The Martin Chronicles has been reporting on Villa Hills malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin's mayhem now for nearly two years. Martin has divided the town on matters large and small in an embarrassingly ugly way. Lately, Martin seems to be doing what most desperadoes did in the old Western movies, "laying low" until the heat blows over. Many speculate that the tiny tyrant is hoping that most residents will forget all of the problems he has created. Then, he only needs to fool one more voter than his opponent-or opponents-next year to be granted four more years to continue to tear the once-proud City apart.
One insider recently equated Martin's current approach to mismanaging Villa Hills to another-non-Western-movie. The movie? The 1980 sleeper hit Airplane!. This insider laughed and said that Martin's current behavior reminds him of the exchange from that hilarious film.
As the crippled airliner makes its approach to the runway, tough guy Rex Kramer (played by Robert Stack) looks at Tower Supervisor Steve McCroskey (portrayed by Lloyd Bridges) and ominously says, "Its quiet. Too quiet.". Our insider's point? Don't assume Martin isn't continuing his nonsense just because things seem to be relatively quiet at the moment.
Circling back to the Western film genre-hey, we can do that. Its our blog!-Martin appears to be imperfectly fine with using his taxpayer-funded "hired guns" to do his dirty work at the moment. We've heard rumblings that there has been an ongoing effort to intimidate City Councilmembers who dared to speak out against the diminutive dictator. We also have confirmed reports that Martin's disgusting habit of using other agencies and organizations to "jam-up" his perceived enemies continues unabated. Nothing has changed. Except maybe what political consultants call "the optics".
Besides, Martin is still doing some incredibly outrageous things in public. The most recent example? Martin is asking council to dip in to the City's dwindling cash reserves for an additional ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY THOUSAND DOLLARS! Not to bolster the under-manned police department that is doing everything it can to battle skyrocketing crime. Not for a significant road project.
No, Martin is asking council to dip in to the City's dwindling cash reserves to take out ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY THOUSAND DOLLARS to underwrite the squad of lawyers he has hired-at incredible taxpayer expense-to carry out his long-standing vendetta against his perceived enemies. When will we hear from the Tea-Partiers who used to rail against Villa Hills City Government back when it was named the best City in Northern Kentucky? We aren't holding our collective breaths.
Now, flipping back to the movie Airplane!-again, because we can-we have something to say to the residents of Villa Hills who will be entering the voting booth on November 4, 2014 with the chance to finally depose the malevolent and mismanaging Martin. It's the line Leslie Nielsen's Dr. Rumack repeated to Ted Striker (Robert Hays) over and over again.
"Good luck. We're all counting on you."
