BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ALEXANDRIA -- There are some courthouse offices in Northern Kentucky that Republicans will walk into this fall. It's not likely that the four seats on the Campbell County Fiscal Court will be among them.
That's not to say that the GOP can't win the slots held by the four Democrats now on the court -- Campbell County Judge-executive Ken Paul and commissioners Dave Otto, Roland Vories and Bill Verst. But it won't be easy. Not for a minute.
In what is easily the most intriguing and competitive county courthouse race in the region, four Republicans with comparatively little political experience and even less county-wide name recognition are trying to unseat a veteran court that has been together for nine years.
In fact, three of the members -- Mr. Paul, Mr. Otto and Mr. Vories -- have served 13 years together. Mr. Verst, who had been serving on Wilder City Council, joined the fiscal court four years after Mr. Paul helped lead the ouster of former judge Lloyd Rogers of Alexandria in 1985.
"When you look at our experience in terms of not just serving on this court, but also in terms of community service, business experience and education," said Mr. Verst, "there's no doubt we can do the best job for the citizens of Campbell County.
"We know this community, we've done a good job and we'll continue to do the kind of things the people of this community want and deserve from their elected officials," Mr. Otto added.
GOP has a good slate
Campbell County is the only Northern Kentucky courthouse race that features a full slate of incumbents running against a team of challengers. Though fiscal court candidates don't officially run as tickets, both sides are clearly campaigning as units.
It's four-on-four. Let the best team win.
And the Republicans bring a pretty good team to the game.
The GOP slate features Fort Thomas Mayor Steve Pendery as the judge-executive candidate with another former mayor, Terry Rasche of Woodlawn, running as county commissioner. Jim Stegman of Fort Thomas and Keith Daniels of California round out the Republican ticket.
Though they have some hurdles to overcome as far as name recognition, the Republican slate does boast some bright minds and new ideas. And while they don't have the political experience of their opponents they appear to be approaching the campaign as seasoned veterans. They've met and planned strategy, sought advice from Republican office holders and party activists -- particularly in Fort Thomas -- and Mr. Pendery has even taken the unprecedented step of hiring a full-time campaign consultant, Hayes Robertson of Alexandria. The latter move is giving the Democrats plenty of campaign fodder.
"If (Mr. Pendery) doesn't have time to run a campaign," Mr. Vories asks, "how in the hell does he expect to be the judge?"
If the current fiscal court is anything, they are accessible and available. You can hardly go to a fair, church picnic, fish fry or community event without running into one of the incumbents, whether it's an election year or not.
A glimpse of the GOP strategy emerged during the Republican primary, when Mr. Pendery and Mr. Stegman talked of how the economy of Campbell County needs a boost.
That could be a tough sell for the GOP.
County unemployment is under three percent. In the last 13 years, new businesses, retail stores and hundreds of new houses have been built. And while the Republicans are quick to say the fiscal court had little or nothing to do with the explosion of development in cities like Newport and Alexandria, the Democrats can make the point that they got out of the way, let the cities develop without unnecessary interference and tried to help when needed.
Take a couple of years ago, when the judge-executives of Boone and Kenton counties were battling with their city leaders over proposed and now defunct plans to merge some city services with the county.
Campbell County had the political savvy to stay out of that unwinnable battle, and now Mr. Paul is being endorsed by nearly every mayor and 15 former mayors in the county.
And the Democrats intend to counter the claims that the county hasn't developed as rapidly as the rest of Northern Kentucky by saying the pace of development is just what the people of the county want.
"People want their green space along the AA Highway and in other parts of the county," Mr. Paul said. "Is there room and a need for some development. Sure there is. But you don't want every piece of land gobbled up and developed."
The incumbents are also running on a record of building new soccer fields, a district court building, jail, juvenile detention center, senior citizen center and more in a county that even the most subjective analysis would find in better shape that it was a dozen years ago. Of course, with the changing political landscape no Democrat is safe in Northern Kentucky. And again, the Republican ticket is not to be taken lightly or discounted. Mr. Pendery, in particular, showed some serious political muscle when he whipped up on former District Court judge Tim Nolan, who lives in the south end of the county, in the May 26 judge-executive GOP primary.
If you love a good political race, where some new blood is trying to knock off the old guard, watch Campbell County this fall. It's the best courthouse race in Northern Kentucky. And it's definitely going to be a war.
Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for The Kentucky Enquirer. His column appears Thursdays and Sundays. He can be reached at 578-5581, or 502-875-7526 in Frankfort.
CROWLEY ARCHIVE
