Opinion and prediction, and some documentation by Austin Leedom 8 Dec 08-
(This article was written the day before the council meeting,)
JOHN HAAS HAS BEEN CHOSEN BY CLAY JOHNSON
TO BE FIFTH WARD COUNCILMAN
Clay Johnson committed a grand theft fraud netting him two million dollars
($2,000,000.00.)
He still owes the citizens of Portsmouth Two Million Dollars ($2,000,000.00),
plus interest on this amount for over six years.
For several years Attorney Clayton Johnson has apparently been able to control the spending
of much of the Portsmouth City funds by controlling the membership of the City Council.
Remember Clay Johnson is the man who created the Martings Foundation and placed his
Martings Brothers Store under the Martings Foundation. He borrowed $600,000.00 from banks
using the Martings Store as collateral. Retail business had gone from bad to almost nothing.
Clay Johnson owed $600,000; he tried to sell the store, but could find no buyer.
In 2005 during a public forum meeting at Portsmouth High School
Clay Johnson told of once using fraudulent means to attempt to sell the Martings Building to an out of town
buyer for $900,000 by hiring ladies to carry shopping bags in the area of Martings Building and pretend to be
shoppers and make Martings appear to be a busy, prosperous store. That didn’t work.
Then the Martings building caught on fire, but the building wouldn’t burn.
With a mortgaged building that wouldn’t burn and not being able to find a buyer at any price,
Clay Johnson then decided to sell the building to the City for Two Million Dollars ($2,000,000.00).
He sold the building to the City of Portsmouth with the help of Mayor Greg Bauer, Council President
Jim Kalb, councilpersons Howard Baughman, Ann Sydnor, Carol Caudill and other council members.
Johnson met with Councilpersons secretly and in groups of three to persuade them to purchase
the Martings Building. This was in violation of the Ohio Revised Code. It was criminal.
The conspirators also hired unqualified Real Estate Agent Ken Rase to make an appraisal of the building
to fit the $2,000.000.00 price, although a competent appraiser (John Kisor) had recently appraised the
building for only $762,000.
Ken Rase also became a victim of the strange Martings Curse. In 2004 on the evening before
BCI&I investigators were to meet with Ken Rase to examine Rase and his appraisal documents
his real estate office on Court Street burned and the building and all documents destroyed.
At the scene while the building was still burning the Chief of Police and the Fire Chief deemed
the fire "suspicious" but it is not known that any further investigation was ever made. After the
fire the building was quickly torn down and removed.
In May, 2002 Council President Jim Kalb, and council members Howard Baughman, Ann Sydnor,
Carol Caudill and the other two council members passed an ordinance to buy the old Martings building
for Two Million Dollars ($2,000,000.00). The citizens were never give any public notice of the ordinance
before the vote by the council who ran the purchase ordinance through to passage
as an “emergency” to avoid the ruling that all ordinances were to be brought before the council during a
public meeting three times.
The sale contract was signed quickly after the ordinance was passed with Councilwoman Carol Caudill
signing as a witness, along with Neal Hatcher, Clay Johnson's incorporated land acquisition partner
The City Auditor made prompt payment to Clay Johnson. The payment was
hurriedly made by Auditor Trent Williams in disregard to the contract agreement that
payment was not to be made until a clear title to the property was delivered to the city. Clay Johnson
did not clear the title by paying off the mortgages until the following January 2003.
The plans of Clay Johnson, the unelected city controller were working well. Clay Johnson had
Two Million Dollars ($2,000,000.) and after paying the mortgages off seven months later he still had
One Million, Four Hundred Thousand Dollars left over ($1,400,000.00).
The scheme included moving city government to the Martings Building and selling the present city building
to a favored developer at a low give-away price. The ownership of our valuable riverfront city building site
was and is a vital part of future plans for the racketeers.
A wrench was thrown into the crooked scheme when the Scioto County Common Pleas Court ruled the sale
was illegal and reversed the sale thus giving the building back to Clay Johnson and giving the City
of Portsmouth a Two Million Dollar ($2,000,000) lien on the building and on Clay Johnson, who is
also known as The Martings Foundation.
Then Clay Johnson’s shyster attorney, the disreputable Stan Bender, sold the building a second time to the City
with Mayor Jim Kalb as the agent and approval by Councilmen Howard Baughman, Marty Mohr, Jerrold Albrecht
and David Malone.
Angry citizens then petitioned that no more money be spent on the Martings Building and the citizens of
Portsmouth passed the action with a vote of 7 to 3. The city government was still in the present building
and the giveaway to the developers was stymied.
In the election of November 2008, voters again voted against the use of The Martings Building as a
city government building by a decisive vote. City government is still in City Hall and the developers
still have not got our prized city land on the riverfront.
Now that Howard Baughman has been unseated from City Council Clay Johnson only controls
three councilmen, Jerrold Albrecht, David Malone and Mike Mearan. To get ordinances passed for his benefit
Clay Johnson needs four councilmen voting in favor of any new attempts to loot the city treasury.
It is my opinion that Howard Baughman was ordered to resign by his handler to avoid a recall election
that would have put an honest lady in as Fifth Ward Council member. Baughman’s resignation created
an opening that can be filled by appointment by the three remaining Clay Johnson Council members.
Attorney John Haas has been chosen by Clay Johnson to be the next councilman and can win formal
appointment with the vote of Jerrold Albrecht, David Malone and Mike Mearan.
With Haas’ membership on Council Clay Johnson can continue to have four votes to get favored treatment,
undue tax abatement on real estate, and lucrative agreements to further enrich Clay Johnson.
According to our information Stan Bender and John Haas were law partners for four years before
Haas joined law practice with Attorney Dan Ruggerio eight years ago.
Attorney Stan Bender was the man who brokered the second sale of The Martings Building to the City in 2005.
Bender has a dubious reputation and is a well known shyster lawyer. (In 1997 Stan Bender defended a gunman
who robbed a SSU student who was distributing Shawnee Sentinel newspapers at the County Courthouse.
The Shawnee Sentinel had been been publishing hardcopy news about the Southern Ohio Growth Program (SOGP)
for criminal mis-use of public funds. Stan Bender told the Columbus Dispatch he had defended the gunman
free of charge because, "He's such a nice young fellow.")
Attendance at City Council will be a new experience for John Haas. In eleven years of watching
Portsmouth City Council meetings I have never seen John Haas in attendance. His sudden interest in being
a council member is suspect. Not knowing much about John Haas I took a look at his records in Scioto County
Common Pleas Court and in the Portsmouth Municipal Court.
In Common Pleas Court records I found a record of divorce.
Go to http://www.sciotocountycpcourt.org/ Read of Divorce Action filed against John Haas in 2004.
Most recent hearing in this case was in September 2008. One interesting item of contention was who got the
use of the BMV SUV. This man wants an appointment as city councilman to replace the deposed
5th ward Councilman Howard Baughman who resigned rather than face an election in February.
For John Haas' record in Common Pleas Court - Go to http://www.sciotocountycpcourt.org/
