Monday, May 29, 2006

Shadow Government

Headquarters of Shadow Govt.

 

It has happened gradually and unobtrusively, without most people

being aware of it, but over the last half century, important functions

of Portsmouth local government have been privatized. The result is

that we now have a powerful shadow government, the origin of which can be traced back to 1964.

To quote from an earlier River Vices posting, “in March 1964, the

Portsmouth City Council made a momentous decision. In a resolution, numbered unlucky #13, the council turned much of the economic control of the city over to a private ‘non-profit’ corporation named the Portsmouth Area Community Improvement Corporation (PACIC). In Resolution #13, the Portsmouth City Council granted PACIC an extraordinarily broad mandate. The mandate of this private corporation, consisting mainly of businessmen, bankers, and lawyers, was no less than ‘To promote the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the inhabitants of the community . . .’ In the following year, 1965, the Ohio state legislature passed a law allowing municipalities to designate community improvement corporations, such as PACIC, as their agent. As if PACIC hadn’t already been granted extraordinary power in Resolution #13 . . . , the Portsmouth City Council passed another resolution (#30), designating PACIC as the city’s official agent, or legal representative.” PACIC eventually morphed into the SOGP.
Working with other community improvement corporations (CIC’s)

and with other unelected quasi-public officials, the Southern Ohio

Growth Partnership (SOGP) has come to do the heavy financial

lifting in our municipal affairs. A shadow government has evolved

in the Portsmouth area made up of a bewildering array of acronyms,

not only SOGP but GPEC (Greater Portsmouth Enterprise

Community), CAOSC (Community Action Organization of Scioto

County), SOPA (Southern Ohio Port Authority), etc.

Through pork projects and abatements, the SOGP has choked the

tax base of Portsmouth, weakened initiative, encouraged collusion,

and stifled the local economy. The worse it got in Portsmouth, the

more pork the SOGP could rustle from state and federal governments.

To finance its activities, our shadow government depends not directly on taxes, as our city government has to do, but on streams of pork dollars from public and quasi-public sources. One of the largest sources of pork for Portsmouth and the SOGP, ironically, is the

U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), but there are many other sources.

Under the arrangement that has evolved in the last half century,

our usually inept and subservient city government handles the small

change, relatively speaking: the SOGP handles the big bucks. For

example, the 2003-2004 records of the SOGP lists over $20 million in

“bank investments,” some of the recipients of which are current or

past members of the SOGP. The SOGP has handled hundreds of

millions of dollars. The city government, by contrast, is left to

squabble over whether the mayor should get a new automobile

or whether there is money to fix the leaky roof of the Municipal

Building. Portsmouth’s real city hall is not the Municipal Building

but the new Welcome Center, where the SOGP has its headquarters.

It was USDA pork that made the construction of the Welcome Center

possible.

Given the limitations of local government, it was to be expected that

in the evolution of local and county government an alternative to the

traditionally ineffective, subservient, and corrupt local government

would arise. The number of Bob Mollettes have been too few and far

between in city government. The vehicle for this new non-elective,

shadow government are “community improvement corporations,”

the CICs. To quote from a handbook for county commissioners,

“A community improvement corporation (CIC) is a nonprofit

corporation organized under the provisions of Chapter 1724 of the

Revised Code for the sole purpose of promoting, advancing and

encouraging the industrial, economic, commercial and civic

development of the area.” In a report on CICs, the Columbus

Dispatch (2/6/95) quoted Mike Shannon, a lawyer who had served

as state community improvement corporations coordinator from

1985 to 1988. “They[CICs] can do everything from street beautification

to economic and industrial development.” Shannon added, “They

[CICs] can make loans to businesses or partnerships under certain

conditions; acquire property by such means as purchase or eminent

domain; and assume control of businesses in financial trouble.”

Mary Bearden, Dublin Ohio’s economic development coordinator,

told the Dispatch that CICs “have the rights and provisions by law

to act as developers, to buy land and develop property, but at an arm's

length away from bureaucracy.” What Bearden means by bureaucracy

is local government, local elected officials, or what we might generalize

and call the vestiges of local democracy. That is what has to be kept at

arm’s length.

In other words, CICs privatize local and county government; they turn

government, and especially the financial aspects of government, into a

business.

“It’s hard for cities to function like a business,” Shannon said. It’s hard

for cities to function like a business principally because there are all

those bothersome details of the democratic process to deal with, like

voters, elections, and public accountability. CICs members are not

elected, they are appointed and therefore are not subject to recall.

They are not subject to open records laws requests either.

They are required to make only annual budget reports, and the

reports of the SOGP can be very hazy. For example, in a SOGP bare

budget report for 1997, of $314,000 allotted for something called a

Small Business Education Center, $252,861 had been spent.

Just what was the Small Business Education Center that SOGP had

spent a quarter of million dollars on?

 

In a letter dated May 6, 1997,

Wally Leedom on behalf of the Shawnee Sentinel requested a detailed

breakout of the budget and a clarification on the Small Business Center.

 

There is no indication he ever got a response. A shadow government,

run like a business, can stonewall in such a situation, as I have

discovered several times when I tried to get information. CICs like

the SOGP can get away with, well, if not murder, at least highway robbery,

as the folks at Enron did.
What happened in Portsmouth was that responsibility for the economic

growth of the area was taken out of the hands of the local and county

government and put into the hands of a private, putatively non-profit

corporation that was made up of the influential and wealthy individuals

in the community, mostly lawyers, bankers, and business people, most of

whom had never sunk to running for public office but who were only too

willing to serve on a community improvement corporation.

 

Why were they so willing to serve on CICs? To adapt the famous remark of

Willy Sutton, because CICs are where the money is. Before there were

CICs, the greedy businessman actually had to get his hands dirty and run

for local public office. Not anymore, not when there are CICs.

Many people have been led to believe making government more

businesslike is the best possible thing that could happen. But is it?

Business people and chambers of commerce would have us believe

businessmen are a blessing and the heros of the American economy.

