AR-Sec. State: A lie has speed, but truth has endurance

Two days ago, when writing about Representative Mark Martin’s assertion that he had his district office (for which he is reimbursed by the state) at 9310 Wagon Wheel Rd. in Springdale, which is where he also claimed that his company, M3 Engineering, Inc., had its office, I wrote:

Basically, if you want to distill this entire post down to ten words, my message is this: Martin is lying and he hopes voters will buy it.  I base this conclusion on the fact that every single bit of available evidence, most of which was created and/or filed by Martin, lists M³‘s address as Pittman Street; none of it even references Wagon Wheel Rd.
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If Martin’s company really does have an office in Springdale, one would assume that there would be some record of it.

In search of that record, I did some digging and found the Springdale municipal code.  (Cue the screenshot!)

(click to embiggen)

So, if M3 Engineering “performs or attempts to perform any part” of its business within the city of Springdale, Martin would have to have a business license.  I contacted the Springdale city clerk’s office and asked if Mark Martin had a license on Wagon Wheel Rd. or elsewhere in Springdale.  The reply I received stated:

I looked for this name in our business license data base and I didn’t see him listed in it.

Curious! But I thought Martin said he’d been using that office for four years.  Hmm.  Then I realized that I hadn’t asked about M3 Engineering; perhaps his license was listed under the business name rather than his own.  I followed-up with the Springdale City Clerk’s office regarding this alternative.

We don’t have that business listed in our database. You may want to check with the City of Prairie Grove and the City of Farmington.

Oh, my. This is troubling. It’s also uproariously funny and more than a tad ironic coming the day after Martin whines about Pat O’Brien’s alleged misdeeds.
In the interest of thoroughness, I did contact Prairie Grove to ask about a business license for Martin or M3 at 123 N. Pittman.  The reply?

We don’t have any record of a business license at that location and no record of a business being at that location.

Someone in Prairie Grove might want to take a gander at M3 Engineering, Inc.’s website.

You know, there might have been a time, even in the recent past, where an excuse like Martin’s would have held up, at least until after the election.  Thanks to the internet and email, that day is gone.  Martin, however, either fails to realize this fact or he is hoping voters remain uninformed and anti-Democrat enough that Martin can slide by despite his misdeeds.  If it’s the former, then I don’t really want to hear how technologically savvy he is ever again.  If it’s the latter, well … is that really the kind of outlook you want the Secretary of State to have?

UPDATE: Now I see that Martin might actually have an office on Wagon Wheel.  If it’s true that “it really is his business office and has been for years,” Martin might want to mention that to the city of Springdale.