First, some definitions from Merriam-Webster:
Carpetbagger: outsider especially a nonresident or new resident who seeks private gain from an area often by meddling in its business or politics
Commitment: a promise to do or give something and the attitude of someone who works very hard to do or support something
Welfare: a government program for poor or unemployed people that helps pay for their food, housing, medical costs, etc. and aid in the form of money or necessities for those in need
Before getting into Nathan’s GoFundMe page, let’s have a look at his employment:
Nathan lists four (4) current jobs on his public LinkedIn Page (retrieved: www.linkedin.com/in/nathanjmartin on December 9, 2021). They include:
Sales Executive, Demme Learning Mar 2017 – Present 4 years 10 months
President, Innovation Properties, Apr 2017 – Present 4 years 9 months
Ward 4 City Councilman City of Shelby Ohio, Jan 2014 – Present 8 years
Managing Partner, Cincinnatus Consulting Aug 2009 – Present 12 years 5 months
A closer look reveals the following:
Sales Executive, Demme Learning – Demme Learning, 207 Bucky Drive, Lititz, PA 17543
It appears Nathan’s employment is confirmed as shown in the following photograph (retrieved December 10, 2021 from https://demmelearning.com/about/)
For someone who works for an organization dedicated to school curriculums, it didn’t take long for Nathan to reject homeschooling for his children when it became inconvenient. On May 8, 2021, it was reported, “Going from a family of six to a family of 10 created many changes. Homeschooling was no longer feasible.” (https://www.ashlandsource.com/thrive/mothers-day-fostering-fills-martin-home-with-love/article_f5f431f4-b047-11eb-9da9-8bc627fde5bf.html)
President, Innovation Properties, Apr 2017 – Present 4 years 9 months
Innovation Properties, LLC is a FOR PROFIT LLC solely owned by Nathan Martin.
Ohio SOS, https://businesssearch.ohiosos.gov/
Entity # 4010076
Filing Type: Domestic For-Profit Limited Liability Company
Original Filing Date: 04/01/2017
Document Number: 201708605302
Business Name: Innovation Properties, LLC
Agent/Registrant Information: Nathan Martin
Address (confirmed)
04/01/2017
Active
According to the Richland County Auditor, Nathan, through his solely owned Innovation Properties, LLC, purchased a second home and property located on Auburn Avenue in Shelby from JJB Rentals on May 28, 2021. The purchase price was $100,000. Online records indicate Nathan’s brother and family live at this address.
Does Nathan receive rental income from this property? If he needs money, why not sell this property to pay his obligations? More on this later as he claims, “I … simply cannot pay all these additional expenses on my own.” (GoFundMe page)
Ward 4 City Councilman City of Shelby Ohio, Jan 2014 – Present 8 years
It didn’t take long for Nathan to vote himself two pay raises on City Council. Here’s Nathan co-sponsoring and voting for his first raise: “Ordinance 2-2017 passed with a 3-2 vote on Monday evening, increasing council salaries to $7,415 annually from Jan. 1, 2018 to Jan. 6, 2020. Councilmen … Nathan Martin voted yes …”
Before sponsoring and voting for his raise, Nathan and other Councilmembers had a salary of $3,772 annually. That is a 96.58% pay increase! That’s right. Nathan co-sponsored and voted to nearly double his salary on city council.
Source:
Once again on January 22, 2019 Nathan co-sponsored and voted himself another raise (Ordinance No. 1-2019) 258.01 Salaries of Member of Council.
(b) Effective January 6, 2020, through January 3, 2022, the salary for each member of City Council shall be $7,920 annually, to be paid biweekly.
As something Nathan has personally brought up regarding his councilmember position, this is a post from Nathan’s “Martin for State Representative” website.
Did Nathan vote to give himself a raise?
Yes. But this is a bit misleading. Council cannot enact pay raises for themselves during that term. They have to go through an election first. He voted to raise all Councilmember’s salaries to around $550/month. Which still makes Shelby Councilmembers one of the lowest paid elected offices in all of Richland County. He was unopposed in his next election and therefore was a recipient of the pay raise. (https://campaign.nathanjmartin.com/facts/)
He is deliberately being deceitful while telling the truth. He is the one being “misleading” and not by a “bit”. He fails to mention he co-sponsored and voted for a nearly doubling of councilmembers salaries in 2017 (see above for details and source.) What Nathan is talking about on his campaign website is his co-sponsorship and vote for a SECOND pay raise in 2019. Dishonesty by omission. Remember, Nathan self-identifies first and foremost as a “conservative.”
