Time to carve up some political turkeys for Thanksgiving.

        • Thanks to Villa Hills for finally paying for a new domain name for the city's Web site, www.villahills.org, which should be up and running in a few weeks. Don't go to the old site unless you want to get your giblets all riled up.

        • Save some pumpkin pie for former Dayton Mayor Bobby Crittendon, who may be returning to the political scene. Impeached last year by the City Council, he is expected to run for mayor next year.

        • Republican officeholders in Kenton County are certainly thankful to the county's GOP executive committee, which has a policy of allowing only incumbents access to certain campaign information, such as data on registered Republicans, voting trends, etc.

        Not that the information is exactly the Pentagon Papers. Most, if not all of it, is available in existing databases or through the state Republican Party. But it's just the idea that only incumbents can have the info. So much for party unity and building a deep political bench for future races.

        A policy like that basically tells primary challengers to forget about coming to the table.

        Way to go, Kenton GOP. Another bold step for a political organization that looks about as steady these days as the Taliban.

        • Boone County Republicans, at least the smart ones, are thankful the party gave the boot to Fiscal Court candidate Tim Alexander. Mr. Alexander was tainted through his involvement with Providence, a company looking to make a buck off losses such as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by lending victims and survivors cash — then recovering the money when lawsuits are settled or won, or insurance pays off.

        Mr. Alexander faces charges in Kenton County for failing to obtain city and county businesses for Providence, which is located in Covington. He has denied the charges and has said he has nothing to do with the company.

        • Will Kenton County Democrats be thankful for their party's leadership after the Jan. 29 filing deadline for county races? We've heard for months that the Dems will put up “tough” challengers to the Republicans holding office at the courthouse.

        But so far we haven't seen much other than judge-executive candidate Patrick Hughes.

        And we'll thankful when Mr. Hughes can actually tell us where he would put a county jail and how he would pay for it, since he is darn good at bashing the Republicans for not being able to find a location for the jail and for raising taxes to pay for it.

        • Boone County Democrats can be thankful for Howard Tankersley of Florence, elected this week as the party's new chairman. He replaces Phyllis Jones, who because of time constraints has stepped aside to become vice chairman.

        Mr. Tankersley is also considering running for county attorney next year. Three Republicans — C.J. Victor, Robert Neace and J.R. Schrand — are also vying for the seat retiring Democrat Larry Crigler is giving up after more than 20 years of stellar service to the county.

        • And finally, a note of thanks for my wonderful wife, Pam. It's an election year coming up, honey. I'll be normal again — or as least as close as I ever get — around next Thanksgiving.
       

        Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics. He can be reached at (859) 578-5581, or at pcrowley@enquirer.com.

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