You have reached Rumor Central, how may I direct your hallucination?
A persistent rumor has been going around that if Ed Martin, Ernie Zavodnyik, and Sue Lang are elected, the trio will push for the firing of City Manager Marty Black. Information from city hall and from a couple of (deleted as disinformation) posts on this web site's message board made it appear that Venice Taxpayers League prez Herb Levine  had made the statement. Levine has denied on several occasions ever making the statement, however the rumor persisted.

Uncomfortable with being the attributed source of the rumor, Levine scheduled a meeting with Black with the intent to to dispel the myth. That meeting took place this past Friday afternoon. Levine scheduled the meeting after I spoke with Black in an attempt on my part to try to find the original source of the rumor.

Levine stated after his meeting with Black that Black understood and acknowledged that Levine was not the source of the rumor.

Black would not make an on-the-record comment about either the rumor or his meeting with Levine, but it was clear from our conversation prior to the meeting that Black was resigned to the prospect of having some mud thrown at him in this particularly high-strung election season. Sort of a "I've got a city to manage, let me know when you folks stop killing each other" attitude. That's not at all what Black said, but I'm confident from our conversation that it's the kind of thing that he wanted to say if his position would allow him to make a statement.

In spite of that sentiment, no substantive political mud has been thrown in Black's direction publicly from either set of candidates and there appears to be no intent to do so from either side as the election draws nearer.

All of which makes this election season a bit of a rarity, as despite the high emotional level in the race to November, personalities and people are taking a back seat to the actual issues.

So far, anyway.

Source of rumor appears to be from within the CQG
At this point, it would appear that the rumor is disinformation being spread as a scare tactic by CQG supporters, as all three challengers have fervently denied trying to make Black a campaign issue or wanting his dismissal, this in separate inquiries made by me to each candidate over the past week or so.

I was finally able to get a video clip of mayoral candidate Ed Martin debunking the rumor, this after being asked the question by a citizen at a recent home-based meet and greet campaign stop. The lighting and the audio isn't the best, but the point is clear as Ed Martin publicly tackles the rumor head-on.

John Patten is the editor and publisher of Venice Florida! dot com and had previously worked in broadcasting for over 12 years. He can also be incredibly rude at times.