Frank Lewis of the Portsmouth Daily Times (PDT) has already written two fawning stories about James R. “Rich” Saddler, II, the “Portsmouth Boy,” as he has been dubbed since taking the oath of office (shown at left). To me, “Portsmouth Boy” sounds a lot like “Good ol’ boy.” The biggest stigma anyone can have in Portsmouth, where Southern Hospitality Begins, is not to be a “Good ol’ boy,” born and bred. To be part of the Ol’ Boy network means you have connections you can count on to promote and, when necessary, protect you. In the words of Waylon Jennings’ “Good Ole Boys”:Just the good ol’ boys,
Never meanin’ no harm.
Beats all you ever saw,
Getting in trouble with the law
Though he had previously shown no interest or involvement in city government, not even in attending city council meetings, Saddler was given the Ward Two council seat previously occupied by Rev. David Malone, the serial adulterer, who became mayor of Portsmouth by default, having been previously twice rejected soundly by voters in mayoral primaries. Malone’s are the soulless shoes Saddler will be attempting to fill as Ward Two councilman. In Portsmouth politics, if at first you don’t succeed, lie, lie again until you eventually get the office you want without being elected to it. We’ve all seen this movie before: How to Succeed in Portsmouth Politics without Really Running for Office.
How different Frank Lewis’ fawning treatment of James R. Saddler, the “Portsmouth Boy,” is from his treatment of Mayor Jane Murray, the “Portsmouth girl,” whose recall from office was as much the result of Lewis’ biased and slanted reporting as anything else. The facts in this post about Saddler are just the kind that the PDT pays Lewis not to report. These facts are a matter of public record and Lewis could have easily found them, if he didn’t already know about them. He could have found them on his computer without leaving his office. But of course if he had done any investigative reporting on Saddler or any of the other puppets who have been appointed to city council in the past, he would not keep his job at the PDT for long. He would have been fired, just as Jeff Barron and Mike Deaterla, two able and honest reporters, were fired.
One for the Road
On 1 December 2008, Saddler appeared in Portsmouth’s Municipal Court, where Judge Russell D. Kegley was presiding. Saddler was charged with driving erratically and under the influence (Municipal Court Case Number 0808118). At this court appearance, Saddler’s lawyer Justin Blume, a former law partner of Steve Mowery, managed to negotiate limited driving privileges for him. Under this tentative agreement, Saddler was permitted to drive back and forth from his job with the Ohio Department of Transportation, in Chillicothe; he was permitted to drive to stores to buy family necessities; he was permitted to drive to the doctor’s office; and he was permitted to drive to the municipal court for appearances related to his case. Had Saddler attended the twice a month City Council meetings, perhaps his lawyer could have gotten him permission to attend those too. Saddler’s limited driving privileges were to run from 17 December 2008 to 27 November 2009.
However, in a subsequent court appearance, on 16 February 2009, after pleading no contest, Saddler received a 15-day jail sentence and he lost the limited driver privileges that he had been previously granted. His license was suspended for a year, effective from 27 November 2008 to 27 November 2009. In addition, he was required to complete a driver intervention program by 5 May 2009. On 3 April 2009, a month before that deadline, Saddler completed the driver intervention program. That was apparently an important achievement, because Judge Kegley vacated the previous serious DUI charge, which was amended to the somewhat euphemistic “Physical Control,” which is what the Municipal Court records now state he was guilty of. But “Physical Control” is defined in ORC 4511 as, “Operating [a] vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs.” Judge Kegley suspended Saddler’s 15-day jail sentence but he did not excuse him from the $425.00 fine, plus court costs. Saddler was put on probation for one year, which would have ended in April 2010.
Seeing the Light
Seeing the Light
It is odd that Saddler, in the sixteen years between 1992 and 2008, when he was living and driving in Portsmouth, had twenty-one traffic violations but not one of them was from a Portsmouth police officer. Every one of the twenty-one citations was from the Ohio State Police. Was it only on the highways between Portsmouth and Chillicothe, where he worked for the Ohio Department of Transportation for twenty years, that Saddler imbibed, unbuckled his seatbelt, and put his foot on the gas? It is at least remotely possible there were no citations from Portsmouth police because Saddler, as a “Portsmouth Boy,” enjoyed some of the Ol’ Boy privileges that former Police Chief Tom “Hell-on-Wheels” Bihl apparently had. In 1992, Bihl totaled two parked cars on Offnere Street, but he was not asked to take a breathalyzer test and only belatedly, after a public outcry, was he cited for “Failure to Control,” that is failure to control his vehicle, which sounds like the understatement of all understatements. It is possible, though very unlikely, that Saddler had no problems in Portsmouth because he was restrained by its many traffic lights, lights that Chief Horner has waged a campaign to reduce in number, even at some of the city’s most dangerous intersections. But Saddler is just the kind of driver who is all the more dangerous the fewer traffic lights there are in the city.
