The Marting Foundation: The Scamarting of Portsmouth
Statement of
purpose of the Marting Foundation on its first filing with the IRS for the year
2002
The death
of the crooked SOGP (the Southern Ohio Growth Partnership) is a blessed
event in the history of Portsmouth, just
as May 29th, 2002, the day the Marting Scam was perpetrated, was “a day that
should live in infamy,” as Andrew Feight
put it in “‘Follow the Money’: A History of the Marting’s Scandal.” The SOGP is
dead, but its partner-in-crime, the philanthropic front entity known as the
Marting Foundation, continues to feebly live on, further tarnishing the once
respected, even beloved, Marting name. According to official documents filed
with the Internal Revenue Service, the Foundation was established as a
charitable organization: “For the purpose of promoting and advancing economic
betterment in Portsmouth and Scioto County on a not for profit basis.” That’s
what the official statement says, but I believe the Foundation was established for the economic betterment of the corrupt
clique that controls the city on a for-profit basis. I believe the Foundation was established by the nearly
bankrupt Marting Brothers Company with the aim of liquidating that company and paying off its local stockholders, especially the
largest shareholder (26%), Richard D. Marting, by laundering the $2 million dollars the company acquired in
2002 from its illegal sale to the city of the decrepit and
scandalously over-appraised Marting department store building.
The Foundation worked closely with
the Marting Company to deceive the
public. Working closely was not hard to do since the trustees of the Foundation
were also the trustees of the Marting Company, and for all we know they were
also trustees of the short-lived front, the Marting Brothers Acquisition
Company, also created in 1996. The overall scheme was so incredibly complicated
and convoluted it was like a distorting mirror
in a fun house. It was not just a conflict of interest; it was shameless collusion.
From 1996, when the Foundation was created, to 2010, Wisnieswski, Johnson, Arnett, Jenkins, and
Payne were also trustees of the
SOGP, making it a trifecta: The Marting Company, the Marting Foundation, and the SOGP. Julia S. Wisniewski, the
chairperson of the Foundation, is the owner of Smith’s Drugs, in downtown
Portsmouth. Randal M. Arnett is the CEO of the Southern Ohio Medical Center
(SOMC). Gerald R. Jenkins is the former president and member of the board of the
American Savings Bank. Roy Payne, now deceased, was the first dean of the
College of Business at Shawnee State U. Clayton Johnson, was the lawyer who
represented the Marting Company and masterminded the sale of the Marting building to the city.
Together, Julia Smith, as Chairperson and Johnson, as ringleader, were the
Bonnie and Clyde of the Foundation, only they didn’t rob banks: they borrowed
money from them, which was not hard since Johnson was on the board of directors
of two of the banks involved: Bank One and the Oak Hill Bank.
The money
that the Foundation dispensed from 2002 to 2010 went principally to two
organizations. (1)The primary recipient, the Portsmouth city government, received a $200,000 “kickback,” as Feight
called it. Those who follow the machinations of the city council more closely
than I do tell me that exactly where and to whom in the city government the
$200,000 went is something of a mystery. When asked in a city council meeting,
neither Mayor Kalb nor City Auditor Williams could say just where the money
went or how it was used. (2)The next highest amount granted was a total of
$65,000 to the Southern Ohio Museum, a
pet project of Johnson’s wife, who was its executive director. The Foundation’s
2003 filing with the I.R.S. (below) shows
the first down payments, of $100,000 and $5,000, to these favored recipients. Note
that the highlighted second column asks if the recipient of a grant is an
individual, has he or she any relationship to any
manager of the foundation. The museum is an organization, of course, not an individual,
so “NONE” is listed, but it still appears to be a conflict of interest, if not nepotism.
What gets
publicized are the smaller grants the Foundation makes to other groups and organizations,
such as those that make shelter available to homeless pets and people. The
Foundation’s more public-relations-minded, smaller grants get publicized while
the much larger grants to the pet organization of Johnson’s wife and to the
crooks in city government are not considered front page news. Conceived in
scandal, dedicated to the laundering of the illegal money from the sale of the
Marting building, the Marting Foundation should give back the money it robbed back to the city and dissolve so the Marting scandle can finally be
put behind us. The Marting name is now mud and Wisniewski and the others will be too as long they
are associated with the Foundation.
Julia Wisniewski ( right) giving Marting Foundation check
to Sierra Haven Animal Rescue Center, in 2011.
To read Andrew Feight's outstanding article on the Marting Scam, "Follow the Money," visit his Lower Scioto Valley website : click here
To read Clayton Johnson's testimony before Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation on Teresa Mollette's terrific website, click here