That's not the lesson I derive from American history. The famous

investigative journalist Lincoln Steffens wrote early in the last century,

 

“There is hardly an office from United States Senator down to

Alderman in any part of the country to which the business man has not been elected; yet politics remains corrupt, government pretty bad, and the selfish citizen has to hold himself in readiness like the

old volunteer firemen to rush forth at any hour, in any weather,

to prevent the fire; and he goes out sometimes and he puts out the

fire (after the damage is done) and he goes back to the shop sighing

for the business man in politics. The business man has failed in politics as he has in citizenship.

 

Why? Because politics is business. That’s what’s the matter

with it. That’s what’s the matter with everything—art, literature,

religion, journalism, law, medicine,—they’re all business . . .

The commercial spirit is the spirit of profit, not patriotism; of credit,

not honor; of individual gain, not national prosperity; of trade and

dickering, not principle. . .”

President Calvin Coolidge said the business of America was business. That was before the stock market crashed in 1929 and Americans suffered economically for nearly a decade. The head of General Motors said that what was good for General Motors was good for the country. Tell that to the auto workers who are losing their jobs and their benefits.  Thoreau said, “I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business.”

From the Bible to Thoreau’s Walden to Das Kapital, we are warned that money corrupts, and a lot of money corrupts absolutely. Everybody who is in the business of making money, every business person who seeks to increase his or her profits, runs the risk of being corrupted by the process.

Even people from humble religious backgrounds, as Ken Lay claimed to be, are not immune to becoming corrupted by money. And it is not just supposedly pious Christians but supposedly pious Jews, such as Jack Abramoff, who can resist the lure of staggering profits. Everyone seeking to maximize profits, to making as much money as possible, which is another side of being businesslike, is a potential liar and crook. Money, like atomic energy is tremendously powerful and capable of doing much good, but it is also capable of doing great harm, especially in the hands of the sanctimoniously unscrupulous.

The recent convictions of Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, along with the earlier convictions of other corporate culprits at Tyco, Adelphia, HealthSouth, WorldCom, etc., offer a history lesson about businessmen that Portsmouth can learn from. But this lesson will not be taught in Portsmouth schools or churches or discussed in the local media because our shadow government, with its financial impact on and influence over the local government, media,

and education, will not allow it.

 

That’s why the founding of the Shawnee Sentinel in 1995, at Shawnee State U., was an important event in Portsmouth’s history.

 

The Sentinel is far from perfect, and may not always be diplomatic or

grammatical, but it has relentlessly exposed our shadow government and their accomplices and stooges in the city government.

Posted by Robert Forrey at 1:21 PM

copied by Austin Leedom on Sunday, February 07, 2010 with the permission of Robert Forrey

 

By Austin Leedom, Jan 18, 2010

Shawnee Labor Council ,  through their agent Austin Keyser,

Secretary-Treasurer of the Shawnee District Labor Council, attacked the

new lady Mayor on her first day in Office!   Keyser has, during the past two years,

established a sordid reputation of association with influential financial persons of

rank and privilege known to have been party to grand theft of city funds.

His utterings and actions have tarnished the good name of unions to the

detriment of all American citizens.  Unions are essential to our nation and

to the prosperity of all Americans.

REPORT - PORTSMOUTH PROGRESS COMMITTEE

Austin Keyser and C. Clayton Johnson Together

Edited By Shawnee Sentinel Writer, Austin Leedom, 17 Jan 2010

Marting’s City Center/Justice Center Ballot Initiative failed decisively to win

approval by the citizens in a city-wide vote in the November 2008 election.

(Master swindler C. Clayton Johnson is notorious for stealing two million dollars

($2,000,000) from the citizens of Portsmouth in the infamous illegal sale of the

worthless old Martings Building on May 29, 2002 to the City of Portsmouth. 

Johnson was a generous contributor to Austin Keyser's plans to move Portsmouth

city government to the Martings Building.  Then Johnson would acquire the present

site of City Hall for "development" with the help of the iniquitous Mayor Jim Kalb? 

Now Kalb is out of office after receiving only 26% of the vote in a re-election

bid and Shawnee Labor Council Austin Keyser has attacked the new Mayor

who has no record of corruption in public office.  Why?)

Sentinel report of Feb 17, 2009 below.

This initiative was promoted by a group named PROGRESS PORTSMOUTH

COMMITTEE that collected over $14,000 from local contributors and spent

the money on election materials, postage, ads in newspapers and on radio.

Local newspapers and one radio station supported the COMMITTEE’S goals

with free propaganda. $3,586.00 was spent out of town.

Portsmouth Progress Committee ran a campaign to get votes to permit

City to renovate the Martings Building and move city government out of the

present City Hall into Martings. The Martings Building, an old decrepit building

that has become a well-known symbol of shame and scandal, was previously

rejected by the citizens.

Mayor Jim Kalb unlawfully donated city-owned materials to the campaign

to build big sign posters and Terry Ockerman donated sign materials.

The Committee spent $1,500.00 out of town with Cincinnati Lawyers

Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease, and also spent $2,086.50 for printing

in Ironton with The Printing Express.

Progress Portsmouth Committee of 1631 Carroll Drive

Portsmouth 45662 filed a report with the Scioto County

Board of Elections on December 11, 2008. Figures below

Were taken from this report.

Total monetary contributions: $14, 050.00
Total monetary expenditures: $ 12,067.32
Balance on hand: $390.02

Donations to the campaign:

IBEW 575 PCE Electricians Union (Austin Keyser) $ 2,500.00
C. Clayton Johnson, Johnson and Oliver, Lawyers $ 2,500.00

Terry Ockerman, Owner of Lofts at 840 Gallia Street $ 2,350,00

Neal Hatcher, Real Estate Developer $ 2,500.00

American Savings Bank (Robert Smith)` $ 1,000.00

Vandervort’s Ace Hardware $ 1,000.00
Michael Mearan, Lawyer and 1st Ward Councilman

$ 600.00 Glockner Enterprises, Inc.

