Joe Gerth's 9 Lies About Johnathan Masters

by Johnathan Masters

Geoffrey M. Young, the only Democratic Gubernatorial candidate, and I have passed the threshold for having enough newspapers in different regions covering us for the KET Debates. Now all we need is $100,000 in donations for Kentucky's State-run Media to cover us. The Sierra Club has the exact same threshold.

The media coverage wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but it covers a KET prerequisite.

Here is Joe Gerth:

A Turd Alert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTgRhEWD6uQ

Whenever the masses sees a Joe Gerth, immediately, cat calls of “turd alert” from passersby Gerth mistakenly takes as complimentary, and the attention he's getting engrosses him, and makes him feel the star he wishes himself to be.

Joe Gerth is a lying corporate whore. 

I had friended Gerth on facebook for quite some time. I invited Gerth to the LMPD Police Brutality Trial a few years back, but being that I was just a working class nobody, he decided against giving me some much needed attention on a huge breach of injustice that happened to me because of Joel Casse and Aaron Browning. That case is currently pending. But there was no mention of that in Gerth's hit/hatchet job on me. When I was just a student, going to college in Louisville, I was nobody to print up a story of some horrendous thing that had happened to me, because Gerth protects those in power. He's not a real journalist.

I also had the displeasure of meeting Gerth at the Realtor's Forum on February 3, 2015. He was an unsavory creature, a creepy Gollum blob, and after quoting Frederick Douglass to him, “Those who deprives one to speak also deprives the listeners”, he snidely said something about Young and I being a good pair. That's particularly odd because Adam Beam of the Associated Press, who writes their articles without attaching his name on it, and Beam and Gerth have a partnership, where they pass each other stories, was standing next to Gerth. Beam and Berth make quite a team. Beam was telling me that a dead body wouldn't make the newspapers, and yet, if it bleeds, it leads; if it's gory, then it's a story. The media is focused on the superficial; the actual issues, like Bevin threatening to take away Medicaid from Kentuckians should be making headlines everywhere. That's an issue that will affect 600,000 Kentuckians. That's literally death panels that Bevin is talking about, solemnly.

My unfortunate run-ins with assholes doesn't change much about the landscape of Kentucky, unless Criminal Justice Reform is on the table... for my position on the issues do reflect my struggles, they are one and the same. Just like when Jack Conway or Will T. Scott cover up for their family so they aren't held accountable for dealing drugs, or being entrapped by the police.

Did the right-wing corporate media print any of this?

Gerth's narrative is that Young is a no-count... so then... why the coverage on me? Gerth has to force his narrative on the Kentucky people. He knows very little about politics. Gerth is a liar, a fool, and biased as hell. He's a 5 alarm drama queen gossip columnist. He's no journalist. And he's certainly no expert in anything remotely considered politics.

Gerth should make up his mind... are we important enough to cover, or not?

The media did their damnedest to Gatewood.... what they did to Gatewood is abominable. And Gatewood was even leading the polls. Young is polling at 13% at the starting gate. That's not bad. It's better than Nader ever got.

Kentucky's media is to blame for Mitch McConnell, and all of her poor statistics.

Joseph P. Gerth wrote lots of horse crap about me. Here's a list of Joe Gerth's 7 lies about me:

1. “He has a problem with administrators.” Not true. I have an aversion to assholes.

2. “He was supposed to be at a pre-trial hearing...” Not true. I wasn't supposed to be there. Delahanty wanted so very badly to arrest me on the Breckinridge County “secret” warrant he had recently discovered. My public attorney told me not to be there. I have been going to these pre-trial hearings for about a year now, nearly 6 to 8 times. I've gone. It was continued. Then the last time, in January I believe, my public attorney told me that I didn't need to be at the next pre-trial hearing, so I wasn't there. As I was told.

3. “Haynes said he asked me to leave because he hadn't conducted a criminal background check on me.” Haynes just made this up. Haynes lied the day before about doing surveys on Civics and Democracy, and he lied the next day about the teachers not wanting to do the surveys. Now add this new lie to Haynes long laundry list of lies. Keith P. Haynes of Ohio County is a certified pathological liar.

