O'Brien, Arkansas Times, Have it Wrong on Martin

"Ark Times has it wrong", like "Dog Bites Man", is not really news.
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The Arkansas Times website has joined Democrat Secretary of State Candidate Patrick O'Brien in launching a series of accusations against Republican Secretary of State Candidate Mark Martin. At the risk of never becoming a "content partner" with Max and Company, I have personal knowledge of this situation and can report to you that Ark Times and O'Brien are full of baloney on this one.

Besides erroneously reporting that what Martin was complaining about had already been corrected (it has not, because Martin was complaining about the cover-up and Obrien's claim of "flawless" administration of over 30 elections, not simply the original crime), the non-journalists at the reality-challenged lefty Ark Times questioned whether or not Martin was being honest when he reported a business and a campaign office at an address off of Wagon Wheel road that houses Kimbal Plumbing.

Here are some questions Mr. O'Brien has that I can clear up for him...

On Wednesday, Rep. Martin for the first time declared that he has a separate business address. He listed this address as 9310 E. Wagon Wheel Road, Springdale, Arkansas. Records show this building is occupied by Kimbel Mechanical Systems. Kimbel Mechanical Systems donated $500.00 to the Martin campaign on July 26, 2010.

“Why did this mysterious business office suddenly appear on the same day that media sources were questioning Rep. Martin’s use of taxpayer funds for his campaign for Secretary of State,” said O’Brien, “Is this really his business office? When did it become his business office? Mark needs to answer these questions.” According to an Associated Press report, Rep. Martin claims that the Wagon Wheel address has been his business office for four years. However, when asked for an address by the reporter he had to look up the address because he did not know it offhand.

Answers: Yes, it really is his business office and has been for years. Several years ago, when I took a job with a now-defunct building and home supply company, I visited him in his office at the Kimbal facility. We each went over what we did in an effort to decide if we could help each other. It turns out that we could not, but he explained to me that Kimball needed services like his from time to time, just not often enough to justify a full time employee to do it. What they did instead was cut him a deal on running his business from an office in their business. That way they could use him when needed, but he could also seek out other clients.

By the way, he did legislative businees out of that office too. That was where my sister and I visited him about an idea that later became HB 1665, sponsored by Martin.

So Mr. O'Brien can rest easy on that one. I can testify that Martin has done business, both building and legislative, out of the Kimball office for years.