The Martin Chronicles staff has been in a bit of a retrospective mood lately. We've been reporting on Villa Hills corrupt and incompetent Mayor Mike Martin since October 8, 2011. We've were doing our research on the diminutive dictator for several months prior to that launch.
Now-after suffering an historic, embarrassing defeat on Election Day-Martin will be leaving the mayor's office in barely 42 days. Thank God. Martin is exactly why television reality shows often warn viewers, "Do not try this at home."
Much of what has happened over Martin's last four, dreadful years remind us of some famous quotes:
1. "It is a tale told by an idiot. Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." - William Shakespeare
Mike Martin's dishonest efforts to portray himself as the innocent victim of dark forces who wanted to derail his "good government zealotry" have now been indisputably revealed to be a colossal fabrication. Four separate judges have clearly determined that there was absolutely "probable cause" for Martin's 2007 forgery arrest. He did sign his deceased mother's name on his deceased mother's checks, cash them and pocket the proceeds. He's very lucky he didn't go to prison. Martin was also lying when he told the taxpayers of Villa Hills he wasn't suing them for $1.505 million. Why? Because the Supreme Court of the United States said he most certainly was.
2. "Power tends to corrupt. And absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Acton
How many times did the residents have to listen to now-outgoing Mayor Mike Martin end legitimate, serious discussions by saying, "I'm the CEO. It's my decision. Deal with it. We're moving on." before they realized that Martin had been consumed by the power the Kentucky Revised Statutes granted him? Martin's luck finally ran out on November 4, 2014.
3. "The buck stops here." - Harry Truman
How many times did now-outgoing Mayor Mike Martin try to claim that "the buck never got here?" Problems were supposedly always someone else's fault. The previous City Attorney mishandled the Civil Service Commission. The previous Police Chief didn't tell Martin he wasn't allowed to illegally burn City records. His first City Council wouldn't work with him. The line that best sums up Martin's approach to everything is the excuse he used for his forgery, "I didn't know it was wrong then. But I know it now." The voters resoundingly said, Enough, already" on November 4, 2014.
4. "I am not a crook." - Richard Nixon
Any sane person who witnessed Martin's bizarre comments to the media at the conclusion of his removal hearing in October, 2012 had to feel that they were witnessing Nixon's comments all over again. Despite the fact that Martin had just been convicted on seven of nine counts of Official Misconduct and Neglect of Duty, the diminutive dictator went before the cameras and reporters' notebooks to blame everyone else for his misbehavior.
5. "Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it." - Unknown
There were several foolish people who actually lamented that they would like to truly see what now-outgoing Mayor Martin was capable of if he had a city council who would work with him. Well, a majority of voters-in their disgust over Martin's first two years as mayor-gave him Koenig, Wischer and Menninger-Isenhour. That is exactly why the last two years of Martin's Reign of Error were an even-more-embarrassing-to-the-residents disaster. But, it is probably also why Martin will soon be on the outside looking in.
6. "Time is money." - Ben Franklin
Have you looked at the legal bills racked up by Martin's personal attorney who was hired to serve as City Attorney? If you have, you know what old Ben was talking about. More than $250,000? Really? For what? The remaining question? Will Mayor-elect Callery keep Martin's personal attorney on the taxpayer's dime?
7. "A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else." - John Burroughs
Residents finally came to realize that Martin's incessant blame-laying was a con job. They came to understand that Martin was the source of all of the problems and embarrassments of the past four years. They finally reached the conclusion that Martin didn't have even the basic tools to do the mayoral job. The voters sent a loud and clear message to Martin on November 4, 2014 that it was far past time to find something else to do.
8. "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." - Abraham Lincoln
If Martin's 84%-16% annihilation on November 4, 2014 proved nothing else, it proved that Honest Abe was right when he said that.
9. "The pen is mightier than the sword." - Edward Bulwer-Lytton
This is where we might appear to be immodest. We don't mean to be. But we do think that our efforts-filling the void left by the shrinking-budget-hampered dinosaur media-played some role on the outcome of the November 4, 2014 election. We worked very hard to keep the truth about Martin's incessant antics in front of out audience. We don't think 285,000 visits to our blog happened by accident. We think the residents finally came to understand that their Mayor Martin was just a devious con man. So, the hard work paid off.
But we know our work is very far from over. We know Martin has no intentions of doing the right thing and just going away. So, we are staying on the job.
That's why we will see you tomorrow.
