Mike Martin (politician)
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Michael W. "Mike" Martin was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1981 to 1982. Martin was a member of the Republican Party.
Martin won his seat due, in part, to the victory of Ronald Reagan in his district which included Gregg County, Texas. He upset four-term Democrat incumbent, Jimmy Mankins who was favored to become the next speaker of the house.
As a legislator, Martin submitted a bill to include creation science in the curriculum of schools which also taught evolution. At the end of the session in June 1981, editor Paul Burka of Texas Monthly named Martin one of the 10 worst legislators. The Democratic state senator in Martin's district was considering running for Governor in 1982. He told reporters Martin was planning on running for his seat.
On July 31, 1981 during the First Called Session of the Sixty-seventh Texas Legislature, Martin was shot in the left arm outside his trailer in Austin, Texas with 00-buckshot. Soon after the shooting, unidentified spokespeople from the office of prosecutor, Ronnie Earle, released information to the Austin Statesman that they felt Martin was telling inconsistent stories to the police. They claimed he first said he had no idea who did it. Later he said it was a satanic cult. At the end it was political enemies. Martin responded to the leaks by saying he was asked to give police all possibilities and said he had no idea why the district attorney's office would be saying such things. Earle personally made a public announcement that Martin was cooperating with police and that no one from his office was releasing information saying otherwise to the Statesman.
Martin's shooting hit national news and set off a barrage of speculation as to who might want him dead. Governor Bill Clements instructed the Texas Rangers to leave no rock uncovered until the hitman was found. Martin was brought in for questioning more than 10 times during the first seven days after his shooting. After the last he made a formal announcement that he would not be returning to Austin.
Earle formed a grand jury to look into the shooting of Martin and invited him to attend without issuing a subpoena. Martin refused to appear before the grand jury by issuing a statement that he had already given officials all the information he knew. Gregg County District Attorney, Rob Foster, shortly arrested Martin on a three-year-old assault charge. The charge was immediately dismissed due to time limits and lack of evidence. Upon release Martin appeared before reporters and accused Gregg County officials of using their offices to ruin him politically.
The day after his release on the assault charge, Martin voluntarily appeared before Earle's grand jury. Martin's cousin, Charles Goff, had previously appeared before the grand jury and admitted he helped Martin stage the event to advance Martin's political career. He claimed Martin offered him a state job as payment, though Texas has strong nepotism laws forbidding the hiring of relatives. Goff had served prison time and had three outstanding felony warrants pending at the time of his testimony; however, the grand jury chose to take his word over Martin's. After Martin’s denial of Goff’s accusations before the grand jury, Earle filed felony perjury charges against the freshman legislator. Martin plead “not guilty” and a year later, worked out a plea bargain with Earle by admitting to misdemeanor perjury charges relating to the renting of a car around the time of the shooting. Martin resigned his House seat on April 22, 1982 and withdrew from the upcoming election.
Records indicate that during the investigation of Martin's shooting, Charles Goff's mother contacted Texas Ranger, Glenn Elliott, and asked him to come to her home. While there, Charles Goff arrived and voluntarily told Elliott he was the shooter and that Martin asked him to do it. When quizzed by the grand jury why he volunteered the information when there was no suspicion on him, he claimed his mother made him do it and that he wanted to see justice done. To this day, Martin still refutes Goff's claim. Martin insists that Goff admitted to friends and relatives that Gregg County prosecutors offered him a deal. The alleged deal was that they would drop unrelated pending charges in return for his story. Records do show that Goff had three felony warrants for burglary at the time but was never prosecuted for any.
Martin filed several suits against Ronnie Earle, the Gregg County District Attorney, Rob Foster, and Charles Goff for civil rights violations. A federal judge dismissed the last case in June 1985 on grounds that prosecutors are immune from civil suits.
After his wife divorced him, Martin left the country with his two young children in 1986 and joined the World Health Organization. The FBI found him in New Zealand in 1989 where they worked out an agreement to return the children to his ex-wife while dropping kidnapping charges.
Goff's last known location was in the Easton Unit, a maximum-security prison near Houston. Goff was jailed for parole violation for owning a gun he used in the accidental slaying of a friend while fishing. Though unconfirmed, relatives claim Goff was killed by a fellow inmate in 1989 and was buried in a state owned cemetery near the prison. Others claim, in retribution, the brothers of the friend he killed murdered Goff and his body was never found. Close friends of both families believe Martin had Goff killed in either scenario. Martin claims he was overseas from 1986 through 1995.
[edit] Martin’s denials to news articles
Press: Martin told three different stories to the police.
Martin: “They asked me to give them any reason someone would shoot me. I gave them names of enemies, told them about threatening phone calls, and even said it could be politically motivated for all I knew. I never gave three stories. Earle and the Austin Statesman made that up. If supposition is telling a different story, then by their rules I must have told more than fifteen such tales”.
Press: Martin pleads guilty to having himself shot and resigned.
Martin: “I plead guilty to misinforming the grand jury about a car I had rented around the time of the shooting. Earle wanted me to admit to his accusations, but I refused to say that I was stupid enough to stand in front of a 12 gauge shotgun, filled with double ought buckshot, at 90 yards, while someone fired 8 shells at me in the dark. I did the plea bargain, not because I was guilty, but because I ran out of money and couldn't pay my attorney. Earle offered me an easy way out and I took it. Since the media had already ruined any chance of re-election, it seemed stupid to continue. I hope it happens to Earle some day”.
Press: Martin was close to his cousin and offered him a state job to help him.
