WHO CONTROLS OLDHAM COUNTY AND WHY

Developers are the driving force behind Oldham County. For that reason it is easy to see that any political race in the county centers around the issue of development even though many people do not see it. There are many other issues but they are all related to development.

As everyone knows “special interest” groups have a huge impact on the politics of any political race. In Jefferson County there are many such groups. Some of those are medical groups, sports interests, those with a special interest in education, UPS, Ford, General Electric, the development industry, including realtors, and many more. They tend to keep each other in “check” to a certain extent. However, there are really only two special interest groups in Oldham County. One of those is interested in education and the other is the group that is interested in promoting development in the county. To some extent the development group is also focused on the education in Oldham County as a good educational system helps sell their homes. But the county really does not have a special interest group to keep the development industry in check.

Since the educational system has evolved to the point that there are not any huge issues with it, the developers have taken center stage and have become the most driving force in the county. Without question the developers control Oldham County. The most visible developer in the county is Bob Jones and he is the driving force behind politics and development in Oldham County. A review of the last race for County Judge/Executive as well as the present race for the same position gives clear evidence of that. Most Republicans just can’t see the forest for the trees.

Why is it so important to developers to have control of the office of County Judge/Executive and as many magistrates as possible? The answer is quite simple. In order for development to flourish certain systems must be in place. There must be good schools, adequate sewers, a good water supply in areas prime for development and good roads.

As for the sewer district, the members of the district are appointed by the County Judge and approved by the fiscal court. In the present state of the fiscal court that means that the nominee of the Judge/Executive will be approved as the only two magistrates to oppose many of the Judge’s nominees have been Scott Davis and David Voegele. At the present time the sewer district has severe financial problems. An annual audit is required for the sewer district and one has not been competed for 2009 as of this date. Despite this, at the urging of Judge Murner, the Fiscal Court recently voted to assume responsibility for the outstanding bonds of the sewer district. That will allow the district to have a better credit rating thereby allowing the district to borrow more money to expand the sewers that would be beneficial to the developers. Remember that the developers need sewers in order to build homes on small lots.

Water is of the utmost importance to developers. The water district, whose members are also appointed by the County Judge, decides where new water lines are to be built. You may have noticed an increase in your water bill recently. That is because the water district recently increased the fees by twenty-eight percent. They openly stated that the additional money was needed to increase water availability for new development. If you are a developer and own land without a water supply, just think how much more valuable the land becomes if water suddenly becomes available at no cost to you. Pretty good deal, especially when the present ratepayers are footing the bill.

Finally, the developers need roads in order that there is sufficient access to their developments. For that they turn to both the county and state. Within the county is found the Planning and Development Commission (PDC). It is to be noted that the former name of this agency was “Planning and Zoning”. I suppose that their desire is to do more development than zoning. In any event, the PDC has a lot of control over the planning of proposed roads. As an example, the PDC recently released a study titled “Road Functional Classification and Proposed Future Roads.” The study is available here. The paper states that there are three classifications of roads in Oldham County. They are interstate, arterial and collector roads. According to the report the county has one interstate, five arterial roads and forty-seven collector roads.

In the Outlook 2020 Comprehensive Plan five roads were proposed for Oldham County. Now, the PDC has decided that an additional six collector roads are needed. All six roads have been determined to be necessary to assist in development of respective areas. Areas for these roads were chosen based on potential for future growth and would provide roadway connectivity within Oldham County. Areas of future growth were identified with parcels greater than 20 acres and not currently in an agricultural protection district or public use. I wonder if they consulted with the landowners who would be affected by these roads before they made their decisions. Two landowners who are very unhappy with the proposed roads have contacted me. They are the partial owners of Holiday Farm. The farm has been in the family for over fifty years. In the highway 42 area these collector roads will have a huge impact on the equine industry and the picturesque farms adjacent to route 42.

As previously stated, the PDC is very influential in deciding where new roads are to be constructed. The members are appointed to that commission in large part by the County Judge/Executive.

As you can see, control over a small number of utility districts and the PDC is vital to the development industry. The easiest way to control them is to influence/control the office of the County Judge/Executive. Considering the importance of that office one can easily see why the developers and other people, whose livelihood is dependent on the success of the development industry, donated thousands of dollars to the last political campaign of Judge Duane Murner and have already donated thousands of dollars to the campaign of Paula Gish.

During the last campaign for County Judge/Executive Duane Murner received over thirty-seven thousand dollars from people whom I consider would be in a position to profit from unfettered development in Oldham County. The document identifying those donors can be viewed here. According to my calculation the campaign of Paula Gish has received over sixteen thousand dollars from people who would stand to profit from unfettered development. That document can be reviewed by clicking here. The source information for both of these documents can be found by going to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance web site and searching that database by name. IT IS EXPECTED that Gish will collect several more thousands of dollars before the campaign is over. These figures do not reflect all of the money that was donated; only money that I believe was given by people who would stand to profit by more development.

What will more development do for you? Perhaps it will give you a longer trip to work, overcrowd your children’s classrooms, result in higher school taxes, higher water bills, higher sewer bills and a reduced quality of life. Do you want to sacrifice that for the sake of the developers?

On September 17, 2009 Paula Gish, currently a candidate for the Republican nomination for County Judge, held a fundraiser. Twenty-two women sponsored the fundraiser. Of those twelve had close ties to Bob Jones. Additionally, over half of the women who sponsored Gish cannot vote for her in the primary election as they are democrats.

In summary, I believe that Bob Jones is the most influential person in Oldham County. Moreover, although a democrat, he is the most influential person in the Republican Party. Considering voter registration it would appear that Oldham County is controlled by Republicans. However, I believe that the Republican Party and the county are controlled by one democrat, Bob Jones, by virtue of the large sums of money donated by him and those people close to him.

Republicans need to wake up and take back control of their party. Also, the residents of Oldham County need to take back their county. This county needs new leadership. Hopefully the people will do their “spring cleaning” on May 18, 2010.