'Misinformation': Top GOP official denounces county Republican campaign mailer

A controversial political leaflet that hit mailboxes in Boone County this week has people picking sides – literally.

It's pitted the county's GOP party chairman against the county's top elected Republican official, who denounced the mailer as a "hit piece."

The back of the double-sided mailer lists 10 GOP candidates in two columns. On the left, candidates are portrayed with flattering headshot photos. On the right, one candidate is portrayed in a black-and-white photo with a beer in his hand, seemingly asleep in a chair. Another has a face mask pulled down under his chin.

The divide has people asking if the Boone County Republican Party Committee is doing its job to keep GOP voters informed or promoting certain candidates weeks before the May 21 primary.

Committee chairman Chet Hand, who is also a Boone County commissioner, told The Enquirer via email the local party is not endorsing candidates.

"The party is however providing information to voters on candidates running in the Republican primary with the intent to educate them on issues and facts relevant to the party platform," he said.

The front of the mailer depicts a wolf in sheep's clothing. It warns voters of candidates who are Republican in name only, serving "the swamp instead of the people."

It's not the only place the local party appears to have taken sides. On its website, the organization lists GOP primary election candidates – but not all of them. And it links to the websites of candidates who evidently also are supported on the mailer.

Boone County Judge-executive Gary Moore said the mailer was a "hit piece" against candidates the local committee doesn't support.

"This is about the role of the party. The Republican party should be trying to encourage more voter turnout. It should be trying to encourage people to get involved in the party and become candidates. Politics has become so so ugly," he said. "Why would some newcomer want to put their name on the ballot and become a candidate if their party is going to manufacture misinformation?"

Hand disputed there's misinformation on the mailer.

"It is inevitable that some people will be unhappy. You cannot please everyone. I would challenge people that are unhappy with the mailer to dispute the facts," he said in an email.

Both men serve on the Boone County Fiscal Court, which is the governing body of the county.

Hand is one of three commissioners on the fiscal court. He was elected in 2023 and his term expires at the end of 2026. Moore has been judge-executive on the court since 1998.

As chairman of the party, Hand oversees almost 200 precinct captains who all have a vote when it comes to decision-making. He's also among a group of more conservative Republicans in the county who've gained traction over the past few years, some of whom ousted longtime GOP political leaders in the 2022 primary. They're sometimes called liberty candidates or, more recently, Constitutional Republicans.

Moore has been re-elected every four years for almost three decades, voting on legislative issues in the county for the past generation.

His biggest concern about the mailer is that voters will receive it in their mailboxes and think the local committee or elected officials selected candidates to endorse, which never happened, and that could unfairly sway the election.

"It appears that the chairman alone – one person – has chosen who to support and who not. It appears that the chairman produced the mailer without authority of the board and it reflects on the party," he said.

The Enquirer asked Hand in an email whether there was a vote or survey about who to endorse.

He said the strategies used by the committee are not subject to public inquiry, but he added the response to the mailer has been overwhelmingly positive.

"Many, many voters have reached out thankful that the party is 'using our resources wisely,' in an effort to educate voters on critical races that have the potential to deceptively undermine the conservative Republican Party platform and the positive, conservative Republican policy positions that make Boone County and Kentucky such a great place to live, work, and raise a family."

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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why this Boone County Republican mailer is dividing people