Election Day, The County Brawl

If you are a Kentuckian, then you mostly identify yourself with your County.  You are from Boone County, or Gallatin, or Owen, or Grant... you don't say you're from the city from where you are from.  You say the County.  A Kentuckian's home is their county, especially to all those who go through the county school system.  That's I feel like a “Gallatin Countian” moreso than say a Varshavian, which is what a person from Warsaw is called, or a Spartan, or even American or Kentuckian.

Here's a short synopsis of where the County Government came from, which is information I got from a book

[Click on the Title for the Full Story]




in the Owen County Library.  It was written in 1976 by Mr. Ireland.  Hopefully by understanding our past better, we can get a better understand of what our future will be.

Kentucky adopted the 2 party system in 1827, and it's never stopped.  Recently, there was a bill to allow Independent's to vote in Kentucky's primary.  The Dems and Repubs don't like competition, so they voted it down.

In 1850, Kentucky experienced a “democratic revolution” (which pissed off and scared the “Republic” lovers) which made nearly all of the county offices elected positions, instead of appointed by the Governor as they used to be.  Since the Governor appointed all of the County Judges in the county, that gave him tremendous power.  The Governor, which I believe he can still today, also can pardon whoever he wants to, so that adds to government corruption.  If it wasn't for Gerald Ford's pardon, then Richard Milhous Nixon would have never have gotten away with his crimes.

Rivalries between Kentucky counties could be as fierce as rivalries are between the states.  Just look at the Hatfields and McCoys.  Boyle County was formed over disagreements about taxes in 1834.  They voted to be independent, separating themselves from Mercer County.  In 1900, we had 120 counties.  The laws are formed in such a way that no county can be made from the remaining counties.  So we're stuck with 120 (unless they merge... hum?...).

So Kentucky's state legislature, since Kentuckians loves their county governments so much, made THE COUNTY semi-autonomous governmental units.  It's like the state is formed with lots of county  “subdivisions”.  The County Court, which is what the “Fiscal Court” was called, since it also dealt with judicial matters, is the nucleus of county government.  The folks surrounding themselves around the County Court was good for them for political riches, and the spoils of political war.

The County Judge is The County Boss.

The County Court was responsible for relief of the poor, health departments, issuing emergency decrees for outbreaks, of cholera, or smallpox.  The County Court was also responsible for “probate” (dealing with orphans, family issues, like custody, doing wills, etc.) and “apprenticeship” (where folks were taught the ways of the County process), and many other devices of social control, such as tax assessment and collection, law enforcement, and military training.  County Courts controlled the orphans and they tried bastard cases.  They administered the poor laws, established ferries and set their rates, and authorized construction of mill dams.  The County Court was also responsible for paying for the county's bills.

In 1850 Kentucky, the County Court got to probate wills, heard petty civil and criminal cases, and looked over the judicial end of court.  This was problematic because the magistrates (aka the “Justice of the Peace”) usually weren't educated, and so “not even God himself could determine how a justice of the peace would determine a case”.

Even though the Governor controlled the appointments to the County Court (he appointed about 15 Justices of the Peace for each county), the nomination process was controlled by them, so only they could recommend the candidates, and it was up to the Governor to approve it or not.  So if a justice of the peace was in the county court long enough, then they'd become Sheriff.  Justices of the Peace and the present day “Magistrates” refer to the same thing: the County Court/Council/Fiscal Court member, not the Judge.

Because of the enormous power given to the County Court, the offices of Sheriff, Deputy Sheriff, County Clerk, and Constable used to be sold to the highest bidder, and whenever a vacancy occurred, that would instigate spirited debates.

Back in the day, the Sheriff's Office collected the county's taxes and the state's; they executed the orders of the commonwealth's principal trial courts; the Sheriff's served as chief election officer of the county; and they held the primary responsibilities for law enforcement in the County.

The Sheriff is the chief election officer and enforcer of criminal and civil judgments, so he's influential in the elections.

The Sheriff also acted as a court appointed estate administrator.  Tax collecting is the best way for sheriff's to make their money, through commissions.  25% of Kyians evaded their taxes, and the Sheriff's were liable for the delinquency.  Back in the day, the Sheriff was to ride on horseback from house to house, collecting taxes.

Since typically the Sheriff was the primary law enforcer in the county, but b/c of all of their other duties, many Sheriff's would ignore their crime fighting duties.  Semi-anarchy was running wild.  In many feud ridden communities, the Sheriff's wouldn't confront the gangs, or he's join them, and or he'd start his own posse, the Posse Comitatus, which were the folks that he could round up in a moment's notice.

In many cases, the local law enforcement was a joke, and state militias were called in to quell any rebellions.

For Sheriff's and Jailer's, the way they also got paid was through “Fees”.  They would get so much money for every person they apprehended and jailed.  Since arresting people and jailing them was for profit, and that's where Jailer's got their most money, it inevitably led to corruption.  Jailers would be more interested in collecting their fees than securing their prisoners.  They earn fees from the state and federal governments, and from the county.  Some jailors would also make extra money by selling liquor to the inmates, and being paid-off to let a prisoner escape.

The County Clerk position attracted smart people, though many times the County Clerk would also have to be the Circuit Clerk also, in order to make enough money.  Sometimes the County Clerks would also be engaged in the practice of law, and Frankfort has only stopped this partially.  The County Clerk has lots of power and influence.

