I am writing as a long-time local elected official and community volunteer to express my strong opposition to Kentucky Senate Bill 50 and House Bill 50 which require partisan local elections including the offices of County Commissioner, Mayor, Legislative Body members, all City Offices, City Ward, Boards of Education, School Board candidates and Soil and Water Conservation Officers.
The rationale I have heard from those pushing these bills is that this legislation will create transparency so that voters can make better decisions about candidates.
Since 1998, I have served eight consecutive terms on the Fort Wright City Council, and I now am in my third term as the Mayor of Fort Wright, so I have run for office eleven times over the course of twenty-four years. I have also spent hundreds if not thousands of hours at public meetings and walked door-to-door for myself and other candidates. In all that time, I have very rarely been asked about my party affiliation and I have never hesitated to share it when asked. To be clear, I am a lifelong Republican, I served nearly two decades on the Kenton County Republican Party Executive Committee and won the Kenton County Republican Party Lifetime Achievement Award.
But I have never let party let party stand in the way of doing what is right and I have worked closely and collaboratively for more than two decades with people of all parties to improve our local, regional and statewide community. Based on my actual experience, I can say with absolute certainty that these bills are not in the best interest of Kentuckians and will only create unwelcome discord and dissension. Local issues are rarely partisan. Instead, we are focused on local issues such as public safety, infrastructure, taxes, zoning and economic development. The injection of party politics through partisan elections will only further divide our communities and make it much more difficult for local officials to work together for the good of our communities.
Many local legislative bodies already have significant issues finding enough people to fill available seats and many people who are knowledgeable, experienced and dedicated to serving their communities may not want to affiliate themselves with a political party and the possible rancor that comes with it. The passage of these bills will further limit the pool of candidates and the diversity of ideas, ultimately leading to a less representative and less effective local government. Furthermore, the addition of primary elections will create substantial additional costs and hurdles for candidates as well as the Board of Elections.
As evidenced by the 2022 election, at least in Northern Kentucky, there are already serious issues with finding enough poll workers to have efficient and effective elections. Adding more elections and substantially more cost to the process is exactly what we don’t need.
It is also important to note that state statutes currently allow local legislative bodies and boards to opt for partisan elections giving those closest to their constituents the ability to make this change if their constituents desire it. As of this writing, I am unaware of any local legislative body in Kentucky that opted for partisan elections in the recent past, but I am aware that Independence, one of the largest cities in Kenton County, opted to eliminate partisan elections in 2015. There is clearly no public appetite for this drastic and unnecessary change to local elections.
In light of these facts and because our long-serving members of Fort Wright City Council (more than 50 years of collective service) have also very rarely been asked about party affiliation, we passed a resolution against these two bills. Despite the passage of our Resolution [01-2023] and our widespread promotion of it to our constituents through our active social media channels, I have yet to be contacted by a single person in favor of either bill, but we have had many people indicate their support for our Resolution which can be seen on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Finally, the Kentucky League of Cities Board of Directors has voted unanimously to oppose these bills and the Kenton County Mayor’s Group also passed a resolution against these bills. I have spoken with many other local elected officials across the state, and I am confident that you will soon see many other local legislative bodies come out strongly opposed as well.
In conclusion, I and my colleagues on the Fort Wright City Council strongly oppose the passage of Kentucky Senate Bill 50 or House Bill 50 and I urge you to reach out immediately to your state legislators and ask them to oppose these expensive, unnecessary and divisive bills.
You can find your Kentucky state legislators and contact them here: https://legislature.ky.gov/Legislators/Pages/default.aspx.
David Hatter is mayor of the City of Fort Wright.