The Martin Chronicles reporters have all arrived at our office this evening in preparation for full Election Day coverage in current malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin's Villa Hills. Tomorrow is E-Day. The coffee is brewing and we are talking to all of our many, many sources.
Crazy things continue to happen as we tune up for tomorrow. We have learned that City Administrator/Clerk Craigory Bohman contacted a member of the Sensible Citizens group today saying that a resident has refused to pay their UNFAIR $40 PER CAR STICKER TAX because it was repealed effective January 1, 2015. (As an important reminder on this election eve, the UNFAIR $40 PER CAR STICKER TAX is going away only because Kenton County will no longer collect it. This move is in no way an example of the mendacious Martin actually keeping a campaign promise).
Why do we say that? Because Martin has already installed his new FIFTY PERCENT INCREASE OF THE SNEAKY INSURANCE PREMIUM TAX to replace any lost revenue.
Before you vote tomorrow, think about what the mismanaging Martin has done to you. If you are one of the unfortunate folks who pay the UNFAIR $40 PER CAR STICKER TAX between July 1 and December 31, Martin is dipping in to your wallet twice. Why, because you are also paying Martin's FIFTY PERCENT INCREASE OF THE SNEAKY INSURANCE PREMIUM TAX between July 1 and December 31. That is simply a fact.
Oh, it gets even worse. Do you remember current council candidate Summer Berger? Sure you do. Berger was the one who made the conscious decision to "take a pass" on not one, but two separate opportunities to answer questions from the residents about why they should vote for her.
What did Berger do? We have learned that Berger decided to rely on the "experience" she has gained from her first year in law school to weigh in on the subject. Berger sent a not-so-thinly-veiled e-mail THREAT to the Sensible Citizens group, asking "How do the sensible citizens plan to mitigate the damage (caused by the fact that residents may not want to pay both Martin's UNFAIR $40 PER CAR STICKER TAX and Martin's FIFTY PERCENT INCREASE OF THE SNEAKY INSURANCE PREMIUM TAX)?
Seriously, Summer? Do you really believe that a group of unpaid volunteers who did nothing more than report the facts about Martin's "double-dipping" in to the wallets of a sizeable number of residents-who you wouldn't take the time to meet with-should be culpable for Martin's terrible mismanagement? Seriously, Summer? Seriously?
Berger must have missed her class in law school that would have instructed her that the one defense against the kind of claim she is threatening is the truth. And it is true that the mismanaging Martin is "double-dipping" in to the wallets of a sizeable number of residents by collecting both taxes from them.
Do we really need another person like Berger on council who will cause even more costly lawsuits? Berger knows that "mitigate" rhymes with "litigate". And that brings with it even more abject waste of taxpayer money. Four years of Martin's vendetta-fueled waste of more than $500,000 on lawyer and legal actions is far more than enough. Summer Berger is a terrible choice for the six-member council.
What is on tap for tonight and tomorrow? Well, we are going to continue to track the activities of all of Villa Hills' mayoral and council candidates. We will also have a group of reporters at all of Villa Hills polling areas carefully-but not intrusively-watching for any and all examples of illegal electioneering. We are convinced that illegal electioneering is going to happen. Why? Because it happened in both 2010 and 2012.
We hope you take the time to vote tomorrow. But please make an educated vote. If you still haven't figured it out-and we think a majority of you have-local elections absolutely matter. The last four embarrassing years of Martin's dreadful corruption and incompetence prove that. Oh, that isn't "nay-saying". That is the TRUTH.
No matter what happens tomorrow, The Martin Chronicles work is far from over.