Also, regarding his second pay raise, it wasn’t for “around $550/month”, it was for exactly $505/month. Nathan should know the exact amount; it’s public money and he is a public figure charged with managing it. As a councilmember, Nathan has a fiduciary responsibility for his constituent’s money, but he doesn’t know how much he is spending on his own raises. He tries to soft sell his own pay raises by justifying them with election requirements (“Council cannot enact pay raises for themselves during that term. They have to go through an election first.”) and then by being the victim (again) of “one of the lowest paid elected offices in all of Richland County.”
Make no mistake – Nathan knew the salary for Shelby councilmembers before he ran for office and again after re-election – yet, he didn’t run on that platform or even mention it during the campaign. Why? There is nothing wrong with asking for a pay raise, many folks do that throughout their careers with their employers. We’ve probably all done it at some point in our work lives. Why hide it?
Here’s why: he can’t call himself a “conservative” then turn around and spend more Shelby Taxpayer money on himself. Nathan himself has demonstrated his dishonesty by omission; the very definition of paltering.
How many Shelby residents can say they’ve received raise in the past five years, let alone two, with one nearly doubling their salary? Councilmember Nathan Martin can say that! He co-sponsored and voted himself TWO pay raises. Nathan says he a “conservative” – is this what it means to be a “conservative”? How soon will “conservative” Councilmember Martin raise our taxes to cover these pay increases he co-sponsored and voted for? Is this “Servant Leadership”? Is this putting Shelby first? Is this “conservative”?
We’ve looked at Nathan’s public job history since 2000 when he entered the job market (LinkedIn). It would be accurate to describe the majority of Nathan’s work experience as community organizing. Remember when “conservatives” like Nathan criticized then-candidate Barack Obama for being a “community organizer”?
The following are facts and not to be interpreted as anything other than highlighting Nathan’s hypocrisy when it comes to his “conservative” credentials.
Of Nathan’s 14 different jobs he’s held in the past nearly 22 years, only 3 would qualify as non-not for profit, government or self-owned LLC’s; they are K&R Italian (Tennessee), Walmart (unknown, 7 months) and Demme Learning (Pennsylvania). When the National Guard, his self-owned LLC’s, Richland County GOP, and Shelby City Council jobs are removed from the 14 different jobs Nathan has held, his work experience is an average of 2.47 years per job. Does this explain why he voted twice to give himself two pay raises? Can Shelby count on Nathan to stick around and work for Shelby’s future?
NONE of Nathan’s jobs have been or are in Ohio, let alone Shelby (more on this later) unless you count his personal LLC’s which employ no one except Nathan and his position on City Council representing those with Ohio and Shelby jobs and who pay his salary.
The only thing “conservative” about Nathan’s work history is just how short he stayed with each job (less than two and a half years) in the past 22 years.
As we’ll see later, Nathan likes to put down those who don’t share his “conservative” values, but he takes government money and has done little to give back to the community in terms of work and paying his fair share of taxes. The residents of Shelby deserve a representative who at least works in Ohio and contributes to Ohio’s economy, instead of voting himself two pay raises for his government job and complaining.
We think a question the workers, taxpayers and voters of Shelby deserve answered is, “Why doesn’t Nathan contribute to his salary by working and paying income taxes in Shelby?” Is this why so many hard working Shelby residents are so disappointed in government that doesn’t work for them?
Managing Partner, Cincinnatus Consulting Aug 2009 – Present 12 years 5 months
Ohio SOS, https://businesssearch.ohiosos.gov/
Entity # 1881951
Filing Type: Domestic For-Profit Limited Liability Company
Original Filing Date: 09/08/2009
Document Number: 200925200544
Business Name: Cincinnatus Consulting, LLC
Agent/Registrant Information: Nathan Martin
Address (confirmed)
09/08/2009
Active
There is little information available online for this business. There appears to be a LinkedIn page and blog Nathan last posted on June 7, 2012 here: https://nathanjmartin.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/final-post-migrating-to-nathanjmartin-com/.
