Putting the Ick in Ike-Town | 4/8/2026

Abilene, Kansas is the hometown of the legendary Dwight D. Eisenhower. They have a councilmember that has harassed their now former city manager extensively. He turned it up a notch and filed a defamation lawsuit against that manager.

We also have a story about a hardcore Trump supporter in New York who is suing a city and their city manager for violating his First Amendment rights. And finally, a multi-year saga in Maryland involving a county administrator who has been on paid leave for nearly three years has come to an end.

All that and more news after the job postings.

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Abilene has a commissioner who has been a thorn in the side of the now former city manager for quite some time. John Kollhoff has filed a lawsuit against the City of Abilene and former City Manager Ron Marsh for statements Marsh made about him that he said were “false and defamatory.”

The primary events surrounding the lawsuit occurred at a March 10, 2025 meeting in which the oppressive irritant left the dais to address March and call for his resignation during the public comment period. You can watch his two minute comment starting at around the 7:30 mark of this video.

At the end of the meeting, Marsh addressed Kollhoff’s comments finally fed up with enduring the many months of indignities. Those comments can be heard around the 1:44:21 mark.

Abilene is currently looking for a city manager and if you are applying or in the process you should think long and hard about working in this environment. If you are dead-set on taking the job, I would establish clear boundaries for how you will interact with this nuisance by making sure you are on the same page with the rest of the commissioners.

DISCLAIMER: Kollhoff and I have gotten into it in the past on LinkedIn when he defended a key player who was involved in the infamous raid on the newspaper publisher in Marion, KS which made international news. I did an interview with the owner and editor of that newspaper on my podcast here. So please remember that I am biased and already think Kollhoff is an absolute prick.

This is a wild case.

Mark Belton, the Charles County administrator who has been on indefinite paid leave for nearly three years, filed a civil action against the county commissioners last December related to an ongoing lawsuit involving alleged employment discrimination. He has had an an ongoing issue in which Commissioner Thomasina “Sina” Coates (D) who he claims was racially abusive towards him. She is black and he is white.

The commission censured her and she was barred from commenting and voting on Belton’s job status.

A settlement in an unknown amount was reached in the suit according to media reports. It is reasonable to expect that that number was considerably lower than $105 million.

In 2021, Long Beach officials ordered Michael Wasserman to remove Trump political signage, alleging he violated a city ordinance barring displays being erected “within the perimeter of the city.”

Wasserman claimed the order violated his First Amendment rights and sued the City of Long Beach, the chief of police, the city manager and specific police officers in Brooklyn Federal Court for $25 million.

The city agreed to pay him $50,000 — but he says he wants to send a message and is demanding much more.

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