MAGISTRATE SCOTT DAVIS FILES TO RETAIN HIS POSITION ON THE OLDHAM COUNTY FISCAL COURT

On Wednesday, January 20, 2010 Magistrate Scott Davis filed to seek the Republican nomination for the sixth district magisterial seat of the Oldham County Fiscal Court. Already in the race is Kevin Eldridge who also seeks the Republican nomination and Rick Garlock who is seeking the Democratic nomination.

The race promises to be one of the most interesting races in the county. Magistrate Scott Davis has an extremely good following among his constituents while Kevin Eldridge will probably be backed by the developers and the current County Judge who has also been heavily funded by the developers.

The election will determine if the sixth district seat will remain the "people's seat" or whether it can be bought by money. Eldridge has been Judge Murner's "waterboy" throughout his administration. First, he led the Vision Council for the purpose of preparing the public for higher taxes and fees. Then Murner hand picked him to lead the stormwater district in order to set the ill concieved stormwater district into motion. Even Eldridge now has admitted that the stormwater district is not necessary. Frankly, I do not know what Eldridge can offer the voters other than more taxes and higher fees. Prior to the Vision Council Eldridge served on the Planning and Zoning Commission that he also chaired. While there, in my opinion, he was more than generous to developers. On one occasion I watched him refuse to allow people from outside the county to testify against a developer who was also from outside the county but was seeking approval for a development in Oldham County. The developer had presented evidence that was derived from ouside the county. Is that a double standard or what? I had never witnessed such an injustice in an administrative hearing.

Other than Magistrate Bob Leslie's district I believe that every other magistrate is likely to have competition. I understand that Bob Dye picked up "filing papers" to run for the seat currently held by Rick Rash. In the 2006 primary Rash only edged out Dye by sixteen votes. That means that Rash could not afford to lose an additional nine votes. Further, I am pretty certain that there will be another candidate for the office.

Frankly, I believe that the competition is good. The public needs a choice. This may be the time for magistrates to accept responsibility for all of the tax and fee increases that they have voted for.

Certainly the time has come for more updates on this site. I expect the campaign to be very active in many of the races - not just the races for magistrate. Stay tuned!