Have A Joyous Day

The Martin Chronicles wishes all of its Christian readers a Happy Easter. To our Jewish readers, we wish a Happy Passover. Both are profound celebrations of humanity’s deep connection to the limitless love of The Creator. Both celebrations recognize the mystery of rebirth and freedom.

While The Martin Chronicles staff spends the day with family and friends, our publisher will continue to work on several story leads so that everyone can hit the ground running on the pursuit of the truth in Villa Hills on Monday morning. Some of the leads our publisher is working on include-

·         Is Mayor Martin truly weighing his options as he faces Special Counsel’s presentation of the initial findings to be delivered to city council and the public on April 30?

·         Is Mayor Martin instead actually preparing to launch a dirtbag counter-attack against his perceived enemies as a smokescreen to divert attention away from all of his misdeeds and malfeasance?

·         Have even more City records somehow disappeared during Special Counsel’s search for the truth?

·         Is one of Mayor Martin’s long-time allies looking for an escape hatch to escape possible liability for the evidence that is going to be presented on April 30?

·         Has a formerly –resistant, long-time city employee done a flip-flop and decided to cooperate with Special Counsel’s investigation, resulting from Mayor Martin’s pathetic effort to lay blame on them?

·         Is the former chairman of the city’s ethics board preparing to launch a bizarre defense of Mayor Martin, blaming the sane majority on city council for all of the current problems in Villa Hills?

·         Did Mayor Martin provide false answers to the Special Counsel’s interrogatories?

·         Has Mayor Martin’s three-page Manifesto placed the taxpayers in the position of being hit with a LIBEL lawsuit?

·         Did Mayor Martin’s recent actions increase the likelihood that a sexual harassment lawsuit will be filed against the city?

·         Has Mayor Martin’s baseless allegation against a city councilman at the last council meeting set the stage for even more turmoil (or as the pinheaded headline writer at nky.com would say, “infighting”)?

·         Have law enforcement official collected further evidence of Mayor Martin’s illegal destruction of city documents resulting from Martin’s scurrilous document burn on January 5?

The Martin Chronicles is hot on the trail of these and several other story leads. Monday will be here before you know it. Please enjoy your day today.

The Rumor Mill Is Grinding

Several sources have told The Martin Chronicles that Villa Hills Mayor Mike Martin is currently weighing his options about whether to resign or face the full force and fury of fallout from the Special Counsel presentation of preliminary findings scheduled for April 30.
Frankly, we aren't convinced. We trust our sources. But we don't trust the word that is leaking to them from Martin confidantes. We think this is some ham-handed ploy by the mayor and his hillbilly lynch mob.

This would not be the "Martin Way". We think Martin will resist leaving the "CEO" position by putting up a huge fight that includes mud-slinging, finger-pointing, excuse-making, blame-laying and flat-out lying.

Resigning isn't what the little man has in mind. Martin is planning for his glitzy, taxpayer-funded Villa Hills 50th Anniversary parade. Our advice to the sane majority on council and everyone else working to restore good government to scandal-plagued Villa Hills-DO NOT LET YOUR GUARD DOWN.

A Second Serving Of Red Ink, Anyone?

With all the wailing and gnashing of teeth at the last council hoe-down, The Martin Chronicles let it slip by. At least temporarily. But it is such a good example of the REAL double-standard in Mayor Mike Martin's scandal-ridden town of Villa Hills that it is worth at least a quick look on this Good Friday.
To what do we refer? Martin's shoulder-shrugging announcement at the March council meeting that he had next year's budget ready. Our first reaction? This oughta be good!

Why do we say that? Well, we did some digging. Martin did not ask the Police Chief for any input on next year's budget. Martin did not ask the Public Works Director for any input on next year's budget. Martin did not ask the endlessly-interim City Clerk for any input on next year's budget (we know that because all of her cob webs and dust are undisturbed). Martin did not ask the Fire Authority for any input on next year's budget. Martin did not ask the City's recreation committee for any input on next year's budget. Given the surprised look on the faces of the majority of council, Martin also chose not to seek any input from them.