There was also corruption with the Assessors (I guess modern day surveyor/pva?).  The Assessors would underassess how much a property was worth.  That way, since the citizens get to pay less taxes, then they were happy, and they'd reelect the Assessor back into office.

The influence of the Coroner, Surveyor, and Constable steadily declined throughout the nineteenth century.

The Coroner was known to “body snatch”, where he'd make money by selling the corpses to medical students for dissection.

The Surveyor would lead the way in land speculation, being the first to know when it came to new and cheap properties, and where they were.

The Constable was supposed to be used for law enforcement, but they'd spend their time harassing debtors and defendants.  A Constable could bolster his annual income considerably by virtue of the fees he earned from his official debt-collecting and serving court papers.

The County Clique was the group of people who ran the County, and those who benefited, wanted the spoils system to stay in place.  So since so much power was vested in this one small government body, this is where many hostilities and feuds existed.  The folks knew each other, they knew what interests they represented, plus there was the rampant poverty, and the illiteracy that added to the confusion on election day.  That confusion was called “The County Brawl”.

Kentucky has had it's fair share in government corruption.  Many of our legislatures fairly recently got in trouble for accepting $100 for their vote on a bill.  They would risk their seat for $100!  That's ridiculous.  But vote-buying was a concern back then too.  Elected officials actually would employ vote-buyers.  The Grayson County Republicans enjoyed unprecedented success at the polls in 1886 when they rented a saloon on election day.

The County Brawl many times would include murders, and fist fights, and maimings on election day.  Vigilantism, feuds, riots, gangsterism, simple felony, or war has been many Kyians favorite pasttime.  The US Government created a law enforcement group through the Freedman's Bureau Act.  This group was responsible for handling the lives of orphan slaves.  Kentucky's County Courts would have none of this.  They stopped the Freedman's Bureau.  Instead, they handled this matter themselves, and they sold orphan slaves to the highest bidder if the original Master's didn't want to keep them.  The KKK was popular in Kentucky.  The KKK practiced vigilantism in the face of anarchy, like the guerilla terrorist group that they are.  So because there was no stable government, the people of Kentucky had to look to the KKK for protection.  Many times, in Kentucky's Counties, the Churches were the only stable forms of government.

Whenever the lawlessness got too rampant in Kentucky's county's back in the day, eventually the State Guards were used to restore order.  In present day times, the equivalent to the State Guard would be the KGB, uh... I mean, the KSP, you know, if they aren't busy watching cockfights.

For politicians on the outside, “Cliques”, “Rings”, and “Bosses” are terms used for the current Establishment.

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Cities v. Counties

Since the County is King, it's inevitable that they would clash with their cities, since there's a greater concentration of people.  Many farmers are worried about “urban sprawl”, where businesses, and subdivisions take the farm country over.  So how do you reconcile that with the fact that we are already bunched together, and we keep multiplying?  If we planned out a map, and put the businesses where we wanted to put them, and had one acre subdivisions, then that would keep the country country, and it would give folks a place to call home.

Back in the Day, Kentucky counties would have a day called “Court Day”.  Court Day was the main day, usually a Monday, when judicial and governmental matters happened.  This is also when residents bought, sold, shopped, bartered, drinked, gossiped, fought, and competed.  It turned out mostly to be a clash among the rural versus urban, the City dwellers versus the countryfolk.

Lexington and Louisville handled this matter in two completely different ways.

In 1836, Lexington took on their County Government by filing for a independent City to the General Assembly in Frankfort (or whatever it was called back then).  The City of Lexington came up with their own City Charter, just like the Charterities did in Cincinnati did 9 years ago or so.  They actually won that election with like 30% of the public voting, and only a slim majority voting in their favor, so actually about 16% of the public voted to completely change the way the government operates on a day-to-day basis.

So Lexington's City Charter was accepted by the State Government and Lexington became a semi-independent municipal incorporation.  That gave Lexington their own separate judiciary, and was immune from county taxes.  The city could open their own poorhouse, and appoint their own food inspectors, and license taverns within their own boundaries.

Fast forward to today, and Lexington and Fayette County have consolidated into one government, which they call “LFUCG”, which stands for Lexington-Fayette-Urban-County-Government.

In 1835, one guy wanted Louisville to become their own county, so he drew up a bill and sent it to Frankfort's General Ass for approval.  It was approved, and Louisville became a city, their own municipality outside the influence of Jefferson County officials.

The showdown between Jefferson County and Louisville came over some property in the “Courthouse Square” (which all 120 Kentucky counties have).  The county was building a new jail in the courthouse square and they levied taxes against the City to help pay for it.  The City refused to pay the taxes, but eventually they worked out some sharing deal, where one leases it, one owns it, and one pays for it.  So that's it.  That's where the showdown between the City and County exist: the Courthouse Square.  Who controls it?  The County or City.  Whenever one of the old building need to be rebuilt, I bet there will be many disagreements over what the building should be replaced as and which government entity would pay for it.  Heck, in Monopoly, in the beginning, you're supposed to buy up as much property as you can.

Louisville and Jefferson County are still two distinct governments even though Mr. Adam's General Assembly approved working on a plan to consolidate the two competing governments.

All other counties in Kentucky held onto their dominance of duties within the county with very little resistance from the cities.