WEEKENDER: Exactly Who Is Slinging Mud?

The Martin Chronicles can always tell when it's having its greatest impact. When is that? When supporters of Villa Hills malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin choose to attack us and what we're reporting rather than face the very real mess that Martin continues to create. We hope it continues. Why? Because these diversionary attacks continue to drive our readership to new heights, exposing Martin's rampant mismanagement and corruption to an even larger audience.

The funniest allegation hurled at us lately is that we are "mudslinging". For the uninitiated, "mudslinging" is defined by the Oxford online dictionary as: the use of insults and allegations, especially unjust ones, with the aim of damaging the reputation of an opponent.

Have we made mistakes in our reporting? We have. Every information outlet does. After more than two years of reporting on Martin's mayhem in nearly 800 posts and a vast network of sources providing us a torrent of information on the virtually non-stop foul-ups, bleeps and blunders of the Martin Mis-administration, we have gotten it wrong on a few occasions. And when we do, we have admitted our mistake and corrected the record. We'll continue that policy.

We challenge Martin's dwindling base of supporters to do some soul-searching. We ask them to consider exactly who has made a career out of hurling unjust allegations at people for the purpose of damaging the reputations of others.

Consider the following:

• Who is it who defended his 2007 FORGERY ARREST by claiming that he was nothing more than a good-government zealot being targeted by corrupt, dark forces hell-bent on maintaining some mythical status quo? Four highly-respected judges later opined that Martin's many scurrilous claims that he was an innocent victim were baseless.
• Who is it who claimed that a long-serving police officer committed perjury? Once again, those allegations were proven false.
• Who is it who made serious charges that there was some mysterious report that City computer files had been erased? When the accuser was finally confronted on those serious charges, we learned that no such report existed.
• Who is it who accused a long-serving police officer of stealing from the City? Going so far as to write that the alleged theft was "a fact"? To date, these "facts" have never been presented.
• Who is it who accused a long-serving police officer of planting evidence? To date, the proof of evidence-planting has never been presented?
• Who is it who accused a long-serving police officer of unethical behavior? To date, no proof has been presented.
• Who is it who released a statement to the press revealing the personal issues of someone who was about to testify against the person who released that statement? The release of that statement was later determined to be, at best highly inappropriate.
• Who is it who accused a long-serving police officer of intimidating his staff? To date, no proof has been presented.
• Who is it who accused a long-serving police officer of selective traffic enforcement? To date, no proof has been presented.

Of course we know that the it is Martin and his surrogates who have made these allegations. This type of behavior has been a persistent pattern of behavior for Martin and his surrogates now for years.

Please keep in mind that this is only a partial list. Again, these events are all documented. These allegations were made. No proof has ever been provided for any of these claims.

In one way, we appreciate the loyalty of Martin's defenders. There is something to be said for "standing by your man". No matter how mendacious "their man" clearly is.

But people should think twice before hurling a dishonest stone when they are standing squarely in the middle of a house constructed of glass.