$ 500.00  Scioto County Bar Association $ 500.00

Michael L. Gampp American Savings Bank $ 250.00

Eric M. Bloomfield, CPA $ 200.00
Tom Covert, Covert’s Furniture $ 250.00
Morgan Brothers Jewelers $ 250.00

Robert M. Smith American Savings Bank $ 250.00
John Sinclair, Realtor $ 150.00
Paul & Francesca Yost $ 150.00

John & Barb Hogan 2330 Grandview Retired $ 50.00

Chris Lute Lute Plumbing Supply $ 200.00

William and Barb Burke OSCO INDUSTRIES $ 250.00

Osco Industries, Inc. $ 500.00

Stephen Oliver Johnson and Oliver Lawyers $ 200.00

      Local Union leader Austin Keyser was prime speaker and cheer-leader

for the rejected Martings Movement.

KEYSER ONLY MEMBER OF PORTSMOUTH PROGRESS GANG TO PROFIT? 

Jim Kalb "buys union support for re-election" with City Funds?

Austin Keyser’s team lost the election but Keyser was awarded a consolation

prize as his wife, Charice Keyser, was recently hired to work in Mayor Jim Kalb’s office at a good starting rate , plus generous benefits.  In return for hiring Keyser's wife, will Mayor Kalb demand and receive another $5,000.00 contribution of Union Funds from Austin Keyser in Kalb's re-election campaign this fall?  With questionable use of city funds and union money by Jim Kalb and Austin Keyser they both will prosper. As our previous crooked Mayor, Greg Bauer, would say, "This is a win-win situation."

These two, Keyser and Kalb, are, as UNITED AUTO WORKERS UNION  leader Walter Reuther

said about crooked  union leaders Jimmy Hoffa and Dave Beck, "in bed together, hand in glove." 

See Portsmouth Daily Times article on Robo Call. 

Who is C. Clayton Johnson?   Why has Austin Keyser so entangled himself and his union with such corruption?   By Austin Leedom, Jan 18, 2010

Also published on MOE'S FORUM on February 28, 2009 under Election

thread BY AUSTIN LEEDOM

To NapoleonB and tim wyatt

Calvin Clayton Johnson is the son of Calvin Johnson, Jr., and Martha Clayton. He was born in 1945 in Seattle, Washington.

Sara Austin Rardin was born in Columbus, Ohio, her father listed as Jared Rardin and her mother as Ruth Ferguson.

Calvin Clayton Johnson, age 21, was married to Sara Austin Rardin, age 22, in the Second Presbyterian Church In Portsmouth, Ohio at 7:30 p.m. in August, 1966. (I don’t have the date of the wedding, but it was to be on a Saturday.)

Sara Rardin has been listed as the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Beverly D.
Horr, 2429 Micklethwait Road.

Wedding guests were Mr. and Mrs. Horr, Miss Molly Rardin, Tim Rardin,
John Horr, Miss Alice Horr, Miss Patricia Wingale, Rev. and Mrs. Jared J. Rardin, Mr. and Mrs. David A. Horr, Miss Gayle Oysler, Mrs. Glen E. Rardin,
Mr. and Mrs. W. Earl Clayton, Mrs. Calvin Johnson, Sr., Robert Volkmer, Alan Boese, Mr. and Mrs. William Wischman, Dee Hacquard, Attorney and Mrs. Everett Burton, Dr. and Mrs. Robert N. Counts, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Cooley and daughter, Ann, Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph A. Woods, Mr. and Mrs. Cecil A. Johnson, the honored couple, and the hosts.

On the wedding day Mr. and Mrs. Arthur N. Horr, Jr. hosted at a luncheon
for the wedding party and the families. In the late afternoon, Mr. and Mrs Richard D. Marting hosted a supper for the bride-elect’s family and attendants, and Dr. and Mrs. Counts entertained the prospective bridegroom’s attendants and family.

(Above information from page 16 of the August 5, 1966 edition of the
Portsmouth Daily Times. More information available in Volume 44, page
38 of the courthouse records.

This information was given to me by the late James Stewart,
retired IRS Agent and former Auditor of Portsmouth, about two years before he died.)

Written by Austin Leedom, February 27, 2009 - Edited on Jan 17, 2010

REPORT - PORTSMOUTH PROGRESS COMMITTEE

Austin Keyser and C. Clayton Johnson Together

Edited By Shawnee Sentinel Writer, Austin Leedom, 17 Jan 2010

Marting’s City Center/Justice Center Ballot Initiative failed decisively to win approval by the citizens in a city-wide vote in the November 2008 election.

(Master swindler C. Clayton Johnson is notorious for stealing two million dollars from the citizens of Portsmouth in the infamous illegal sale of the worthless old Martings Building on May 29, 2002 to the City of Portsmouth.  Johnson was a generous contributor to Austin Keyser's plans to move Portsmouth city government to the Martings Building.  Then Johnson would then acquire the present site of City Hall for "development" with the help of the iniquitous Mayor Jim Kalb.  Now Kalb is out of office after receiving only 26% of the vote in a re-election bid and now Shawnee Labor Council Austin Keyser has attacked the new Mayor who has no record of corruption in public office.  Why?)

Sentinel report of Feb 17, 2009 below.

This initiative was promoted by a group named

PROGRESS PORTSMOUTH COMMITTEE that collected

over $14,000 from local contributors and spent the

money on election materials, postage, ads in

newspapers and on radio. Local newspapers

and one radio station supported the COMMITTEE’S

goals with free propaganda. $3,586.00 was spent out

of town.

Portsmouth Progress Committee ran a

campaign to get votes to permit City to renovate

the Martings Building and move city government

out of the present City Hall into Martings. The

Martings Building, an old decrepit building that

has become a well-known symbol of shame and

scandal. was previously rejected by the citizens.

Mayor Jim Kalb unlawfully donated city-owned materials

to the campaign to build big sign posters and Terry

Ockerman donated sign materials.

The Committee spent $1,500.00 out of town with Cincinnati

Lawyers Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease, and also spent

$2,086.50 for printing in Ironton with The Printing Express.

Progress Portsmouth Committee of 1631 Carroll Drive

Portsmouth 45662 filed a report with the Scioto County

Board of Elections on December 11, 2008. Figures below

Were taken from this report.

