Mike Martin (politician)

Michael Wayne Martin, known as Mike Martin (born March 9, 1952),^[1] is a Republican former member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 13 in Longview in Gregg County, Texas. He served from January 1981 until his resignation in April 1982.^[2]

In the 1980 general election, Martin, who then listed his occupation as a carpenter, unseated Democratic State Representative James E. Mankins, who was considered a prime possibility to become Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. In the 1981 House session, Martin offered one bill, which never came to a vote, a proposal to require the teaching of creationism along with the theory of evolution in public school science classes. He was named as one of the "Ten Worst Legislators" by Texas Monthly magazine.^[3]

In the summer of 1981, Martin was living in a recreational vehicle at a mobile home park in east Austin. Four shotgun blasts were fired at his vehicle on the night of July 31, and three struck Martin in his left arm. At first he attributed the shooting to a Satanic cult that he had reportedly been investigating.

Thereafter, Charles Goff, a cousin of Martin's, said that he had fired the shots at Martin's behest to gain political sympathy for the young lawmaker who was contemplating a run for the Texas State Senate in 1982. Goff also said that Martin had offered him a high-paying state job. Martin fled, but Texas Rangers eventually apprehended Martin at his mother's farmhouse just outside Longview, where he was found hiding in a stereo cabinet.^[4]

Martin was charged with perjury by Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle and subsequently resigned from the state House after a protracted legal fight. He pleaded guilty in April 1982 and was convicted of misdemeanor perjury and paid a $2000 fine, though his lawyer said he did not admit staging the shooting.^[5]

By 2007, Martin said that the shots were the result of a road rage incident which he had instigated on South Congress Avenue in Austin,^[6] and he has given an account of the incident on his website.^[7] In the spring of 1982, voters in a special election returned Mankins to the vacant House seat.^[8]

In 1984, he and his wife, Debbie Martin, later of Garland, Texas, divorced. In July 1986, Martin left with his two children, Michael Trent Martin (born 1978) and Arianna Martin (born 1981) to live and work in Wellington, New Zealand. A federal case was brought over the custody, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation allowed him to return the children to the United States late in 1988.^[9]

In 2007, Martin, then fifty-five and an electrical engineer for a hospital, was living in Travis County and ran for town council in Bee Cave under the name "Wayne Martin."^[6]

References

External links

• Legislature roster from the Texas Legislative Research Library.
• "Texas Tale: A shotgun approach to p.r." TIME Monday, Sep. 07, 1981
• Burka, Paul "1982 Texas Monthly Bum Steer Awards" Texas Monthly (free registration needed, also on Google Books