The Martin Chronicles just welcomed reader number 250,000. Launching on October 8, 2011, covering the rampant corruption and incompetence of Villa Hills malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin's mis-Administration has been a wild, wild ride.
Sure, 250,000 isn't a very big number when compared to the far more than 500,000 taxpayer dollars Martin has squandered on lawyers and legal actions. But our blog is reporting on a city-albeit a very, very troubled one-that is only 3.5 square miles in size with a population of less than 8,000 people. Needless to say, our beloved publisher is extremely pleased by-and thankful for-the reception The Martin Chronicles is receiving.
Hey, we know the haters are out there. You know, we're glad they are there. We have been called "vile" and "disgusting" for simply reporting the truth about Martin's willful wrongdoing and nascent nitwittery. But, considering the salacious sources, we wear their insults as a badge of honor.
One of our finest moments occurred when Martin's personal-and now City-Attorney Toad V. McMurtry wasted a great deal of taxpayer money interrogating witnesses at the disgraceful removal hearing for former Police Chief Dan Goodenough, angrily asking, "Do you write The Martin Chronicles? Do you know who writes The Martin Chronicles? Have you ever provided information to The Martin Chronicles, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah". There is nothing more satisfying than coming to the realization that you are squarely in the bald head of one of the worst of the bad guys.
We have to admit that we also enjoyed the vile ancient crocodile Mary Koenig's stumbling admission that even she reads our blog. Mary Koenig is probably one of the meanest people who has ever walked the face of The Great Spirit's green earth. Koenig has perpetrated so much heartache and headache on Villa Hills that its extent is incalculable. She is nefarious and Machiavellian. So, we also enjoy being inside her evil head.
Yes, its been fun. But its been hard work as well. Why? Because despite the nitwit who took to a podium to foolishly declare that "this mayor (Martin) does great things for people", covering all of the crime and incompetence of Martin's Reign of Error has required virtually non-stop effort.
We've worked every Christmas since we launched. We've worked on every Thanksgiving. We've worked on every Memorial Day and July 4. Why? Because Martin never stops breaking the law. And because we have a deep, abiding affection for the beloved publisher who brought us all together.
But the entire staff of The Martin Chronicles is up to this daunting task. Our beloved publisher has assembled a battle-hardened staff who has covered government corruption all across this great country of ours. Almost to a person, all of our veteran reporters say that they have almost never witnessed someone as corrupt and incompetent as the egomaniacal Martin. And, brothers and sisters, that is really saying something.
Our fondest hope is that the voters of Villa Hills resoundingly toss out the mean-spirited Martin on his pimply ass on November 4. But, surprisingly, that result will have a bitter-sweet element to it.
Why? Because relentlessly covering all of Martin's endless wrongdoing and stupidity has been like a white-hot crucible far hotter than the hastily dug pit where Martin illegally burned City records in early 2012. That white-hot crucible has forged the entire staff of The Martin Chronicles in to a deeply-connected Band of Brothers and Sisters. Most of The Martin Chronicles staff never had the great pleasure of working together before. But, our efforts for The Martin Chronicles have truly been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
So, if Martin is defeated-as he deserves-on November 4, all of us know that this great crusade will be nearing its necessary end. All of us realize that a Martin defeat will mean that many people who have become incredibly close friends will have to start thinking about packing up their personal belongings and moving on to their next assignment. Perhaps many of us will never see each other again.
Even still, we are fine with that result.
The Martin Chronicles recently reported Holly Menninger-Isenhour's over-the-top allegations against rival mayoral candidate Ernie Brown. For those of you who missed it, Menninger-Isenhour recently trolled Franzen Field charging that Ernie Brown is a "drug addict".
Menninger-Isenhour also glibly chirped that she has yard signs proclaiming that "I don't do drugs-but Ernie Brown does". You don't say? Is that a fact? Well, when you toss a hand grenade like Menninger-Isenhour did, you had better be sure that someone doesn't have the time to toss it right back in your lap.
We have learned that two unlicensed contractors plan to come forward to take issue with Menninger-Isenhour's yard sign assertion. These contractors worked on Menninger-Isenhour's house not all that long ago and have quite a story to tell about what the now-mayoral wannabe provided them in exchange for their handyman services.
You know, the next 75 days would be a lot easier to take if all of the rival candidates simply focused on debating the real issues in Villa Hills. But politics in Villa Hills doesn't seem to work that way. As malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin once notoriously said, "It's not in my best interest to debate the issues".
Evidently, the same is true for Menninger-Isenhour.
The Martin Chronicles is following up on its Wednesday, August 13 post, "Martin Rears His Very Ugly Head Immediately". The majority of that report dealt with Martin's defamatory behavior at the St. Joe's End of Summer Festival. Yes, Martin's false witness was incredibly ugly.