Total monetary contributions: $14, 050.00
Total monetary expenditures: $ 12,067.32
Balance on hand: $390.02

Donations to the campaign:

IBEW 575 PCE Electricians Union (Austin Keyser) $ 2,500.00
C. Clayton Johnson, Johnson and Oliver, Lawyers $ 2,500.00

Terry Ockerman, Owner of Lofts at 840 Gallia Street $ 2,350,00

Neal Hatcher, Real Estate Developer $ 2,500.00American Savings Bank (Robert Smith)` $ 1,000.00

Vandervort’s Ace Hardware $ 1,000.00
Michael Mearan, Lawyer and 1st Ward Councilman $ 600.00 Glockner Enterprises, Inc.

$ 500.00  Scioto County Bar Association $ 500.00

Michael L. Gampp American Savings Bank $ 250.00

Eric M. Bloomfield, CPA $ 200.00
Tom Covert, Covert’s Furniture $ 250.00
Morgan Brothers Jewelers $ 250.00

Robert M. Smith American Savings Bank $ 250.00
John Sinclair, Realtor $ 150.00
Paul & Francesca Yost $ 150.00

John & Barb Hogan 2330 Grandview Retired $ 50.00

Chris Lute Lute Plumbing Supply $ 200.00

William and Barb Burke OSCO INDUSTRIES $ 250.00

Osco Industries, Inc. $ 500.00

Stephen Oliver Johnson and Oliver Lawyers $ 200.00

      Local Union leader Austin Keyser was prime speaker

and cheer-leader for the rejected Martings Movement.

KEYSER ONLY MEMBER OF PORTSMOUTH PROGRESS GANG TO PROFIT?  Jim Kalb "buys union support for re-election" with City Funds?

Austin Keyser’s team lost the election but Keyser was

awarded a consolation prize as his wife, Charice Keyser,

was recently hired to work in Mayor Jim Kalb’s office at a

good starting rate , plus generous benefits. In return for hiring Keyser's wife, will Mayor Kalb demand and receive another $5,000.00 contribution of Union Funds from Austin Keyser in Kalb's re-election

campaign ths fall?

With questionable use of city funds and union money by

Jim Kalb and Austin Keyser they both will prosper.

As our previous crooked Mayor, Greg Bauer, would say,

"This is a win-win situation."

These two, Keyser and Kalb, are, as UNITED AUTO WORKERS UNION  leader Walter Reuther said  about crooked  union leaders Jimmy Hoffa and Dave Beck, "in bed together, hand in glove."

By Shawnee Sentinel Writer, Austin Leedom, 19 Feb 09

MARTINGS AGAIN!  CITIZENS TO BE ROBBED ONCE MORE.

Written By Austin Leedom, Tuesday 2008

 Only two ordinances on agenda for August 11^th, 2008.

One item concerns the notorious Martings Building.

 In May 2002 boastful Council President Jim Kalb gloried in telling a newsman of the purchase of the Marting Building for $2,000,000 as a place to move city offices from the present deliberately neglected building on the Second Street site.  What Kalb didn’t tell the Community Common reporter was that the real purpose in moving City Government was to give away the prime real estate property where City Hall now sets to a notorious real estate developer.  Kalb, at that time, also did not tell that the sale to the City by multi-millionaire racketeer Attorney Clay Johnson was assisted by a fraudulent appraisal by real estate dealer Ken Rase and by secret illegal meetings with Clay Johnson, three councilmen at a time.

When citizens appealed in a lawsuit to the Courts, the Common Pleas Judge overturned the sale because it was illegal.  It was simply Grand Theft. 

      However, no city official sought prosecution which rightfully should have placed Clay Johnson, Mayor Greg Bauer, City Council President Jim Kalb, Councilman Howard Baughman and others behind bars for long years for a Racketeer Influenced Criminal Operation (RICO).

      No one cried theft.  Is it because they too, along with Clay Johnson, were also profiting personally from the crime?  Both the city and county prosecutors have since been replaced by their failure to win re-election.

       Item One on the Agenda is a second reading to pursue another major crooked deal that Mayor Jim Kalb and the City Council have made covertly with the admitted swindler Clay Johnson.   Johnson, an attorney, also is known as head of the Southern Ohio Growth Program (SOGP) group that has received tens of millions of dollars during recent years in

grants designated for “the betterment of the City of Portsmouth.” The incoming grant funds have never been properly, and publicly made accountable to the public.

    Mr. Johnson has also controlled the Chamber of Commerce, and various foundations, including the Martings Foundation which he created to get rid of the Marting Building by selling the useless building to the City of Portsmouth in 2002 for two millions of dollars.

   When the Common Pleas Court found Clay Johnson, and City Council in violation of the laws, the judge declared the purchase null and void. 

This made Clay Johnson once again the owner of Martings Building and short $600,000 of the $2,000,000 of stolen money.  He had used part of loot from the City treasury to pay off $600,000 in mortgages he had taken out on the old Martings building.  

      Swindler Clay Johnson did not return the $2,000, 000 to the City.

      At this point there should have been no reason why Clayton Johnson should not have been charged with grand theft and put away behind stone walls and iron bars where he could never again rob the people of Portsmouth.

     In 2006 the citizens of Portsmouth placed an initiative on the general Election ballot to ban the City from spending any money on any plan to do anything with the Martings Building without the approval of a vote by the citizens of Portsmouth in a general election.  

    The citizens with 70% of the vote approved this initiative. 

The citizens decisively indicated they wanted nothing to do with City Offices in the Marting Building.  The very words “Martings Building” are anathema to 70% of citizens because of the notoriety of criminal acts connected with the 2002 fraudulent purchase .

      Under the guidance of Mayor Kalb and appointed City Councilman Mike Mearan the city has already violated the 2006 initiative vote of the citizens by spending tens of thousands on an unbid roof repair contract for the Martings Annex.

      The multi-millionaire Clay Johnson, in a secret meeting in Johnson’s law office with Mayor Jim Kalb sold the Martings building to the City again by getting Mayor Kalb to agree to a refund of $1,400,000 of the stolen funds provided the City would follow Clay Johnson’s instructions on how to spend the money that Johnson had stolen from the citizens of Portsmouth in 2002.  

