Letter to the Editor: Daviess County Must Change!

May 14, 2022 | 12:00 am

Updated May 14, 2022 | 12:31 am

Graphic by Owensboro Times

I have been active in Daviess County politics and elections since 2008. I have been a candidate, Chair of the Daviess County Republican Party, a donor, a volunteer, and a consultant.

I am not writing this on behalf of any candidate or political party. I believe that in every election it is our job as citizens to hire the person best qualified to accomplish the goals we have as a community. I believe we must treat candidate’s bios as resumes and campaigns as job interviews in order to hire the person with the right skills, abilities, drive, clout and energy to accomplish what we as a community ask of them.

Every election in Daviess County during my years of involvement has had a few common themes. I will attempt to outline them and highlight what I believe are mistakes that we the people of Daviess County have made when hiring our elected officers.

Every election has at least one sign, push card, or radio advertisement and usually several candidates who tout one of their resume points as being “Daviess County born and raised.” Don’t get me wrong I am proud to be from Daviess County, but I would neither hire nor expect any one to hire me because I was “Born and Raised” anywhere. If we’re only going to hire people from here, we are going to have a hard time moving forward, making progress and executing new ideas. Can you imagine sitting down for an interview for a job you were qualified for in every way and your interviewer asking you “Were you born and raised here?” If you were asked that, wouldn’t you have serious doubts about working for that company and its chances of success? I would hire someone from the moon if they were the best person for the job. What we seem to prefer instead is hiring someone who was “Born and raised here” and then pitching a fit when they hire a consulting company from out of town to tell us what we need.

Every election has also featured every candidate saying, “I want my kids and grandkids to be able to live here and make a living, we need opportunities for young people to make a life here.” I agree with this sentiment wholeheartedly. How can we create a diverse, exciting, safe community for young people? We can start by hiring a few of them. This election is the first time I’ve seen a large group of highly qualified young candidates run for so many offices. We owe it to them to look carefully at their qualifications and abilities, and if they are qualified, we should elect them.

Every Election has featured the “We have to make it easier to do business in Daviess County.” I know not everyone has a business, but our small businesses are the heartbeat of our community, and we could use a few more big businesses around too. The complaints about doing business in Owensboro haven’t changed any, and some of the people running have been saying they’re going to fix it since 2008 so what’s the hold up? I’m not sure how much time we need to accomplish this, but 14 years seems like enough. Don’t get me wrong here, I am not a “throw the bums out” kind of person, I will happily work to re-elect people who get results. Results on this issue are long overdue.

Finally, every election since 2008 has featured for the most part, the same candidates. I am asking you; I am asking everyone in our community one thing. If you have good ideas and the skills and drive to implement them, please get involved and run for office. We need you. Daviess County must change to continue being a safe, prosperous, and rewarding place to live.

Written by
Ben Boarman

May 14, 2022 | 12:00 am

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