But the second part of our story that day revealed something far more serious that deserves additional attention. What is it? Martin's blatant disregard for both Kentucky Statute and Villa Hills City Policy. The issue? "Political activity".
First, let's circle back to Martin's May 23, 2013 suspension of then-Assistant Police Chief Joe Schutzman. Martin, his personal-and now City-Attorney Toad V. McMurtry and City Clerk/City Administrator Craigory T. Bohman ambushed Schutzman in the then-Assistant Chief's office, leveling a bevy of never-substantiated charges the terrible trio claimed warranted an immediate suspension without pay.
One of the many never-substantiated charges leveled against Schutzman that May day was that the then-Assistant Police Chief had engaged in "political activity". You see, shortly after City Clerk/City Administrator Craigory T. Bohman was hired, he began following Villa Hills City employees around with a camera. Bohman made the never-substantiated allegation that he took photos of Schutzman engaging in "political activity" while on duty.
Flash forward to August, 2014. By several unimpeachable accounts, that once-heinous crime has evidently become official City policy in the Martin mis-Administration.
How so? Several undeniably reliable sources tell us that Martin is now brow-beating City employees, demanding that they go out and tell residents what a "great job" the tiny tyrant is doing. Why? Because-according to the Martin-if the miniature Mussolini isn't re-elected on November 4, "a new mayor will come in and fire all of them".
Wow. You don't say? Really? Is that a fact? Geez. That sounds exactly like a desperate mayor clinging to his long-desired power, pushing his taxpayer-funded employees to engage in well, uh, err, umm, "political activity". Man, that's really, really bad. And worse yet, what Martin is ordering these poor employees to do is against State statute, City policy and the Ethics ordinance.
Let's explode Martin's sure-to-come, dishonest excuse right now. You see, the prohibition against City employees engaging in "political activity" only really applies when that employee is on duty. Okay. Fair enough.
But guess what? As far as we can determine, only one current Villa Hills' City employee resides in Villa Hills. Does any reasonable person believe that any of the other mistreated employees who live all over Northern Kentucky will travel back to Villa Hills to campaign for the tiny man who treats them like dirt? That's a big, old "hell no".
So, its clear that Martin is demanding that City employees engage in "political activity" while they are on duty, being remunerated by the taxpayers. Yep, that's not only improper and unethical. It's illegal.
The voters can clean out the City Government stable in just 76 days.
The Martin Chronicles has written that Villa Hills is a little city in desperate need of a serious debate about the steps needed to get its City Government back on track. After four years of embarrassing mayhem created by the corruption and mismanagement of malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin and his cronies, the voters need honest adults to lay out their plans to fix the incredible mess Martin has made. If what we have witnessed over the early days of the 2014 campaign are any indication-and there is no reason to believe otherwise-the voters are instead going to be served up the same mud bath they received in 2010 and 2012.
The latest example? Several sources tell us that mayoral candidate Holly B. Menninger-Isenhour spent part of her weekend "campaigning" on the civic club ballfields. Did Menninger-Isenhour explain her plans to repair the city's finances? Did Menninger-Isenhour provide details on how she would ensure that the town had adequate police protection? Did Menninger-Isenhour enlighten voters about her vision for reviving a dead-in-the-water street repair and replacement program? No, no and no.
Instead, witnesses say that Menninger-Isenhour spent her time viciously bashing mayoral candidate Ernie Brown. We have been told that Menninger-Isenhour made the claim-that she may find herself in the position of having to prove-that Brown is a "drug addict who has a team ready to destroy the city".
Observers tell us that Menninger-Isenhour proclaimed that she has yard signs at-the-ready announcing that "I don't do drugs-but Ernie Brown does". Wow. We certainly hope people who place a defamatory sign like that in their yard ask Menninger-Isenhour to provide irrefutable proof of such a claim before they risk their financial necks. People would be very foolish to make themselves additional targets of a gigantic libel and defamation lawsuit simply because they don't like how many cats their neighbor has.
This is the toxic atmosphere that Mike Martin has created. Sure, he's had some help. People like Mary Koenig and the civic club ass clowns have been conducting smear campaigns for many years. It's what they know. It's who they are.
But the latest cycle of calumny began nearly seven years ago when Martin was discovered to be signing his deceased mother's name on his deceased mother's child support checks, cashing them and pocketing the proceeds. Martin reacted by weaving a huge fable about being a good government zealot who was being targeted by "dark forces" determined to hold on to their "power".