4. I didn't deny any “altercation” with Haynes. We had an argument, and I thought it was over right where it happened. Clearly Haynes wants to do me harm. I denied knowing about the warrant, not Haynes her way. I was told differently by Breckinridge County officials regarding the warrant. Plus, my address is on my Driver's License, and the warrant was never served to me for two months. It was served to me when I went to the courthouse myself.

5. Josef P. Gerth creates a mythical “clash” that me and Julie Chancellor never had. Julie and I never clashed. Well, she clashed into me. And was a bullied me for 3 days. Not one time did she “co-teach” with me. On the 3^rd day, I wanted to give a lecture about the 1855 Know-Nothing Riots, and Julie said, no way, absolutely not, and when I asked “Why not?”, she lost her mind, and wanted to tell Spalding University that it wasn't working out. I could work with the Nazi, but the Nazi couldn't work with me. When she was calling Spalding University, I casually gathered my things, and left. As I got to the door, I told Julie that I wasn't her slave. And that was it. There was no yelling. No cussing. I just left. She clearly had issues with me, and never made me feel comfortable there. It was a poor placement decision by the Spalding University's Education Administration. That was the “clash” that Gerth invented.

6. Gerth printed that a warrant was issued for me, on Wednesday, by Judge Sean Delahanty, my ole LMPD-covering-up Judge buddy, but that wasn't true. Gerth wrote that there was a warrant on me on Wednesday, even though it wasn't true at the time. Then, Delahanty issued a bench warrant on me on Friday, because I was late getting to Louisville, since I was handling the Breckinridge County charges in Hardinsburg that morning (since it was the first day Breckinridge County's courthouse was opened since the Snowpocalypse 2015). I was issued a bench warrant on Friday in Louisville, but I was able to make it to the courthouse in the afternoon, hoping to catch the Judge hard at work, pulling a regular 9-5 job, but instead, he had gone home. So I just re-docketed my case to Monday, and that was that. Then on Monday, I appeared before Judge Sean Delahanty who was disappointed that he couldn't order his bailiff to arrest me. He was very disappointed that didn't happen in the LMPD Police Brutality case against me too. He's got a thing for me, I think. Delahanty hates innocent folks who stand up for their rights, and demands a jury trial and due process against the criminal and malicious accusations, including 3 misdemeanor enhancement charges, and one assaulting a police officer charge, which carried a maximum sentence of 5 years in jail attached to it. For Sean Delahanty, this isn't life; this is all just a fun little game he gets to play. All before him are guilty, just admit it, and let the Judge take care of you... if you just comply nicely, submit politely, this all will go so much quicker and smoother...

7. Gerth wrote that the Breckinridge County Attorney had denied that a warrant even existed... and then explained the discrepancy by saying a warrant doesn't become legal until it's served. Really? So if a man robs a bank, and a Circuit Court Judge issues a warrant... that warrant doesn't become legal until it's served? Bullshit. It's legal as soon as the warrant is issued.
8. Joe Gerth forgot to mention that I'm presumed innocent until proven guilty. I told him that I was "Not guilty of all accusations", and of course, that didn't get printed. Omission is one way to lie.
9. Also, since the piece was a hitjob piece, he mentioned charges I had to endure from 2009... but he never mentioned the current federal lawsuit against the LMPD pending. He mentioned the "menacing" part, but not the civil lawsuit. He wrote it with one intention: to be an asshole.

The truth is, Gerth doesn't know what he's talking about. He quotes whatever crap comes out of the official's mouths as gospel truth, defending the oppressors, and attacking the victims. Some official said a warrant isn't legalized until it's served, and Joe believed them. He's not a lawyer. Nor does he understand the law. Or Kentucky. He's a corporate whore.

On February 15, 2015, at 10:15pm, Gerth finally concluded his tall tales, and stopped updating his hit piece on me.

Gerth's Lies Explained in Greater Detail:

Joe Gerth Lie #1: “He has a problem with school administrators” said Tim McCauley, assisstant Jefferson County Attorney...

I'm nice to you if you're nice to me. I've worked with many school administrators with no problem. Tim McCauley is just talking shit, but it's a hit piece, so Gerth gleefully reprints his lies.

Gerth Lie #2: Gerth prints that I was supposed to be at the Pre-trial hearing on Wednesday, February 11, 2015, but that was a lie.

