What do a runway, a data center, and pickleball courts have in common? In Kentucky, the answer is secrecy and a troubling disregard for taxpayer voices.
In Bourbon County, we witnessed the unraveling of the controversial Bluegrass Station Airport proposal—a $300 million-plus project that would have used eminent domain to seize private citizens’ land for the benefit of private corporations. Worse, it was quietly slipped into the state budget without any public input. It was only thanks to a vigilant citizen who uncovered the plan that the project came to light, sparking a wave of public outrage.
Eventually, lawmakers removed it from the 2024 budget, but the damage was done. The proposal exposed a deep and growing problem in our government: a culture of secrecy around how taxpayer dollars are spent and who really benefits…