Smarting from the embarrassment of their six-figure embezzlement scandal, civic club ass hats lapped up Martin's lies and began spreading them like the deadly virus they eventually became. It matters not to Martin that four highly-respected appellate judges have opined that what he did "fits the very definition of forgery". The lies continue.
Should politics in a small city like Villa Hills be so hateful? Of course not. But they certainly are. The quiet departure of earnest council members Jim Cahill, Rod Baehner and Amy Balson speaks volumes about the poisonous politics in Martin's Villa Hills. No wonder so many reasonable people want no part of trying to fix the many messes Martin has created.
Yes, we will have 77 more days of THIS.
The Martin Chronicles has been pouring over the upcoming race for control of malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin's Villa Hills City Government. There are an unprecedented three challengers to the mismanaging Martin and nine candidates for seats on the city council.
The past four years have taught us that if the mendacious Martin is re-elected it matters not who wins seats on the council. Martin has had the rare opportunity to work with two entirely different six-member sets of council people and has proven he is unable to work with anyone.
The miniature madman is consumed with the thought that he is the "CEO". All decisions are "his" and his alone. If you don't agree with Martin's decisions, your only recourse is to "deal with it". Why? Because the diminutive dictator is "moving on". You had better disabuse yourself of the incorrect notion that further tinkering with the make-up of the council will finally make the city's lot better.
What about the council race itself. It looks like a tug-of-war between people who want to take a serious-minded approach to city government (as they have in the past) and a group of mean-spirited amateurs who are convinced they know better than everyone else (even when the facts persistently prove otherwise).
These mean-spirited amateurs where at the epicenter of the destruction of the local police department. They will be backed by the online haters who constantly throw terrible misinformation on to the social networks-thinking it makes them some how sound "in-the-know".
The derisive-and incorrect-term "good old boys" is about to resurface in an ugly way. The implication? That the so-called "good old boys" gained some mysterious-and improper-benefit from their previous time serving on council.
But our investigations tell us that it is Martin who signed a purchase order that placed TWENTY-THREE THOUSAND TAXPAYER DOLLARS in his own pocket and Mary Koenig who steered TWELVE THOUSAND TAXPAYER DOLLARS in to a little-used park that provides the side benefit of improving her own back yard. That seems like the behavior of "good old boys" to us.
More to come.
The Martin Chronicles is putting the finishing touches on its evaluation of the mayoral and council candidates in malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin's Villa Hills. We are uncovering some very interesting information.
It's becoming quite clear that the voters face a stark choice on November 4.
The Martin Chronicles loves to read the social networks. The variety of posts we are reading give us a very real sense of what is coming in malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin's troubled Villa Hills. What we see coming is not going to be pretty.
Conclusion One: Many of the haters are pulling their support away from the malevolent Martin and throwing it to Irvin Callery. Why? Most likely because they sense that the mismanaging Martin is in trouble. They also dread the thought that any of the people who ran the city so very well for so very long might return to public service. Why? Your guess is as good as ours.
Conclusion Two: Some people have absolutely no sense of history. One post actually suggested that the candidates who previously served on council are somehow disqualified simply because they were defeated in 2012. Is that what you really believe? Because, if so, the misdirecting Martin himself was disqualified in the 2010 mayoral race. Why? Because he was defeated in his 2008 bid to be re-elected to council. You just can't have it both ways.
Conclusion Three: Look for the return of the very worn-out cliché. Want an already glaring example? "Move the city forward". Mary Koenig popularized that odd phrase way back in the 1990's. Exactly what does "move the city forward" mean? In point of fact, wasn't Villa Hills named the best neighborhood in the Tri-State by the obscure Cincy Business magazine precisely because of it's location? Then why "move" it in any direction? Go figure.
Conclusion Four: Some people seem to have great difficulty sorting out the difference between "opinion" and "fact". It is a fact that roughly five hundred thousand taxpayer dollars has been spent on lawyers and legal actions during Martin's tenure. Your view on whether or not spending five hundred thousand taxpayer dollars on lawyers and legal actions is good or bad is an example of an opinion. Seems pretty straightforward.
Conclusion Five: Some people also seem to have great difficulty sorting out the difference between "negativity" and "lively debate". By their very nature, politics and elections spark lively debate. It is not necessarily "negative" if someone expresses an opinion that you do not share. Do you want a good example of "negativity"? That would be when Martin dragged his poor granddaughter around St. Joe's End of Summer Festival last Friday night making all manner of wild allegations about Ernie Brown and Irvin Callery. That type of behavior of is "negative" and hateful.
The Martin Chronicles did sincerely hope that the coming election would focus on the issues and real plans for the future of Villa Hills. Given Martin's disgraceful behavior last Friday night, that does not seem likely to happen.
And so it goes.