Martin: Charles Goff was a criminal who spent time behind bars. My family had not even seen him in years before this. Earle could not find anyone to testify that they had ever seen me with Goff. It is my guess that Goff was offered a deal by Earle to tell his lie so other non-related charges against him would be dropped. And what about nepotism laws? How would I be able to live up to a promise of a state job when I couldn’t deliver? Succeeding in politics means you can have no skeletons in your closet. Charles Goff would have always been that skeleton if what Earle claimed were true”.
Press: Martin had himself wounded to gain sympathy so he could further his career.
Martin: “You don’t get elected to office on the sympathy vote. You get elected on your record in office. At the time of the shooting the Democrats had no plan to run anyone against me because of my popularity at home. And who in their right mind would deliberately stand in front of a 12-gauge shotgun at 90 yards in the dark? I was raised on a farm and know that you cannot trust the pattern of a shotgun blast. At that distance there would have been a strong possibility that one of the double ought pellets would have hit me in the head. There was also a 300-gallon propane tank behind me. Yet, somehow, Ronnie Earle managed to convince a grand jury and the Texas media that it was possible to arrange for three of 9 slugs (per shell) to hit me only in the arm. I'd like to see someone attempt to prove that can be done".
Press: Martin was voted as one of the 10 worst legislators.
Martin: “I was never voted for any shuch thing. Editor, Paul Burka selected me as a bad legislator for Texas Monthly. Burka hates all right wing Christians and makes it a habit to use his magazine to blackball them. I felt it an honor to be considered a threat by such a card carrying liberal Democrat. At the same time I had received top ratings from conservative publications, but of course the mainstream media loves their liberal colleagues and holds them up as the standard in the Austin area.”
Press: Martin was so naive about politics that he went to Austin shortly after his election and told all of his predecessor’s staff that they were fired.
Martin: “I never stepped in Mankin’s office in my entire life. If this story was true, why did the Austin Statesman not identify their source? I believe it was Mankins himself who gave such false information to the reporter because he was upset that I beat him. The Statesman published many such fabrications about me and other newspapers began quoting the lies as fact without quoting anyone. It is a shame public figures cannot hold the media liable for such things”.
Press: Martin had a list of people to call in case he was shot, which included his Public Relations spokesman, but not the police or an ambulance.
Martin: “No one testified to this accusation before the grand jury. It was made up by a reporter with the Houston Star Telegraph who based it on “reliable sources” in her story after my plea bargain. I was never quoted by anyone saying to call people in case I was shot. Where she came up with this is anyone's guess."
Press: Martin wanted public schools to teach Biblical Creationism in place of evolution.
Martin: “My bill read – Scientific evidence, or theories derived from scientific finds that tend to give validity to information found in religious publications, shall not be excluded from Texas schools based on separation of church and state. In other words, if Noah’s Ark was found by scientist today, would it be right that schools exclude that information from students because it gives validity to a story in the Bible? That is what is happening in our schools. There is ample evidence that a world wide flood happened in recent history on this planet. That evidence is being excluded from public schools because it tends to give support to Noah’s story, plus it ruins many evolution theories that are being taught in our schools.”
Press: Martin was a 1-issue legislator. He got into office to push the Bible at our public schools.
Martin: “I ran for public office because I became sick and tired of high property taxes and increasing laws that took away my property rights. I ran on the platform that I would not entertain lobbiests unless they were from my district. I promised not to file any legislation unless it was something important to my constituents. I honored those commitments while in office. My district was in the heart of the Texas Bible Belt. The "Creation Science" legislation was done at the request of many of the leaders of my district. It was endorsed by all but one of the school superintendents from my district. Up to the time of the shooting I was well respected by my constituents and would have been reelected without effort. If not filing a bunch of extra laws for insurance companies and special interest groups is basis for being a poor legislator, then I was the worst and proud of it”.
Press: Martin filed several frivolous lawsuits against prosecutors.
Martin: “During a very sensitive time in my life a DA dug up a complaint against me that was over 3 years old and had me arrested for it. He instructed the police to make sure I was hand-cuffed and marched before a mob of reporters waiting outside the courthouse. The DA knew he could never try the case due to statutes of limitations. The arrest was nothing more than a show produced by him to make me look like a criminal before my constituents. The media had a party over it and plastered my picture in cuffs all over the country. It was clearly a violation of my rights. To add insult to injury, agents from the prosecutor's office illegally planted listening devices in my home. When caught at it, I couldn't get anyone to prosecute the prosecutor. The federal judge threw it out after giving a long speech that it was clearly a case involving political in-fighting and that he did not want to tie up his court on such a matter. Meanwhile, prosecutors are still free to use the power of their office to destroy politicians they don't like. Ronnie Earle has openly done this many times without intervention by the courts."
Press: Martin's cousin, Charles Goff, mysteriously disappeared in 1983, just prior to Martin leaving the country.
Martin: "The Dallas Morning News wanted to make it appear that I might have knocked Goff off in retalliation and hid his body where no one could find it. Truth is, Goff ended up back in prison in 84. The last report our family received was that he was killed while in the Easton Prison Unit in 89. The State of Texas buried him after no one claimed the body. Honestly, I'd probably dance on his grave if I could find it".
[edit] References
- Article from the Texas Observer mentioning Martin’s wounding
- Legislature roster from the Texas Legislative Research Library.
- [1] from The Smart Marks.com
- [2] Article written by Mike Martin
- [3] from TIME Sept 81
- [4] Short story by Mike Martin
- [5] Editorial by Martin on Creation Science
| Preceded by James E. “Jimmy” Mankins |
Member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 13 (Longview) 1981–1982 |
Succeeded by James E. “Jimmy” Mankins |
