Mike Martin running for Bee Cave City Council
Former state rep. once pleaded guilty to perjury, and is now running as Wayne Martin
By Marty Toohey, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Saturday, May 05, 2007
In the early 1980s, state Rep. Mike Martin made national news when prosecutors accused him of staging his own shooting to generate publicity and then lying about what really happened. Now, 25 years after he blamed the shooting on a satanic cult, left state politics and admitted to perjury under a plea bargain, the 55-year-old Martin is asking Bee Cave voters to elect him to their City Council. "I just feel the people of Bee Cave need my expertise" to manage growth, he said. He is running in the May 12 election as Wayne Martin, using his middle name...
Martin said he moved to Bee Cave three years ago and has been living in Travis County since 1996. He is working as an electrical engineer for a hospital. He said he moved back to manage rental properties, and "I was also hoping (District Attorney) Ronnie Earle had passed away and I could dance on his grave. Unfortunately, I hear he's in good health." Martin still maintains that he is the victim of an overzealous prosecution by Earle, who alleged the Longview Republican had himself shot to generate voter sympathy. But Martin now admits he lied for years about what happened to him on July 31, 1981... Earle, who laughed this week at Martin's story, said he hadn't heard that Martin was living in the Austin area, and "I was floored, frankly, to hear he's running for office."
This much is not in dispute: At 2:40 a.m., at the East Austin mobile home park where the 29-year-old Martin lived as a freshman legislator, four shotgun blasts were fired. Three shotgun pellets struck Martin in the left arm. His Ford Fairmont was riddled with dime-sized holes. As media attention increased in the following days, authorities soon grew suspicious of Martin's reluctance to discuss the details. He ignored two summonses from Travis County grand juries while blaming the attack on a black-masked member of the Guardian Angels of the Underworld, a cult he said he was about to expose. A few days later, Martin's cousin, 29-year-old Charles Goff, came to police and said he pulled the trigger. Goff said Martin had offered him a high-paying state job in exchange. The next day, authorities found Martin at his mother's northeast Texas farmhouse, hiding in a stereo cabinet...
Today, Martin says it was not a satanic cult, political enemies or Charles Goff who shot him. He said it was a drive-by shooting "that started with road rage on my part." In the Internet story, Martin writes that after a late-night legislative session on redistricting, he was driving home on South Congress Avenue when a maroon 1972 Buick began tailgating him. A chase ensued, and both drivers flashed guns. Martin says he fired six shots at the Buick's front tire. A return gunshot shattered his back right window, he says. Martin drove to Austin police headquarters, but decided not to seek help. He had, after all, fired first. He drove home and threw his gun into the river. But when he walked back to his Fairmont, the maroon Buick pulled up. A man stepped out and opened fire, hitting Martin's arm and car, Martin says. He said he kept the story quiet "because it would be the end of my career."...
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/05/05/5martin.html
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