    City Council President Howard Baughman, a relative and close associate of Clay Johnson, has worked with Mayor Kalb to have the Council place an item on the fall ballot seeking approval of voters to spend about $6,000,000 on the re-hab of Martings building to provide unneeded spaces for vendors for retail sales, and to provide a few luxurious city offices for undeserving city officials such as Jim Kalb and Auditor Trent Williams.

   On the same ballot the citizens are to be asked to approve $6,000,000 for a new building on the site of the Adelphia-Mearan building on Washington Street near the OSCO Foundry.  This building is planned to house new Municipal Courtrooms and the City Police Department.  This will furnish the City with office spaces in the old Ohio Power Building, The Martings Building, the new Mearan-Adelphia building plus office spaces in the Old U.S. Navy Armory on Charles Street.  Then the present City Hall is to be given to a unnamed real estate developer.

      No government official has cried theft and asked that the thieves be taken before the bar of justice.  Is it because they too, along with Clay Johnson, were (or are) also profiting personally from the first $2,000,000 theft? 

     Both the city solicitor and the county prosecutor who failed to seek Grand Jury Investigation into the Martings Fraud of 2002 have since been replaced when they also failed to win re-election.  Will the present criminal activity of the participants of this new scandalous action be prosecuted?  

      Is Clay Johnson or the secret developer who is to be given the present city hall site paying off Councilmen Jerrold Albrecht, Michael Mearan, Howard Baughman, David Malone, and Mayor Jim Kalb with crisp new $100 bills?

     If these men are not being paid off they might as well be accepting bribe money as many citizens suspect that they are on the take?   They may as well have the game as they now have the name of being “bought and paid for.”

      Vote no on this latest Martings/Clay Johnson/Jim Kalb/Howard Baughman proposal to again rob the citizens of Portsmouth of millions of dollars, give away our present City Hall site, and raise citizen’s real estate taxes for the next twenty years to pay off the city debt their crimes will incur.

Updated By Austin Leedom, Tuesday, August 12, 2008

 IN MARTINGS FRAUD ACTION

By Austin Leedom, 9 June 08

Martings Madness
 Friday,August 12, 2005
Written by Andrew Feight –
copied from Moe’s Forum by Austin Leedom


This Martings controversy just makes little sense to me. It really borders on a madness. Why can't Kalb and the others just admit the whole thing was a huge mistake from the get-go? Judge Marshall's ruling was the chance to rectify the whole situation. The original deal was voided. So what insanity has got us to the point where the city council is once again voting on whether or not to renovate the martings building?

We all know about the backroom dealing, the overvalued appraisal, the violations of Ohio open meetings laws, etc. The city's taxpayers were swindled. The Portsmouth Daily Times' Rick Greene claims that there is no corruption in city government. What a joke! With the help of city officials like Jim Kalb, Greg Bauer, Ann Sydnor, Carol Caudill, and David Kuhn, the Martings Foundation unloaded a decrepit building and bankrupt business and walked away with 2 million dollars in tax payers's money. And in spite of Judge Marshall's ruling, which was suppose to have voided the sale, the Martings Foundation still has that 2 million dollars.

Rick Greene says that there is a vocal minority out here who wants to stack city council to vote in a certain way. Is that not what the martings foundation supporters also want? There is a battle going on and, contrary to the opinion of Rick Greene, it is not just a minority of people out here who think that any council member who votes to renovate that asbestos-filled building deserves to be denounced.

From what I've read the Martings Foundation is little more than a front for the business interests of Clayton Johnson. I've heard him described, not just in the pages of the Sentinel or here on Moe's Forum, but by local business owners, as the one man who runs this town. To be honest, I find it kind of hard to believe, that Portsmouth has such a powerful boss. We all like to believe that there is a weak, little man behind the curtain, controlling things. And Rick Greene says there is no such man. Yet, it does seem that it is Clayton Johnson who walked away with the $2 million.

Where is Judge Marshall on all of this?

As for Tim Loper.... If he votes to renovate the Martings building he deserves to be ridiculed and denounced.

There is no good reason for the city of Portsmouth to
do a damn thing with that building.

Andrew Feight
 
(12Aug05)

From Moe’s Forum August 10, 2005
I Disagree.
Revitalization of the downtown would be nice maybe. I really like the convenience of CVS and a good restaurant or bar but to try and make things like they used to be may not be wise. People like new things and places and hate traffic congestion. I for one like to pay my water bill at the present location. I don't like walking into municipal building at all. It only stands for corruption and blind justice and really makes me sick to even drive by the place. Why stick it in the middle of something your trying to revitalize. Why would anybody want the stench of city hall in the middle of his or her cities beautiful downtown. It's a disgusting thought. That bunch of crooks doesn’t deserve a building, except one with bars in the windows. They are violating a judge’s order to even enter that building at all.
What part of null and void don't they understand? No matter where the build or what they build it will only be the same degrading structure that we have now moved somewhere else. Put them in the old Naval Reserve by the sewage treatment, where the smell will fit in. Pray to the lord it doesn’t happen in our beautiful historic downtown area that's revitalizing it's self as we speak. Slowly but surely, the downtown is coming back in a way that is appropriate for the times and I only see the SOGP trying to CODLOCK that, by forcing their will on the people, by shoving that Marting's building down our throats to control the downtown as they have for many years, which has kept the downtown from coming back. Example of this can be found at the Columbia Music Hall, which will open for business in about thirty days, after all the efforts of SOGP and City Hall to prevent this from happening, have failed.
I for one do not want to see a city hall filled with crooked officials at all. Especially not down town as a shrine. They should be housed underground somewhere. Please don't be offended if you work there now and have an honest job and do it honestly, for I know some of you do and are fine people and you know you are surrounded by slime.
The SOGP only wants the river front property of the present municipal building for a casino and to rid their Martings foundation of it's debts. If they had the city's interest at heart they would do any thing for her, not just insist on this illegal purchase be sanctified and made holy. These people are bad people and it has been proved in court and showed by way of live videos. Their interest is not in our best interest.    From Moezine Productions.
DOUG DEEPE AGAINST
LATEST KALB PLAN
 
Article written by Austin Leedom at 2:00 a.m. Friday, July 29, 2005.
Investigative Reporter Doug Deepe said yesterday, “How stupid can Jim Kalb be?”  “This is the dumbest thing he has ever done,” said Doug.  “He plans to move city workers into that building without cleaning up the asbestos.  He has no concern for the health of the workers; he is willing to kill people off.  Fifteen to twenty years from now people will be dead from cancer from exposure to the carcinogens. 

