By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A Campbell County Commission race could turn on an issue a county fiscal court may be able to do little about.

Republican challenger Lloyd Rogers of Alexandria has focused his campaign platform on getting rid of the mandatory emission tailpipe tests on vehicles in Northern Kentucky.

Vehicles must be tested every other year, at a cost of $20 to owners.

"We're going to quit this stupid program," said Mr. Rogers, who says that as county judge-executive in the early 1980s he helped lead an effort to dismantle an earlier testing program.

"I did it once before, and I'll do it again," Mr. Rogers said.

But Democratic incumbent Bill Verst of Wilder said neither Mr. Rogers nor the Fiscal Court has any power to end the federally mandated program designed to improve the region's air quality.

"I don't like tailpipe testing any better than anybody else," Mr. Verst said. "But if we don't have the program, then we could lose millions of dollars in federal money for highway projects and suffer other sanctions.

"And telling people you can get rid of something when you can't isn't telling the truth.''

Mr. Rogers says the threat of sanctions is not real, that other parts of the country that have refused to implement the tests have not suffered an economic backlash from Washington.

He bristled at the suggestion that a county commissioner can't use the bully pulpit to begin pushing for the elimination of the test.

"Ever hear of Erin Brockovich?" he said, referring to the activist portrayed by Julia Roberts in the Hollywood film of the same name.

Ms. Brockovich gained fame by fighting a California utility company accused of polluting the water.

Mr. Rogers' platform also includes lobbying the federal government to build an Ohio River floodwall - a project Mr. Verst says would never be funded if tailpipe testing is eliminated and federal dollars are curtailed to Campbell County.

Mr. Rogers also wants to improve education and job training in the county and protect property rights by revamping planning and zoning regulations.

Mr. Verst said the incumbent court has used public and private dollars to develop new recreation facilities, including Pendery Park outside of Melbourne, as well as a county jail, a District Court building and a senior citizen complex.

The Fiscal Court also combined the county's emergency dispatch centers to improve public safety, and worked to bring a new sewage treatment plant near Alexandria.

E-mail Patrick Crowley at pcrowley@enquirer.com