have more than ample reason to fire them both on January 1, 2015.
Then there is Councilmember Mary Koenig. She attributes the all of the negative reaction to Martin's radical plan to the diminutive dictator's use of an "unfortunate word". If only that were true.
If Martin was truly concerned about spending, why is he using taxpayer money to fund the activities of a half dozen lawyers? It's nonsense. And no amount of postage meters, car washes, paper towels or coffee will paper over the mess the diminutive dictator has made of the City government's operations.
This whole mess will most likely get worse before it gets better. When Martin finally summons the courage to carry out his plan he has the votes on council to get it done. Why? Because voters wrongly believed that surrounding Martin with a new council would fix the problem. Instead, the aftermath of that 2012 vote has brought more uncertainty and turmoil. The next mayor will have an incredible mess to fix, thanks to the dim-witted and venal Martin.
The only thing that can resolve this is to eliminate the root cause of the mess. Events have clearly demonstrated that the root cause is Martin himself.
We still have to wait 421 days until the next election.