Does he know or believe the scandal that he’s been bought off?  Is he part of it?  When Jim signed that contract (new contract with Clay Johnson) he assumed liability for the City,” said Doug.

KALB CAUGHT HIDING DOCUMENTS AGAIN

 Mayor Jim Kalb and SOGP Boss Clay Johnson had planned to tear down the old Marting Building and build a new structure for a City Hall.  Then, during a meeting Saturday night with the Citizens for Responsible Government, Kalb learned that the Citizens had a copy of the 27-page EPA report that declares the Marting building is filled with asbestos.  Jim Kalb has had a copy of this report for over a year, but didn’t publicly share this information with citizens.
 
Realizing that citizens were now aware of the asbestos and would be scrutinizing any destruction of the building to ascertain that proper procedures for removing the asbestos were followed, Kalb changed his mind about constructing a new building and now plans to make minor remediation and move employees into the Marting Building.
 
Kalb has repeatedly reported that asbestos removal from the Marting building would cost a very small sum, perhaps five to eight thousand dollars.  Kalb should have known better, maybe he did, maybe he was simply misinforming the public.
 
Although the ownership of the Marting Building is doubtful Kalb has been insistent in attempts to add real estate taxes onto the citizens to rebuild on the Marting site since he admittedly met secretly with Clay Johnson, and made a “deal” in December 2004.
 
According to the ruling of the Scioto County Common Pleas Court in November 2004, the building is now the property of Clay Johnson, who is also known as Marting Foundation, Marting Brothers, Southern Ohio Grown Partnership, and other shell corporations.
 
Jim Kalb admits meeting with Clay Johnson recently and signing a contract overruling the Court order and taking title to the Marting Building again, in return for a promise by Clay Johnson to return $1.4 Million dollars of the $2. Million that Johnson defrauded from the city in 2002, in a “deal” that Kalb helped engineer.  In this latest contract Jim Kalb forgave Clay Johnson and all others involved in the theft of city funds of all sins, “from the beginning of the world to the date of this agreement,” and he took possession of the building for the City.
 
Acceptance of the ”deal” from Clay Johnson was a good deal for Johnson, but a lousy one for the citizens of Portsmouth.  With any possession of the structure also comes the liability of ownership.  The fire-damaged building, filled with asbestos and other hazardous materials is a decrepit, deteriorating structure that possibly could endanger citizens.  It must be either be maintained or destroyed.  A big added advantage for Clay Johnson was that he could claim a major IRS deduction for his "generosity" in "giving" some of ill-gotten gains to the city if  the building was going to be used by the City government.
 
Clay Johnson had a real problem when his crooked deal of 2002 was declared null and void by the court in November 2004.  Johnson, then again, had a building that wouldn't burn he could not sell (to anyone but Jim Kalb).  He did not want to spend the money to tear the building down and remove the asbestos properly, and did not want the building to stand as an eyesore on Chillicothe Street.  Also, he did not want to pay taxes on the building.  (Clay Johnson has an almost new office building valued at $650,000 at Sixth and Washington Street on which he pays zero taxes.  He has tax abatement on that structure.) 
Only after the Common Pleas Court delared the sale illegal and possible prosecution arose did Clay Johnson make any move to make any amends for his crime.  Johnson needed another sucker; he called for Mayor Jim Kalb, one of his lead conspirators in the 2002 "deal."  Kalb rushed to Clay's office and they made another secret "deal."
 
Let us now take a look at renovation in Columbus and
see what is happening elsewhere.
 
Seneca Hotel Renovation in Columbus To Cost $15 Million
According to report by the Columbus Dispatch
$1.9 Million for Asbestos Removal alone.
The complete article on the Seneca Hotel can by read by linking onto MartingJohnson
 
(In the July 28, 2005 edition of the Columbus Dispatch there is an article about the old Seneca Hotel, which stands East of the State House in downtown Columbus.  A private person sold this building, which covers half a city block on some of the most valuable land in the State in October 2004 to a developer for $1.5 Million.
 
An initial estimate for remediation of this building was $300,000, but after the asbestos was discovered, cleanup costs increased to $1.9 Million.  The new owner has applied for a $1.9 million grant from the Ohio Department of Development to get rid of the asbestos.  (Kalb apparently has never thought of getting grant funds to help with renovation of the Marting building; he has only asked for huge increases in real estate taxes from the already overburdened property owners.)
 
Total costs for complete renovation of the Seneca Hotel are predicted to be $15 Million.  (The Marting renovation is estimated to be as high as $12.5 Million.)  
 
Perhaps Jim Kalb will reconsider and not place our City workers in the Marting Building without removing all existing health hazards.
 This article written by Austin Leedom at 2:00 a.m. Friday, July 29, 2005.
The article below was copied from Pages D1 and D2 of
 the Columbus Dispatch, dated Thursday, July 28, 2005
 by Austin Leedom.
BUILDING HOPE
Plans are afoot to convert the historic Seneca Hotel to apartments
Published: Thursday, July 28, 2005
BUSINESS 01D
By Mike Pramik
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Seneca timeline
1917: Seneca Hotel, designed by noted architect Frank Packard, opens in September with 250 rooms, a dining room, three party rooms and a rooftop garden.
1922: The University Club of Columbus establishes itself at the Seneca. The club closed in 1996.
1967: Building converted to a dormitory for students attending the Nationwide Beauty Academy and other schools Downtown.
1973: Ohio Environmental Protection Agency uses the Seneca as its headquarters.
1987: Ohio EPA moves out.
1989: Proposal to turn Seneca into low-income housing rejected.
1991: Cincinnati company makes bid to buy the Seneca from a trust, tear it down and build a parking lot; preservationists prevail.
1991: Central Ohio brothers Robert and Samuel C. Shamansky buy the Seneca for $300,000 and announce plans to convert it to apartments.
1995: City building inspectors ask to have the Seneca declared a public nuisance after exterior damage goes unrepaired.
1996: Shamanskys seek permit to demolish the building.
1998: Demolition permit denied by Columbus Board of Commission Appeals.
1999: City and Shamanskys agree on modifications to keep hotel safe.
2002: Samuel C. Shamansky dies.
2002: Seneca sold: Robert Shamansky and Don M. Casto Organization invest $510,000 as part of court-ordered split of the Shamanskys' property.
2004: Casto redevelopment plans for Seneca fall through. 2004: Campus Apartments buys Seneca, announces plans to convert it to apartments, retail shops and offices.
 