I was told by my attorney to not be there, and so I wasn't there. But Sean Delahanty was itching to throw me in jail, ever since he wasn't able to get the chance to do so in the LMPD Police Brutality case he presided over. At the end of the LMPD Police Brutality Trial, Delahanty admits that he wanted me to go to jail, and that he thinks that I deserved the $30,000 in medical damages Joel Casse and Aaron Browning put on me for absolutely no reason, whatsoever.

So Delahanty and Gerth comes across this warrant, which unbeknownst to me existed, since I contacted the courthouse, and they said it didn't exist, and wanted to throw me in jail over it. They were salivating over it. Delahanty seemed pissed off on Monday when I showed up for court, and he wasn't able to arrest me right then and there. Delahanty's got some issues. He seems to want to convict anybody who comes into his courtroom, accused of any ole thing. He also started talking about Muhammad on the Mountain, but I'm not exactly sure what he's talking about. You're guilty until proven innocent to Delahanty, and proving one's innocence is nearly impossible. Have plenty of alibis, I guess. What's to prevent folks from accusing folks of crimes they did not commit? Dragging me to court over bullshit is already a punishment, so already, I'm feeling the pangs of the Kentucky “justice” system.

I did not know about the warrant pending for me, since I had called the Courthouse, was told that no such warrant existed. Keith Haynes and I did get into an argument in December 2014. This is two months later. My address is printed on my Driver's License. I've been in the same crappy house the whole time. I've not fled, nor did anybody arrest me. Perhaps those who were supposed to serve the warrant thought the issue wasn't serious either.

Gerth Lie #3:

Gerth said that I denied knowing anything about Keith Haynes. That's not true. I know exactly what he's talking about. But I didn't know about the warrant.

Joe Gerth Lie #4: “During the brief phone call, Masters denied any altercation with Haynes.”

Keith Haynes claims that he told me to leave the building because they hadn't done a criminal background check on me. That's a lie, and the way Gerthy wrote it up, made the lie into truth. Gerth wrote, “When Haynes told Masters that because he hadn't gone through a background check, he couldn't be on campus, “he became agitated and started shouting.””

Keith Haynes didn't tell me that. He said he couldn't get the teachers to listen to him, and that none of them wanted to do the survey. That sounded like a lie to me, so I asked him how do teachers tell the Principal “no”? That's when Keith Haynes lost his mind. He was out of control. He intended me harm then, and clearly with these charges, still intends me harm. Keith Haynes threatened me. Keith Haynes yelled at me. Keith Haynes was the belligerent one. I was cool, calm, and collected. Haynes was not.

Joe Gerth Lie #5: “It appears Masters was dropped from the program after he clashed with a Jefferson County public school teacher who was overseeing Masters' participation in an internship-type program.”

Gerth only talked to me for about a minute. I said I'd call him back, but I wouldn't have anything nice to say to him had I called him back. Gerth was writing a hit piece on me. It was easy to tell that Gerth was writing a hit piece on me because of the way he was asking me the questions. The questions were leading questions... he thought he was being clever... he's into ambush journalism... that's how these pigs operate.

Gerth Lie #6: Gerth said that I had a bench warrant out for me. When it was written on Friday, I did not have a bench warrant out for me. Snowpocalypse prevented me from going to the Wednesday meeting, even though my attorney did relay the message that Delahanty was calling for me to appear.

Gerth Lie #7: Gerth printed that the Breckinridge County Attorney denied that there was a warrant... which seems odd... like a secret warrant? But the County Attorney told me that he said that he could neither confirm nor deny if I had a warrant issued, so again, Gerth lies.

Then Gerth prints up all of his lies, and then many corporate “news” outlets parrot his lies, verbatim. All based on his terse 1 minute interview with me. None of these sources verified any of their information with me, even though my phone number is registered with the Secretary of State, and is public, and can be found easily online. Also, I have an email address, a facebook page, twitter, youtube, etc, so there's many avenues for any of these “news” organizations had to verify any of their lies.

Also, I asked Gerth two questions, which he never printed.

I asked how the media was responsible for Mitch McConnell get re-elected in Kentucky. Gerth went silent over that.

