Sheriff Steve Sparrow to Seek Reelection

It comes as no surprise that Steve Sparrow will be seeking reelection as sheriff. Barring some significant event involving Sheriff Sparrow I would believe that he will win reelection handily.  I know that anyone contemplating challenging Sparrow will not agree with me but you must face reality.  During this past term there has not been any controversy involving the sheriff's office.

 I have heard rumors of a couple of other possible candidates for the office but nobody has come forth, to my knowledge, and said that he/she was going to run for the office of sheriff.  If Sparrow were to have more than one challenger, it would be more difficult to unseat him.

As I said, prospective candidates for offices should be testing the waters pretty soon with the filing deadlines just a few short months away.

Oldham County Magistrate Brent Likins with Congressman Thomas Massie

Republican Rally Kicks off 2014 Political Races

The fall of 2013 has arrived and politics is in the air. The Republican Party held a rally at exit 28 on Interstate 71 on Friday night.  Among the politicians there were Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell, and Thomas Massie, all of whom represent the people of Oldham County at the Federal level. There were also many local politicians in attendance.

Back home on the local level not many decisions about who is running for office have been publicly announced at this time. It appears that there will be competition for the offices of sheriff, PVA, and mayor of LaGrange. There will surely be competition for other offices. I was informed by Sheriff Steve Sparrow at the rally that he will be a candidate for sheriff in 2014. That is the only person who has informed me that he is definitely seeking reelection.

The big question is, what will be the issues?  It usually is not sufficient for a candidate to simply run for an office and say he/she is better than the incumbent. If the incumbent has done nothing wrong and has generally been on the right side of the issues he/she will usually be reelected. What the issue are will be is usually decided by the public. The two biggest issues out there at the present time both relate to LaGrange. Those are the recent institution of a compensation tax and the Oldham Reserve. Another issue that is likely to be born of those two issues is the spending habits of LaGrange.

At the county level the decision to construct a new jail and the continuation of an insurance premium tax, that is larger than necessary, could become election issues.

Although the present fiscal court has had some tense moments it has been a harmonious court for the most part. Are there chinks in the armor of the court? Certainly there are. However, I do not see as many vulnerable members of the court this election as there were in the elections of 2010. On the other hand, one never knows what may become an issue between now and the primary elections which essentially decides who is going to be elected to office since Olham County has few democrats running at the county level. Of course, the city elections are nonpartisan.

Anyway, stay tuned to this site for the political news of the Oldham County. Who knows, it could be that a few "looks" may be taken at the statewide elections.

VICE CHAIRMAN OF REPUBLICAN PARTY SUPPORTS PRIMARY CANDIDATES

Many times I have heard Anne Gernstein say as a party chair that she was required to stay out of primary election campaigns and to not support any candidate.

Many republicans around Oldham County were very upset with former Republican Party chairwoman Anne Gernstein because they believed that she did show favoritism to different candidates during the primary elections. The person who most often told me that she was not neutral was none other than former Magistrate Rick Rash who is now a candidate in the republican primary for Oldham Circuit Court Clerk.

You can imagine how surprised I was when I drove by the home of J.D. Sparks on Tuesday and found yard signs in his yard supporting Rick Rash and Alecia Webb-Edgington who is a candidate for congress. J.D. Sparks is a Magistrate and the current Vice Chairman of the Oldham County Republican Party. Why do people not learn from the mistakes of others. That is the cheapest education that you can get.

I spoke to J.D. Sparks via email about the matter and he told me that he was not supporting the candidates in his role as Vice Chairman of the Republican Party but as an individual. He said that he saw nothing wrong with his actions.

Well, I respectfully disagree with Magistrate Sparks. Or, should I say Vice Chairman Sparks. That brings up another issue, Should elected officials be officers of a political party? I certainly do not believe that they should but perhaps the party could not find anyone else willing to serve as party officials. Back to the situation at hand, Magistrate Sparks just does not get it. When you take certain positions or certain employment in life you give up certain privileges. For example, in my role as Officer in Charge of the Immigration and Naturalization Service I had to refrain from speaking unfavorably about the policies of that agency even though I might disagree with them. In my opinion when J.D. Sparks took on the role of Vice Chairman of the Republican Party he gave up his right to endorse republican candidates in contested primary elections. Perhaps he does not understand that. Or, perhaps he does not want to accept it.

For Vice chairman Sparks to continue endorsing republican candidates who are engaged in contested primaries reflects disrespect for other candidates and can only bring about dissension in the party and a lack of respect for him and his position.

As for Rick Rash, I encountered him putting up another one of his signs and took the opportunity to ask him why he put one of his signs in Mr. Sparks’ yard. He stated that Sparks had asked him for one of the signs. I reminded Rash of his frequent criticism of former chairwoman Gernstein’s actions that he considered to be unfair. After a few minutes of discussion he agreed that I was correct. He called me three hours later to inform me that his sign had been removed from Mr. Sparks’ yard. As far as I know Alecia Webb-Edgington’s sign is still in the yard.

I commend Mr. Rash for correcting his mistake. As for Mr. Sparks, he is young and perhaps he will someday learn that we don’t always have freedom of speech even though the constitution may guarantee that. Yes, freedom of speech is guaranteed but sometimes something else must be sacrificed to have that freedom. In this case Mr. Sparks should either give up his position as Vice chairman of the Republican Party or he should refrain from openly supporting candidates in primary elections.

SEWER RATE TO RISE AND SURCHARGE TO BE INSTITUTED

On May 1st. the Oldham County Fiscal Court passed an ordinance raising sewer rates by five percent while also instituting a surcharge of $5.39 per month per customer. The surcharge will remain in place for twenty years. This increase comes after a rate increase of eight percent last year. The purpose of the surcharge is to pay for debt service on bonds that the Environmental Authority (Oldham Sewer District) has obtained to finance replacement of package treatment plants and other work on sewer lines that the district claims is being mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Division of Water.
Over two years ago the Oldham Fiscal Court took over the responsibility for several million dollars worth of debt that the sewer district had outstanding in order to improve the credit rating of the sewer district. At the time I told the court that they were just giving the sewer district the opportunity to obtain more loans and go deeper in debt. Well, that has now happened-they have gone deeper in debt and the ratepayers will be each pay an additional $5.39 per month for the next twenty years to service that debt. Frankly, I expect that Oldham County residents have not seen the last of sewer rate increases and additional surcharges.

One magistrate asked a representative of the sewer district how long we could expect to see increases in sewer rates. I subsequently addressed the court and answered his question. Simple, as long as the court continues to vote in favor of the increases. The sewer district only asks for the increases. The court must grant the increases and is therefore responsible for the increases. It is also the responsibility of the court to devise a plan of action to address any action that the EPA and DOW might take if the county decided to challenge those agencies.

The court always blames the EPA and the Division of Water for forcing them to make changes. They often refer to these changes as unfunded mandates. Using this excuse the court says that it is left with no choice but to increase rates. I disagree. I believe that they should challenge the EPA and DOW. It may be difficult for the county to do this alone but it is time for someone in county government to take the lead and form a coalition of counties to challenge the EPA and DOW Perhaps it is easier to just pass another ordinance raising rates than to make that challenge.

To be fair, Magistrate Bob Leslie voted against the increase. All other magistrates and the county judge voted in favor of the increase and surcharge.