Source: Dispatch research
Leaky pipes have destroyed the ceilings, moisture has ruined the hardwood floors, and asbestos has spoiled the plaster.
But the Seneca Hotel, described as an eyesore even by its owner, one day could be a place that people will be happy to call home.
With a little help from the state, potentially.
Campus Apartments Inc. is asking the Ohio Department of Development for nearly $1.9 million in Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund money to rid the Seneca of asbestos. The grant would kick-start a rebirth of the 88-year-old building that was last used in 1987 as headquarters of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
The money is essential to moving the project forward, said David Adelman, president of Campus Apartments. The Philadelphia-based company acquired the Seneca in October for $1.5 million from Columbus lawyer Robert Shamansky.
"Based on where the local rental market is in Columbus and the cost of construction, it's a tough balance,'' Adelman said. "If we don't get this grant we'll have to wait until the rental market picks up'' to begin.
Adelman, a 1994 Ohio State University graduate, plans to gut the Seneca and construct 96 apartments and 15,000 square feet of retail shops and offices. He predicts market demand from Downtown college and university students, and workers in the Discovery District.
Rent would cost about $1.25 per square foot.
Campus Apartments plans to spend a little more than $1 million to clean up the Seneca and more than $10.2 million for its redevelopment. The state grant and cost of the building, combined with more than $175,000 offered by Columbus for streetscape improvements, would push the total project cost to more than $15 million.
Adelman was in Columbus this week showing the building to interested parties, including representatives of Columbus, the Ohio EPA, the Ohio Department of Development and Capital University.
Joseph Reidy, a lawyer at Schottenstein, Zox & Dunn who's representing Campus Apartments, said initial estimates for the Seneca's remediation were $300,000. But after inspectors found that the plaster in the hotel's ceilings and walls were riddled with asbestos, cleanup costs increased to nearly $1.9 million.
The Seneca is competing with 26 other projects, including four from Franklin County, for about $40 million in the current round of Clean Ohio money. The grants are expected to be awarded in December.
Columbus has proposed granting more than $175,000 for streetscape improvements at the Seneca, said Bob McLaughlin, the city's Downtown development manager.
It also has abated property taxes on the site for 10 years. The grant would require approval by the Columbus City Council.
Capital University, which owns land next to the Seneca, is solidly behind the project, said Jack Guttenberg, dean of Capital University Law School.
"It provides very easy access to high-quality housing for our students. They could wake up and be in school in five minutes.''
Noted architect Frank Packard designed the Seneca in 1917. It was the city's first high-rise hotel and is punctuated by white terra cotta adornments.
The building's use as a hotel gradually began to wane, and the Ohio EPA took it over in 1973. In 1987 the Seneca was boarded up when the EPA moved to Watermark Drive, and succeeding owners pledged to renovate the building.
They never did, though.
The Seneca almost fell victim to the wrecking ball on several occasions.
The most-recent reclamation attempt came after developer Don Casto and former owner Robert Shamansky combined to buy it in 2002. They declined to renovate, citing a lack of parking in the area.
But Adelman says he's not worried about parking. He said he has talked with Capital University about converting one of its lots to a parking structure if needed.
"We think that this building is getting the much-deserved attention that's long overdue,'' said Kate Matheny, executive director of the Columbus Landmarks Foundation. "It's not only reuse of a fabulous building but it's . . . a good model of how you can renovate a building using historic-preservation standards and make it very profitable.''
Matt Fergus, an environmental specialist at HZW Environmental Consultants of Mentor, said the building has a convenient space between the 10th floor and the roof for new mechanicals that would provide the Seneca with cool air, heat and water. A huge tank that was used to supply the hotel's guests with running water still stands near the roof but will be dismantled and removed.
The Seneca's interior is covered with ragged carpeting. There's peeling paint over most of the walls, and several ceilings have been rotted by water that leaked from abandoned pipes.
To make matters worse, some leftover plumbing fixtures were used by vagrants long after water was shut off, making remediation a health hazard.
"This is an unbelievable mess, isn't it?'' said one participant in Adelman's recent tour.
Adelman, whose firm has $250 million in real-estate assets, said he would like to start the remediation effort in December. It would last three or four months, then the interior would be cleared.
Adelman insists that he will follow through with the Seneca's rebirth, unlike those who failed to do so.
"A lot of people told me an out-of-towner couldn't get a deal done with (Shamansky) because no one in town could,'' Adelman said. "Let's just say I was persistent.''
mpramik@dispatch.com
 
Copied by Austin Leedom from Columbus Dispatch, Pages Dl and D2, dated July 28, 2005
 

 
This article written by Austin Leedom after receiving news of Kalb’s change of plans from Doug Deepe –Wednesday, 27 July, 2005 at 4:20 p.m. Re-posted 9:20 p.m.

"Kalb don't care."

KALB CONTINUES THE CLAY JOHNSON/MARTING PROJECT, BUT WITH A CHANGE OF PLANS.

Despite the recall of one Mayor and two councilmen last year, the promised recall of four more councilmen, plus the Solicitor, and in arrogant disregard of the wishes of two-thirds of the citizens, Jim Kalb has persisted in following the dictates of our unelected criminal king-pin leader, Clay Johnson. 

