When it comes to local government, there are two types of people. Those who put in the hard work, and those who do a lot of talking.
My opponent has spent months telling people that he was “instrumental” in bringing the Pratt Industries recycled cardboard mill to Henderson, that he “made the final push” to land Pratt here, that he was involved from the “get-go.”
His favorite tall tale is that he was “in the room” when Anthony Pratt made a surprise visit to Gov. Andy Beshear’s office. Gov. Beshear often recounts that meeting, saying he was a little embarrassed he was wearing jeans and had brought his dog to the office. So my opponent may have been in the room, but he wasn’t there for Pratt. And he certainly didn’t plant the idea of bringing Pratt to Henderson County.
By the time Mr. Pratt spoke with the Governor, there had already been more than 15 calls or meetings about our community with Pratt Industries. Henderson was very much a focus for their search team before any meeting in the Governor’s office.
I met Pratt’s search team on its first formal visit to Henderson to see the property on 425 where their facility might go. I was able to update them on the I-69 bridge project, which is important to their future plans. From that site visit until the announcement in July 2021 that Pratt Industries was coming to Henderson, there were multiple meetings with the economic development cabinet project managers, HED staff and board members, city officials, local utility officials, fiscal court and property owners. One of the key moments was an in-person meeting held on May 21, 2021 with the Pratt team at their plant in Wapakoneta, Ohio, to negotiate the local incentive offers and utility needs. On that trip were myself, City Manager Buzzy Newman, Henderson Water Utility Chief Tom Williams, HED’s Missy Vanderpool and Whitney Risley, and state project managers Brittany Cox and Kristina Slattery.
Those were the meetings that led up to and became the “final push”, and my opponent was in none of them. None.
Here’s how little my opponent was involved in all this. The head of Pratt’s search team, Ed Kersey, had never even heard his name before my opponent made a ludicrous Facebook post claiming to have “facilitated discussions through the (Pratt) process.”
In my experience the team members who did the heavy lifting to bring Pratt Industries here were the City of Henderson, Henderson Water Utilities, Henderson County Fiscal Court, Henderson Economic Development, the Green River Area Development District, the State Economic Development Cabinet, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and Gov. Andy Beshear.
When you don’t have many tangible accomplishments to show for nearly 20 years of big talk in the state legislature, I guess your only choice is to take credit for what others did and hope no one understands the truth.
On November 8th, you can choose leadership with real results to keep Henderson County’s momentum going. I humbly ask for your vote.
-Brad