Boone Judge Exec Race To Test GOP Organization

Boone County Kentucky has become known as the GOP stronghold in the Commonwealth. But with all that strength comes some growing pains.

Last year during reorganization the party displayed a fracture in its ranks when the supporters of Judge Executive Gary Moore advanced a slate of candidates for the newly formed executive committee designed to give some of the party stalwarts a smaller voice in party politics.

That didn't go down so well with the folks who had paid their dues and saw Moore's move as designed to protect his incumbency.  Talk of an opponent for him this year ramped up dramatically.

Then came the dust up over a new parks tax and the claims that Moore was acting more like a liberal than a conservative.  A group formed to defeat the tax and out of that group came a call for Moore's head.

All the time in the background was Commissioner Cathy Flaig, typically the highest vote getter on the ballot, being urged by Moore's opponents to run against him in a GOP primary.  She has long talked about a run and now has decided that Moore needs to go.  The battle is expected to expose some things that only family members usually talk about among themselves.

No doubt Flaig, a lifelong resident and business owner in Boone County will talk about Moore's former life as a Pendleton County democrat.  Moore will lay claim to his experience and his loyalty to the party while his many opponents will calll him a political opportunist who switched parties to get the best job he's ever had.

The first hurdle for both will be raising enough money to win a primary.  The winner of that race is likely to be the next Judge Executive.  Flaig may have money of her own and some of her supporters are capable of raising enough to put on a tough campaign.  Moore will benefit from his incumbency and is already planning a fundraiser with some big names on his list.  But that list was made up before Flaig announced.  Many of those will likely either sit this one out, or switch to Flaig before it's over.

Either way, this race is destined to be one to watch, at least for the political junkies like me.

Comments

[booneliberty]

http://stoptaxingboonecounty.blogspot.com/

[GOP Friend]

Compliments to the writer here!! You seem to have an accurate account of how things really are here. I do commend you on your attentive awareness to what has taken place since the Boone County GOP convention in March of 2008. I also agree Moore MAY out raise her(dollar wise) however, you would not believe the abundance of folks that have even said to me,how can I help out Flaig. Flaig will have an army of folks with boots to the ground. I don't think Moore has that type of base anymore. I don't think the dollar people feel compelled to do,in the trenches work that this campaign will demand.