On the Tenth Day of Grinchmas

On the Tenth Day of Grinchmas, the Grinches want to see... Ten Months of Murray... Nine Forrey FAILS... Eight empty theaters... Seven Abominations... Six Grinches on Council... No golden rings... Fourth Ward Foolishness... Three Evil Websites... Two-Faced Bloggers... And the Portsmouth Times in bankruptcy.

Immediately following the November 2009 election of Jane Murray to be the Mayor of Portsmouth, we wished her and her administration the best of luck and success. On Nov. 4, 2009, we wrote:

We would like to congratulate all of the winners in yesterday's election. All of them, especially Ms. Murray, had impressive victories, and we sincerely wish them all the success in the world. The Mayor-elect and the new City Councilmen certainly have their work cut out for them. We wish them nothing but success.

After that time, we did not criticize Murray. Instead, we focused on informing our readers about the CAVE People of Portsmouth and their hateful and damaging influence on City government, hoping against hope, that Murray had somehow learned from her past legacy of failure and that she would be an effective mayor.

Unfortunately, Murray's narcissism and monomaniacal tendencies are just too strong. We feared she was a train wreck waiting to happen, but her first week is worse than even we imagined. Incredibly, even before taking office, as mayor-elect (!), she became a mouthpiece for a wacky group of anti-nuclear activists whose stated goal is to close down the US Enrichment Corp. at Piketon. Murray called for actions that would cost literally 1000s of jobs that might otherwise come to our area. She said that land which is planned to be used for industrial development should used for an Indian cultural heritage park!?!

We told you about the embarrassing failure of her inept political career in Kentucky, which left behind a series of bankrupt so-called cultural projects, including among many others the failed UK Basketball Museum. (Click on highlighted text for more information.)

So now the biggest question around the City of Portsmouth is

"HOW CAN WE GET RID OF THIS CRAZY WOMAN???"

Recall is the most obvious answer. Unfortunately, according to the City Charter, the recall process will take many months.

Jan . 4: Murray took office. The charter states that recalls of elected officials must be initiated by petitions passed and signed by registered voters of Portsmouth. The recall petitions must be gotten from the City Clerk. The Clerk is not authorized to release until the elected official has been in office for six months.

July 6: Six months from Murray's first day in office would be July 4, Independence Day. But the Fourth is a Sunday. The City Building will be closed on Monday to celebrate the holiday. So recall petitions will available on Tuesday, July 6.

July-August: Petitions must be passed, signed, and returned to the City Clerk. After her review and verification of signatures, the signed petitions will be sent to the Scioto Board of Elections for certification.

September-October: Depending on the speed with which the petitions are circulated and the number of signatures to verify, a special election could be scheduled in October, or even September. However, due to the extra cost of a special election, it is likely that the actual recall vote would take place in the Fall General Election.

November 2: The first Tuesday in November. The likely decision point for the voters of Portsmouth to recall Jane Murray. If the election were held today, we believe she would be recalled. After all she only got 46% of the vote in a three-way election, so she started out with the majority of the voters voting against her. We will be surprised if she can un-do the damage she has done among the citizenry in time to save her job, especially if she does not learn from her early mistakes,

Mid-November: The Board of Elections certify the election results. If the recall is successful, Murray's term would end immediately upon the certification of results. The president of Council, currently David Malone (former candidate for mayor, himself) would immediately become mayor, or another person on City Council, if Malone declines.

After ten months and a few days, Murray's disastrous tenure, would be over and her reign of error over our town would end.

What a fitting end to Murray's treacherous political career, which began with Murray organizing a recall effort against former Council President, Howard Baughman.