When clicking this link on Nathan’s personal blog “The Return of Cincinnatus” (his for-profit LLC is named “Cincinnatus Consulting”), it takes you to this site:
https://www.nathanjmartin.com/wp-signup.php?new=nathanjmartin.com. Although signups are disabled, when you click the “Home” button, you are directed here:
Which states, “Thank you for stopping by! Please visit campaign.nathanjmartin.com for more information!”
When you click on this link, you are directed to Nathan’s “Martin for State Representative” Official Campaign website.
Let’s continue to look at how Nathan has co-mingled and blurred the line between his personal and his political/campaign.
This same Registrant (Cincinnatus Consulting, LLC) filed with the Ohio Secretary of State a Trade Name Registration, first used on March 1, 2020 for “GRANT & PATTON'S CIGAR CLUB” at the same address, has the same Entity Number and same Authorized Representative (Nathan Martin). Nathan is now using this “Cigar Club” as his official campaign website business registration.
Remember how we showed earlier Nathan paid his own firm, Cincinnatus Consulting $464.00 during his campaign for State Representative in the first quarter of 2020 (www.transparencyusa.org)?
This record from Ohio Secretary of State shows in the same first quarter of 2020 Nathan incorporated a for-profit corporation for a “Cigar Club” using the same business his campaign paid $464.23.
In other words to clarify:
Nathan owns a for-profit business (Cincinnatus Consulting) that seemingly operates a political campaign (Martin for State Representative). This political campaign (Martin for State Representative) paid the for-profit company (Cincinnatus Consulting) owned by Nathan $464.23 for Nathan to presumably “consult” on his own campaign (Martin for State Representative).
We’ll address this more later, but Nathan doesn’t publicize he gets money from the government for being a foster parent. As we’ll see on his GoFundMe page, Nathan states, “I am a husband and father of 11 kids and simply cannot pay all these additional expenses on my own.” Four of his “11 kids” are foster children. According to the Columbus Dispatch (May 15, 2021), “foster parents in Ohio receive anywhere from $300 to $6,000 a month, per child.” So in addition to his numerous jobs posted on his social media, he may receive between $1,200 and $24,000 per month or $14,400 and $288,000 per year in government money for being a foster parent.
There is nothing wrong with and no shame associated with getting assistance from the government or anywhere else in order to be housed, fed, clothed and for medical care. Most of us have needed a hand during our lives at least once and we’ve received that assistance as family loans, public assistance, even short-term payday loans or bank loans. The difference is Nathan. As a “conservative” he thinks this public assistance is to be shamed and criticized. We’ll look at this closer when we address his GoFundMe page directly.
The line separating Nathan’s personal and public (political/campaign) seems blurred, if not nonexistent. We are not accusing Nathan of any possible unlawful or unethical activity. We are simply raising reasonable questions that, as his constituents, require an in-depth and truthful explanation from Nathan.
Before moving on to Nathan’s actual “official statement” on his Twitter account and GoFundMe page, let look at what Nathan says about trust – from his own website: (https://campaign.nathanjmartin.com/facts/)
How can we trust you over what we are reading?
Nathan has held dozens of public meetings, meet and greets, and town halls. He hosts a weekly livestream Fireside Chat on Facebook, and he has knocked on thousands of doors to meet with you directly.
Merriam-Webster defines trust as, “belief that someone or something is reliable, good, honest, effective, etc.” We sincerely wish our councilmember (Nathan) was:
Reliable Able to be trusted to do or provide what is needed (Merriam-Webster)
Good Correct or proper (Merriam-Webster)
Honest Not hiding the truth about someone or something (Merriam-Webster)
Effective Producing a result that is wanted (Merriam-Webster)
From what we’ve seen so far (and there is much more to come), we have serious doubts about these characteristics within Nathan. From the available proof so far, Nathan’s character as a councilmember for the City of Shelby, Ward 4 residents is disappointingly lacking.
Did you notice Nathan never addressed the issue of trust in his response above? That’s because Nathan demonstrates his dishonesty by omitting important facts. More information coming soon. As we wrote in our first post, if there are any inaccuracies in our reporting, please let us know right away and we’ll correct them right away.
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