"So what?", you might be asking. Well, that means that next year's budget proposal is going to be the solo "brainchild" of the same mismanaging mayor who has made such a financial mess this year that he has had to plead with council to give him a $125,000 budget amendment just to save "his wife's (?) house". That $125,000 of your wasted money will soak up only a portion of the red ink Martin has spilled all fiscal year long

Enough for now. We plan to spend the rest of our day contemplating the profound, cosmic significance of the events we commemorate on Good Friday.

Snitches Everywhere

We are approaching the long Easter weekend. The Martin Chronicles understands that you will-and should -have other things on your mind besides the dreadful mess Mayor Mike Martin has made of the City that was ranked Number One in Northern Kentucky just two short years ago.

We plan to continue to post through the weekend. Our staff will still be diligently following story leads. But members of our staff also plan to celebrate Passover and to contemplate the tremendous mystery of the Creator of the Universe surrendering “His” life here on Earth as a means of forgiving the sins of every human, past, present and future.

On the subject of story leads, sources tell us that Martin and members of his hillbilly lynch mob were hanging out at a sports bar in Ft. Mitchell the other night. Martin was issuing the same drunken, pro forma threats and denunciations. Martin and his rabble of ridge runners were taking the crowd through their same LIBEL, SLANDER and DEFAMATION routine. Same shtick. Just a different audience.

The Martin Chronicles suspects that Martin knows he is being watched and hoped no one would see him hiding out in Ft. Mitchell. In fact, one of his cronies warned him that he was probably being “tape recorded”.

We would certainly hope that the mismanaging mayor has realized by now that there is no place he can go where he is beyond the eyes and ears of The Martin Chronicles.

How Many Lies Can YOU Find?

The Martin Chronicles is so very pleased that Villa Hills Mayor Mike Martin wrote his three-page Manifesto. Why? Because he filled it with such a grab bag of lies and libel that are sure to make the April 30 Special Counsel Presentation so much more exciting.

Oh yeah, Martin also signed the letter. Well, given his history, we better qualify that. Someone signed Mike Martin’s name to the letter. We’re still working to confirm that part of the story. Why is that significant? Because Martin may have just triggered another LIBEL lawsuit.

Let’s explore the infamous story of Martin ordering the City safe crushed open with a backhoe yet again. How does Martin falsely describe what he did in his confabulation-filled “A Note to Villa Hills Residents”?

I asked all the city’s department heads if they had the combination and all three said no. I then contacted a locksmith company and found that they would charge the city a minimum of $500 to open this safe. After learning that a new safe could be purchased for only $250, I opted to purchase a new safe. Not wanting to discard a piece of city property that might potentially have something of value in it, but also not wanting to pay $500 to have it opened, I made the decision to have our public works department open the safe. Some very old papers and a modem were all that was found in the safe.

This paragraph may hold some kind of record for containing the most lies. First of all, this version of Martin’s story contradicts Martin’s original version to the media. The Manifesto’s version is also different from the version Martin provided to the City’s Ethics Board. The Ethics Board version is also different from the one Martin provided the media. Is The Martin Chronicles the only one spotting a pattern here?

Proof of lie number two, one of the department heads told Martin that while he did not have the combination to open the safe, he could get it. Martin chose not to wait a day. What was the sense of urgency?

Proof of lie number three, Martin actually had another department head get the cost estimates from locksmiths. The department head advised Martin that a locksmith would open the safe for $178.

Proof of lie number four, it was therefore not cheaper to purchase a new safe than to hire the locksmith. Let’s see, $250 for a new safe? $178 for a locksmith? Uh, that means hiring the locksmith would have saved the City $72.  It would also have saved the City a year-and-a-half worth of embarrassment. It would have also avoided the need for Martin to violate State laws regarding the disposal of City property.

Proof of lie number five, Martin did not consider buying a new safe until after it had been discovered that he improperly destroyed the original City safe.

Proof of lie (of omission) number six, Martin improperly used the City Tax ID to purchase the new safe. Again, after the destruction of the original safe was discovered.