When I asked Gerth about how he covered Gatewood Galbraith, Gerth defensively said, “I covered him”... as if Gatewood should have been bowled over with excitement that a turd alert had covered him. Gerth did cover him, and even did a hit job piece on Gatewood after his death, pointing out his mistakes on the campaign trail. Gerth failed to point to his own criminal involvement with discrediting Gatewood. The media's job is to inform, not dictate, the information. Gerth doesn't know the difference. He's into Gonzo journalism, where he inserts himself into the story... such as Lie #7.

Gerth's 7^th lie was one that eventually became true, but wasn't true when Gerth printed it. It's a self-fulfilling prophesy. Eventually, Delahanty did issue a bench warrant on me, and on that same day, I had the case easily re-docketed, and showed up in Courtroom 204 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Gerth is very unprofessional, but perhaps it shouldn't be surprising, considering the Courier-Urinal was founded by a Confederate, who rode along with Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the KKK. Henry Watterson even has an expressway named in his honor. Perhaps it's my anti-racist fervor that gets under Gerth's crawl. Or maybe, it's because I'm an everyman, a regular Joe, standing up, taking my licks, and adding my desperately needed voice in Kentucky's regressive political show... that probably pisses a soulless heartless immoral corporate stooge off to no end, seeing somebody with principled convictions.

Gerth should just go back underneath the rock he came from, and just like the Wattersons of yesterday, disappear into the white trash dustbowl bins of history.

Xxx

WHAS11 used some footage that never got aired when it was first taken January 27, 2015, when I registered for Lieutenant Governor with Geoffrey M. Young. http://www.whas11.com/videos/news/local/2015/02/16/lt-governor-candidate-facing-charges/23527599/

xxx

Here's Gerth's hit job piece on me, in it's entirety:

“Johnathan Masters, a candidate for lieutenant governor on a Democratic ticket with retired state engineer Geoff Young, is facing charges in Jefferson District Court that he harassed an associate dean at Spalding University.

Masters also has a warrant pending for his arrest in Breckinridge County, where he is accused of screaming at a school principal and threatening to harm him during a verbal altercation in December, according to Jefferson District Judge Sean Delahanty.

"He has a problem with school administrators," Assistant Jefferson County Attorney Tim McCauley told Delahanty during a pretrial hearing on Wednesday, which Masters was supposed to attend but did not.

Masters, who has had previous run-ins with the law, is accused of making profanity-laced calls to former Spalding Associate Dean Elizabeth Lodge Rogers demanding that she return money to him after he was kicked out of the school's Master of Arts in Teaching program, according to court records.

He also made profane videos that he posted on YouTube that criticized Rogers and Spalding University after he was dismissed. In one video, he said, "Are you looking to be a bossy, untalented, unethical, immoral, authoritarian, totalitarian, fascist, Nazi, piece of ----, come to Spalding University."

Reached by telephone, Masters didn't deny the charges in Jefferson County but said that Spalding committed "breach of contract" when it threw him out of the program. "They stole $50,000 from me," he said.

When asked about that figure and how he came to it, Masters said only that it was "federal money," before he ended a short conversation.

Masters, a 33-year-old from Hudson, was a last-minute replacement on Young's slate after Young's first running mate backed out. Young said he knew about the earlier transgressions with the law but didn't know about the charges in Jefferson County or the warrant in Breckinridge County.

He also said he wasn't aware that Masters had missed a court appearance on Wednesday. "We'll have to talk about that," Young said.

In swearing out a warrant, Rogers said she was concerned that the situation would escalate. In an interview, she said she also hoped that it would help Masters get the help that she believes he needs.

According to the complaint she filed against Masters, he "has a history of explosive anger management issues and of being verbally abusive at Spalding."

From the voice mails left on Rogers' phone, it appears Masters was dropped from the program after he clashed with a Jefferson County public school teacher who was overseeing Masters' participation in an internship-type program. Rogers wouldn't comment on the reason for Masters' dismissal.

In a letter to Masters dated last Feb. 24, Richard Hudson, Spalding's dean of students, told Masters that he was "Persona Non Grata at Spalding University" and told him to stay away from campus or risk arrest and not to have any contact with any of the school's employees.

Despite that and a request from Rogers to stop calling her, according to court records, Masters continued to call Rogers and to leave profane messages on her voice mail until she filed a complaint against him last May and he was ordered by a judge to have no contact with her.

Since then, Rogers said, Masters has not bothered her.

