Shawnee Sentinel

October 2006 - Portsmouth Ohio City Council
According to Scioto County Board of Elections records, Howard Baughman made an 11th hour filling as a write-in candidate, hoping to keep his stranglehold on the taxpayers of Portsmouth as 5th ward councilman and city council president. It is no secret that he is related to the infamous Marting’s Foundation inventor, Clayton Johnson, as Baughman has admitted the relation during a council meeting. On many occasions Baughman stated he was not interested in running for office again; he claimed that he wanted to spend more time sitting on his front porch drinking beer.
We are all well aware of his employment at Coverts Furniture store, having seen the half page ad in the Daily Times promoting a 50th birthday sale on his behalf. The sale was a big flop, since they mentioned the word RECALL several times in the ad.
The question to voters come November will be: Do you want to continue with the only item on his agenda? The Martings Scam. Baughman has done nothing during his term on council but vote on ordinances to help promote his own betterment, such as giving his relative two million dollars, which is still being held hostage by Clayton Johnson.
We may never know the true reason Baughman has decided to run for re-election as a write-in candidate in the 5th Ward, but you can bet it wasn’t of his own choosing. Could it have been pressure applied from Covert’s to continue to try to place the city offices in the old Martings building, hoping to bring business to their store? Or was it the fact the Martings Foundation has been under attack along with the SOGP by other council members who are now questioning the ability of the property owners to pay for this albatross for the next 25 years.
It’s no secret that Baughman’s only mission, along with Mayor Kalb’s, is to tax whatever property owners are left in the city with the Martings tax. Forever. Neither Baughman, nor Kalb, as councilmen, have succeeded in encouraging any type of new employment in the city. Why should they? This would only hurt all the grant monies that the SOGP receives on behalf of the city in the way of grants from the United States Department of Agriculture. The city government never sees a penny of this money. It’s for the SOGP to decide who gets it.
Is it not clear why this city is dying? Placing city offices in the Martings Department Store building will not help a thing. Some of the downtown shop-owners are already complaining about parking problems and the prospect of the criminal element waiting for court appearances on Chillicothe Street, it is feared, would entice shoplifters and potential break-ins. Is this what’s left of downtown needs? Howie Baughman thinks so and that’s why he running as a write-in for the 5th ward council seat.
This is the only reason for Baughman and Kalb to stay in control-- to force the Martings building down the people’s throats, like it or not.