They Want to Lead Hardin County. They Won't Take the Free Interview.

UPDATE, Friday morning: This article is working. Since it published Thursday evening, six more candidates have registered: sitting Elizabethtown council member Tim Isaacs, Maria Bell and Lynnette Kennedy in Radcliff, Frederick Jerome Thomas in Magistrate District 6 (that race is now a complete side-by-side), and State Representatives Josh Calloway and Joseph Redmon. The numbers below are updated. The door closes TODAY at 4:00 PM.

Running for office is asking your neighbors to trust you with power. Their tax dollars, their roads, their police and fire protection, their kids' ballfields. It is a big ask, and 68 people on Hardin County's November 3 ballot are making it in contested races.

So Hardin Local made an ask of our own, to every single one of them: sit down for a free interview. Same questions as your opponent, in the same order, with the same time limits, shared with you in advance. No gotcha questions. No debating. No attacking anyone. Live on Facebook and YouTube, archived unedited so voters can watch on their own schedule and compare for themselves. It costs a candidate nothing but about thirty minutes and the willingness to answer the same questions as everyone else in their race.

42 of the 68 said yes. That group spans every kind of race and both parties, from County Judge/Executive to Vine Grove City Council. Thank you. You made this easy, and voters will have what they deserve: a real side-by-side.

26 have not. One of them, Julia Springsteen of the Elizabethtown City Council race, told us directly she will not participate. That is her call to make, and candidly, a straight no shows more respect for the process than silence. The other 25 have simply gone quiet.

We kept the receipts

We want to be precise about what "invited" means, because every one of these candidates gets a card in our Election Guide, and that card reflects the record.

• June 5: every candidate on the fall ballot in a contested race received the invitation by email, at the address they filed with the County Clerk.
• June 12: a follow-up went to everyone we had not heard from (and fixed a form glitch, in fairness to anyone who tried early).
• July 2: a third email went to every remaining holdout, announcing the deadline extension and stating plainly: you are not in yet.
• July 15: race-specific last-call emails went to the holdouts in the Elizabethtown and Radcliff council races and the contested magistrate districts.
• July 15 and 16: the Elizabethtown holdouts were each also reached directly, by text message or Facebook Messenger.

Every silent candidate has been emailed at least three times. Some have now been contacted five times across three different channels. We did everything short of driving to their houses. The replies, collectively: zero.

The Elizabethtown situation deserves its own paragraph

Elizabethtown is the largest city in Hardin County, and five of its six sitting council members are on the November ballot asking to keep their seats. Of those five, two, Mika Tyler and Tim Isaacs, are now registered (Isaacs signed up Thursday night after this article went out). Julia Springsteen declined. Marty Fulkerson and Lamar Jones have not responded to four emails and a direct message or text apiece.

Meanwhile the challengers are showing up. Jim Shaw and Bryan "Cheese" Reesor are registered and will be on the record answering the same questions.

Voters can draw their own conclusions. Ours is simple: a free, equal, no-spin platform is the lowest bar in politics, and most of the current council has not stepped over it yet. There is still time. Barely.

Where every race stands

In and confirmed (42): every registered candidate is listed with their race at our Election Guide, including both candidates for Sheriff, Jailer, County Judge/Executive, PVA, and Magistrate Districts 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Those races are done deals: voters get the full side-by-side.

Still silent (25):

• Magistrate District 7: Stephen Mapp
• Constable District 6: Nathan Myers, Sylvester Bennett
• Mayor of West Point: Dwayne Culver
• Elizabethtown City Council: Marty E. Fulkerson, E. Lamar Jones, Titus Sublett, Logan Simmons
• Radcliff City Council: Kim Thompson, Steve Crum, Pamela J. Deroche
• Vine Grove City Council: Diane M. Brown, Kathleen "Kathy" Sisco, Lonnie Dennis, Debra Mattingly
• West Point City Council: Kevin M. Duke, Joseph R. Frost, Chuck McCreary, Mark Misback, Donna Taylor, Jo Annette Sabol, Christopher McVey, Edward "Eddie" Moore Jr., Vernon "Butch" Curl Jr., Michael A. Bickel

Declined (1): Julia Springsteen, Elizabethtown City Council.

Last call: Friday, July 17 at 4:00 PM

If you are one of the 25, this is the end of the road, and it is genuinely still open. Registration takes about ten minutes, start to finish:

1. Create a free account at hardinlocal.com (that is how we confirm and schedule you).
2. Complete the form at hardinlocal.com/elections/register.

At 4:00 PM Friday the lineup locks so we can build the fall interview schedule. After that, your card in the Election Guide says what the record says: invited repeatedly, no response. Your opponent's card will link to their interview. We would much rather it link to yours too.

And Hardin County: this is where you come in. If one of these candidates knocks on your door, shakes your hand at an event, or asks for your vote online, ask them one question. Why not sit down? Share this article. The one thing every candidate responds to is voters expecting better.

Questions about registration, or think you already signed up under a different email? Reply to any of our emails or text Phil directly at 270-312-2910.