The situation in Breckinridge County also involves allegations of an angry outburst against a school administrator, according to a warrant Delahanty read during open court on Wednesday. That warrant, which is not a public record because Masters hasn't yet been served with it, describes a situation not unlike the one with Rogers, however.

According to Delahanty, Masters is accused of shouting curse words at Keith Haynes, a principal in the Cloverport Independent School District, last Dec. 17, and urging him to "come out here so I can kick your ass."

Haynes said that Masters came to the small school campus, which has 450 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, wanting to conduct a survey about democracy for a project he was doing as a student at the University of the Cumberlands. When Haynes told Masters that because he hadn't gone through a background check, he couldn't be on campus, "he became agitated and started shouting."

Haynes said he had never seen Masters before that and hasn't seen him since.

During the brief phone call, Masters denied any altercation with Haynes.

Breckinridge County Attorney Bradley Butler said in an interview that he couldn't confirm the existence of the warrant against Masters and that such warrants only become public record once they are served.

A spokeswoman at the University of the Cumberlands confirmed that a Johnathan D. Masters is enrolled in the school's Master of Arts in Education and Teaching program.

Rogers said in an interview that Masters shouldn't hold any office. "I think this young man has some significant personal issues that are far from resolved. It would be unconscionable for this gentlemen to hold a public office and be in a position to make decisions on behalf of the good people of Kentucky," she said.

State Democratic Party Chairman Patrick Hughes said the charges against Masters further marginalize an already marginal slate.

"It's abundantly clear that Jack Conway and Sannie Overly are the Democratic nominees for governor and lieutenant governor. The other guys don't have a snowball's chance. ... And I think these recent disclosures speak for themselves," he said.

Mark Riddle, a spokesman for Conway's campaign, declined to comment.

Young, 58, of Lexington, defended his choice of Masters, saying "I stand behind him."

Under state law, Young can't replace Masters on his slate; therefore, if he decided that Masters wasn't qualified to run with him, Young, too, would have to drop out.

Delahanty set another hearing for next week and told Rania Attum, an assistant public defender representing Masters, to try and make sure that Masters attends. Attum said she last spoke with Masters by email about a month ago.

Young, in defending his choice of Masters, noted that Conway supported the Iraq War in 2002, which he said makes Masters "vastly more moral than Jack Conway … to support the invasion of Iraq is a totally unprincipled act."

Masters' previous run-ins with law enforcement include a December 2012 incident in which he was charged with resisting arrest, assault, menacing and disorderly conduct following an incident in which he allegedly charged at a Louisville Metro Police officer and struck him in the face.

Masters was ultimately convicted of menacing, a misdemeanor, and ordered to pay $385 in fines and court costs.

In 2013 he was convicted in Henry County of possessing drug paraphernalia and ordered to pay a $150 fine.

And in 2009, he was charged in Gallatin County with assault of his father and harassing communications, and had a domestic violence order sworn out against him. He pleaded guilty to harassing communications and was ordered to pay court costs of $153 and a $300 fine, which was discharged as long as he didn't violate the domestic violence order.

Reporter Joseph Gerth can be reached at (502) 582-4702. Follow him on Twitter at@Joe_Gerth.

xxx

The drug paraphernalia charge was over a marijuana glass pipe that the KSP found after catching me speeding 85mph in a 55 zone 2 years ago. I was trying to get home quick, after dropping a friend off back in Owen County, which was a small hike from Louisville, and back. I can buy a glass pipe at a store, but it's “drug paraphernalia” when I put it into my car? And drug paraphernalia sounds so big... like it could be anything. No. Not meth. Not crack. Not herion. Not Krocodile or Devil's Breathe. A small 3 inch green marijuana glass smoke pipe. It also could have been my friend's. They didn't know. But it didn't matter to them. The Judge never offered a “no contest” option to plea, and said that I could get it expunged, which I thought meant immediately, but nope... 5 years later. It's odd that if I had been caught with marijuana, then I could have gone through a diversionary program, but since it wasn't marijuana, it was just the glass pipe, now it's on my record for 5 years. After 5 years, I can get it expunged. Actually, I was wanting to take my criminal record history, and use it as a jumping off point for my autobiography. But that's for after the campaign.

Both courts, Louisville and Breckinridge County, ordered that their respective cases be continued.