How dare his attorneys insult our intelligence by making Gatling the martyr in this sad theater saga when blame for the troubles was his responsibility?
Gatling was waiting for money to fall from the sky from the government and what did he do as his debt to the city increased? He partners on a $1 million cemetery in Chicago that was rife with scandal.
Gatling did nothing for this theater. Few shows, a laughingstock called Bunnies in Stilettos and dozens of shows which were suggested that he or his underlings never followed up on.
To suggest it is the city’s fault the theater failed while he was running his bus line and letting the grass and mold grow is absurd.
To suggest it is the city’s fault the digital sign motorists on the interstate saw blank is absurd.
His response sounds like a delusional paranoid, saying the new city council was out to get him. He sounds like a spoiled child who knows he erred by not having shows when the new management team, who has not asked the city for any money, made an announcement on a major show soon after being allowed to run the place.
That his attorneys filed their response on the last day possible shows what a desperation move this is. The former city council trusted Gatling, with his motor coaches and plush Chicago funeral homes, could do the job and he let them down.
Pushing $1 million in debt to the city now, the new city council had to act and did what anyone in a similar situation would do — fight back.
While Gatling tries to make himself the savior of the city in his response, he did nothing but make it the butt of more jokes and made himself unavailable to the media to find out what was going on.
“We’re not running away,” is what he told us earlier this year after several attempts to get him on the phone. Gatling did run away and his response to the lawsuit does nothing to sway us that he was the victim in this plight.
Analyzing the response, City Attorney Gilbert Chichester says terms like unclean hands doctrine, lache doctrine and others are used every day in civil matters. The problem is, his attorneys offer no evidence of this.
The only clear evidence is the city’s receivables account lacks some $600,000 that should have been applied to Gatling’s buyout of the theater.
Gatling does not deserve to buy the theater and we believe it now has capable managers who have already proven they can find shows.
Now, Gatling, who is requesting a jury trial, is trying to tie up this matter in court longer, adding more pain, more embarrassment and more expense to a city that is fed up with him and no longer wants him around.
Gatling’s attorneys should drop him like he dropped the city and let more capable people run this venue so he won’t embarrass us or himself any longer — Editor.
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