Proof of lie (of omission) number seven, Martin didn’t "ask" the public works department “to open the safe”. He ordered them to crush it open with a backhoe!

For all of you who still believe the admittedly dim-witted Martin is simply struggling his way through some silly “learning curve", you couldn’t be more wrong. The corrupt CEO has known exactly what he has been doing all along.

Finally, how will we every really know what was in the safe? Given the fact that Martin managed to squeeze at least seven lies into five sentences about the safe in his Manifesto, can we believe anything he says? About anything? Ever? Even once?

Of course we can't.

Noll Gets Rolled Again

The Martin Chronicles has learned that Villa-Hills-Sure-Made-A-Nice-Stepping-Stone-Man-That-Assistant-City-Clerk-Looks-Yummy-State-Senate-Candidate Councilman Jim Noll is paying a heavy price for his unwavering allegiance to Mayor Mike Martin.
  

How so? Well, we scanned the Villa Hills Police reports and learned that Noll’s car was recently burglarized. This makes the second time the dipsomaniacal councilman has fallen prey to the skyrocketing crime wave caused by Mike Martin’s decimation of the Villa Hills Police Department.

Despite the fact that Noll has become a consistent target of sticky-fingered burglars, he remains loyal to Martin in his opposition to restoring the Villa Hills Police Department to its proper staffing levels.

What the heck? Even that mean-spirited troll Councilman Mike Pope has asked Martin to reconsider hiring the eighth officer. Given Pope’s heretofore undying love for Martin, that is a huge flip-flop.

We have also learned that Noll has been very vocal about his unwillingness to vote to remove Martin from office. Here is what is particularly shocking about that announcement. Noll is allegedly an attorney by trade. And yet he has already made his decision on the case against Martin even before hearing the evidence from Special Counsel? That is disgraceful.

But then so is sexually harassing City employees.

Like It Never Happened

The Martin Chronicles continues to be amazed by Mike Martin’s persistent inability to just tell the truth. Given what we have learned about his background stealing food to survive as a boy (or so the fable goes), we suspect that dishonesty is hardwired into the DNA of the malfeasant mayor.

Sometimes small examples are as revealing as the giant whoppers Martin has been dealing out on an almost daily basis. Have you read the latest edition of the monthly Voice of Villa Hills? The front page council news would have made Josef Goebbels or Uncle Joe Stalin very proud.

How so? Just check out the fourth paragraph that begins, “Mayor Mike Martin opened the floor for public comment”.

There are three bullet points. Each represents someone who took the podium to address mayor and council. The article says the third person “addressed Mayor and council in regards to property maintenance”.

But it’s the darndest thing. The topics addressed by the first two speakers are never mentioned. In both cases, it simply states that each “addressed Mayor and Council”.

Unlike Martin, The Martin Chronicles believes you have a right to know the topics the first two speakers addressed.

The first speaker, who presented himself as “a good friend of Mike Martin”, respectfully asked him to resign because things are not going well. While it is not a revelation to say that things are not going well, it is significant when a “Martinite” asks his leader to step down for the good of the City.

The second speaker wanted to know her score on the Civil Service exam. While Martin refused to reveal it, sources tell us that she scored well above what was necessary to earn an interview for the endlessly open City Clerk position. But Martin chose not to follow the law. The second speaker also expressed concern about all of the turmoil in the City.

Funny how Martin chose not to include those items in the Council News. Take heart, he did let everyone know that the City is going to have a huge 50^th Anniversary celebration of June 9 including a parade, rides for the kids and “skirt softball”.

Is the staff of The Martin Chronicles the only ones who see the tremendous irony of Martin playing in a “skirt game”? After all, that’s all he does is skirt. Skirt the truth. Skirt the law. Skirt responsibility.

Interestingly, Martin also chose to leave out his threat to lay-off employees if council did not submit to his blackmail to amend the budget.

Martin also forgot to mention the fact that the meeting ended with a shouting match over which the malfeasant mayor begged someone to make a motion for adjournment. Pathetic. So much for “transparency”.