Troubling Question
I conclude with a troubling question. What will happen when and if Saddler ever gets a traffic citation for driving under the influence in Portsmouth? Will he go to court to appeal it, instead of pleading no contest, now that as a councilman he might have more political influence? And suppose, if he appeals the violation, that Steve Mowery is the presiding judge at the municipal court. Mowery and Saddler are friends and possibly close friends. Prior to being elected municipal judge, Mowery represented Saddler in his divorce. Mowery is also one of the “friends” on Saddler’s Facebook site, where there is a photo of him (shown at left). When Mowery campaigned for municipal judge he said that the Municipal Building should be torn down and the city government, including the municipal court, should be moved to the Marting building. Mowery’s opponent in the contest for municipal judge correctly pointed out at a campaign debate that whether the Municipal Building should be torn down and whether the city government should move to the Marting building is something the voters, not a municipal judge, should decide. The proposal to renovate the Marting building and move city offices there has already been defeated twice by the voters of Portsmouth. But the recall of Mayor Murray and the installation of David Malone as her replacement, and the “giving” of the Ward Two council seat to Saddler could be the prelude to the completion of the Marting Scam. David Malone, the Uncle Tom of Portsmouth politics, has already indicated he is in favor of spending millions of dollars that the city doesn’t have to renovate the Marting building, and we know how Albrecht, Haas, and Basham would vote on the question. Saddler boasted to Lewis that he’s going to be his own man and that he’s not going to be dictated to by others. Let’s hope that’s the case and that he has finally seen the light and has the backbone to back up his boast, becoming one of the best council members ever. But if he turns out to be no better as a councilman than he’s been as a driver, we’re in for a hell of a ride.
* * *
Traffic Violations of James R. Saddler, II
1
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 02/24/1992
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 9201332
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: SEAT BELT-DRIV
Case Type: Traffic
2
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 01/06/1997
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 9700112
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: 64/45 SPEED
Case Type: Traffic
3
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 09/19/1997
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 9705887
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: 67/55 SPEED
Case Type: Traffic
4
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 06/15/2000
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 0004500
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: 70/55 SPEED
Case Type: Traffic
5
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 06/15/2000
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 0004500
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: SEAT BELT-DRIV
Case Type: Traffic
6
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 04/17/2001
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 0102442
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: FOLLOW TOO CLOS
Case Type: Traffic
7
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 04/17/2001
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 0102442
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: SEAT BELT-DRIV
Case Type: Traffic
8
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 10/12/2001
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 0107630
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: 66/55 SPEED
Case Type: Traffic
9
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 10/12/2001
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 0107630
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: SEAT BELT-DRIV
Case Type: Traffic
10
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 05/17/2002
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 0202903
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: 65/55 SPEED
Case Type: Traffic
11
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 05/17/2002
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 0202903
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: SEAT BELT-DRIV
Case Type: Traffic
12
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Case #: 9705887
Docket Entry: Click
Filed: 09/19/1997
Arr. Agency: OSP
Charge: SEAT BELT-DRIV
Case Type: Traffic
13
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 09/19/1997
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 9705900
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: 67/55 SPEED
Case Type: Traffic
14
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 07/09/2002
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 0204754
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: 50/40 SPEED
Case Type: Traffic
15
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 07/09/2002
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 0204754
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: SEAT BELT-DRIV
Case Type: Traffic
16
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 10/18/2006
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 0606781
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: 75/55 SPEED
Case Type: Traffic
17
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 05/08/2007
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 0702581
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: 58/35 SPEED
Case Type: Traffic
18
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 05/08/2007
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 0702581
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: SEAT BELT-DRIV
Case Type: Traffic
19
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 01/04/2008
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 0800067
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: 70/55 SPEED
Case Type: Traffic
20
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 12/01/2008
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 0808118
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: PHYSICAL CONTRO
Case Type: Traffic
21
Concerning: Saddler, James R II
D.B.A./A.K.A.:
Filed: 12/01/2008
Arr. Agency: OSP
Case #: 0808118
Docket Entry: Click
Charge: MARKED LANES
Case Type: Traffic