Kalb’s plan will cost the citizens over 12 Million in new real estate taxes, but “Kalb don’t care”.  Clay Johnson doesn’t pay any taxes on his nearly new $650,000 office building; he has tax abatement, so “Clay don’t care,” either.

Clay Johnson sold the Martings Building to the City in 2002 through the conspiracy of a corrupted Mayor  (Greg Bauer, now recalled) and the corrupt Council led by then-Council President Jim Kalb.  By default Kalb is now Mayor.

The Common Pleas Court ruled the deal was crooked in November 2004 and ordered the building returned to Clay Johnson.  Johnson is also known as boss of SOGP, Chamber of Commerce, Retail Merchants, Martings Brothers, Martings Foundation and a dozen other questionable groups.  Johnson doesn’t want the old building; it is filled with asbestos that may cost up to $2 Million to remove.

Johnson and Kalb have recently made another backroom, secret deal to return the building to the city again.  Kalb signed a deal in which he gave full absolution to Clay Johnson.  Jim Kalb gave “forgiveness from the beginning of time,” for all sins or crimes committed by Clay Johnson and his henchmen and for Greg Bauer, Jim Kalb and all other conspirators connected with the $2 Million crime in the sale and purchase of the Marting Building in 2002. 

CLAY CAN’T AFFORD THE OLD BUILDING AND HE CAN’T SELL IT TO ANYONE BUT JIM KALB

Clay Johnson doesn’t want the expense of removing the asbestos; he can’t sell the building.  In a benefit forum for Clay Johnson at  Portsmouth High School in February 2005 Johnson confessed he had earlier tried to sell the building for $900,000 to a group of out-of-town merchants.  Johnson boasted he had hired women to carry shopping bags and walk up and down in front of the Marting building while the prospective buyers were in town in an attempt to mislead the prospective purchasers into thinking Martings was a going, prosperous business.  The prospective buyers didn’t fall for the ruse and according to Clay Johnson, “left town without even saying good-bye.” 

When Clay Johnson’s attempt to defraud the out-of town merchants failed Johnson then made backroom deals with Jim Kalb, Greg Bauer and other rascals to sell the building to the taxpayers of Portsmouth for $2.Million.  When the dirty deal was finally announced to the public Jim Kalb, as Council President, proudly took credit for promoting the scam, according to frontpage articles in the Community Common on April 24, 2002

KALB HAS REPEATEDLY ATTEMPTED TO GET COUNCIL TO VOTE FOR MORE REAL ESTATE TAXES SO HE CAN BEGIN WORK ON THE MARTINGS BUILDING.  KALB OPENLY CONFESSED IN COUNCIL MEETING, THAT HE DID NOT INTEND TO HAVE BIDS ON ANY CONTRACTED WORK ON THIS PROJECT.  HE WOULD CHOOSE CONTRACTORS WITHOUT ANY BIDDING.   (easier to make deals when no one is watching)

The JIM KALB/CLAY JOHNSON proposals have been supported by Council President Howard Baughman, a close relative of Clay Johnson, Sixth Ward Councilman Marty Mohr, who publicly and proudly boasted of his back room meeting with Clay Johnson in December 2004 and Fourth Ward Councilman Jerrold Albrecht; (Mohr has boasted, “I have Albrecht in my pocket,”) and Second Ward Council David Malone who supported the Kalb/Johnson proposal until citizens filed recall action against him last month.  Two honest councilmen, Tim Loper and Bob Mollette have opposed the expenditure of funds for Kalb/Johnson plans for the Marting Building.  Mollette has said that the people will have to pay and they should have a right to vote on the project.  Mollette said citizens should have a voice in government,
not be victims of city government.

KALB SAYS CITIZENS WON’T GET TO VOTE ON PLAN

Kalb has publicly announced at a council meeting, he doesn’t intend to ever let the people have a vote on his plans to put them in debt.  The citizens of Portsmouth are going to have City offices at the site of the Martings Building, whether they like it not, according to Kalb

KALB NOW PLANS TO PUT CITY WORKERS IN HAZARDOUS OLD BUILDING.   “KALB DON’T CARE.”

Mayor Jim Kalb has privately said that he has changed his mind about tearing down the old Martings Building and building a new structure there.  It is the best thing for Clay Johnson and Jim Kalb; the "rest of us" will get massive increases in real estate tax for the next twenty-five years.  Kalb knows of the danger of exposure to asbestos but is willing to place the health of city workers in jeopardy for the sake of Clay Johnson's continued enrichment at our expense.

“Kalb don’t care;” Clay don’t care.”

This article written by Austin Leedom after receiving news of Kalb’s change of plans from Doug Deepe –Wednesday, 27 July, 2005 at 4:20 p.m. Re-posted 9:20 p.m.

88888888

Item below was copied From Doug’s Forum 25 February, 2005 at 3:00 p.m. – A posting by Lee Scott

Lee Scott Feb 25, 05 - 2:35 AM Update - Lawsuit will be ready today for filing. We will win!!!!
Barring any unseen problems, the citizens’ lawsuit to recoup our 2m+ will be filed today. I was told that we were getting a new offer presented by the end of the week. Now I understand that this is really no new offer but a revamping of the last and Martings will still be in control. A resounding NO IS THE ANSWER FROM THE CITIZENS!!!! We do not want these people ruling our city behind the scenes any more. This had a way to be solved last week by letting the citizens have their vote but it was jerked away at the last minute by Judas Malone and Little Dictator Mohr. Of course, Baughman was on their side but what would you expect, if this is not family enrichment to the tune of an immediate 2m (and a lot more to steal if we let them get by with this one) then there is no such thing as dishonesty in our government. I became really angry during the last recalls as I had stated at that time, "We have taken out the boil and now we need to clean up the infection." Well folks, we left Baughman in there now it has infected Mohr & Malone. I guess I was right after all, but not to gloat, let’s fix it. When we get the suit filed, it is time to work on other areas like our charter. Once we succeed with this civil action, hopefully it will not only bring in the state but will land a few in prison.