THE CASE FOR CHET HAND OUR NEXT COUNTY JUDGE EXECUTIVE

The Man Who Changed The Face Of The Boone County Republican Party Is Poised To Lead Boone County In A Better Direction

First, a brief note.

I have been a bit missing in action due to a worsening of a prior back injury which will be addressed beginning tomorrow morning in what my surgeon calls “A big surgery.” “big” is defined as two day’s beginning tomorrow morning with a vascular surgeon to clear the way for the orthopedic surgeon who will open from the front to allow the orthopedic surgeon to weave his magic and do some extensive repair work of my lumbar spine. That will be followed the next morning when the orthopedic surgeon opens from the back to stabilize what he did from the front.

And so the cleverly named Larry’s Letters will necessarily be on “vacation” for bit. For those of you who pray, thank you in advance.

In the meantime this is a the first in two part series on Chet Hand and the task that he has chosen to take on. This is short, part two is not.

Chet Hand, now the former Chairman of the Boone County Republican Party and a current County Commissioner has announced his candidacy for Boone County Judge Executive. Chet is now well known in Boone County as the man who orchestrated the take over and restructuring of the Boone County Republican Party. The election will occur in about one year. It is early in the process but there is a great deal to understand before votes are cast.

IF I were to put Chet in a box it would be labeled: Constitutional, Conservative, Christian Who Does What He Says He Will Do. Chet is man of great personal and professional accomplishment. Those of you who live in Boone County and will be voting next year can learn more about Chet here.

Chet Hand was a welcome addition to the Boone County Republican Party and he will make a fine Boone County Judge Executive.

The endorsement of Chet Hand is a piece of cake. However the landscape of the county he is seeking to guide into a bright future is sometimes more like stale bread; it looks good in a photograph but it doesn’t make a very good sandwich.

For that we have Gary Moore to attribute both the short term good and the not so good long term environment that he has shaped. IF he chooses to run again Gary Moore will be Chet’s principal, primary opponent. Gary Moore is the current Judge Executive and was first elected to the position in 1998. Over the years Gary Moore has shown himself to be in league with the power elite of Boone County and the State of Kentucky. While that has brought a measure of prosperity to the county it has also helped to bring us a healthcare monopoly and a county filled with warehouses, tractor trailers, and fleets of delivery vehicles. Under Moore’s guidance Boone County has become more like a Suburban Chicago bedroom community filled with strip malls, fast food restaurants, and BIG box stores. While many residents of Boone County have sought a sophisticated free market area that provides ample quality housing AND recreation space we are witnessing more and more multifamily housing and the erasure of farms and forests.

In order to understand why Gary Moore’s time as Judge Executive needs to end we only need to look at Boone County 27 years ago when he was first elected to be Boone County’s Judge Executive and what it looks like today. And that Dear Reader will be the subject of Part II.

Boone County population and housing.

In the 27 years in which Gary Moore has been the Judge Executive the population of Boone County has almost doubled from about 82,000 residents to almost 142,000. Per Capita income has also increased from about from about $36,000 in 1998 to about $44,000 in 2024 (2023 dollars) or about $300.00/year or about $25.00/month.

An increase in population and a concomitant albeit small, increase in Per Capita income are signs of a decent economy but they also beg a number of questions: What is the price of modest success? What does the county that Gary More built for us look like? Where do people live? What kind of jobs has Gary Moore created? Where do people work? Where do we play? What is it like to commute in Gary Moore’s world? What is your air travel experience like? Where do you go when you are sick? Where do you send you children to school?

Part II will explore those questions and give Chet Hand something to ponder over the next year.

Union, Kentucky
28 April 2025