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Kentucky Deserves Moore

By Greg Holmes

             Speaking to the April 11 meeting of the Jefferson County Party, Kentucky State Senator Virgil Moore voiced his strong belief in limited government and individual freedom.  Moore, who has represented five West Kentucky counties of Breckinridge, Grayson, Hart, Meade, and Ohio in the Fifth Senatorial District since 1992, is one of only five Kentucky state senators who are members of the Liberty Caucus, an organization within the Republican Party that works to promote libertarian principles. 

            On most issues in his Senate career, Virgil Moore has been an articulate, result-oriented force for reducing or at least holding the line on taxes, minimizing government regulation, and safeguarding individual liberties.  As Chairman of the powerful Senate Transportation Committee, Moore killed the latest, highly intrusive seatbelt bill, blocked Governor Paul Patton’s attempts to raise the gasoline tax by at least 7 cents per gallon, and played a key role in defeating Patton’s proposed half-billion-dollar tax on services, which would have meant an unprecedented expansion of the state sales tax. 

            Moore’s chairmanship of the Transportation Committee has also led him to study and become an expert on the trucking industry and the role that government can play in that industry, for good or ill.  Senator Moore conducted a study of the trucking industry in Kentucky and surrounding states and found that taxes and regulations make it considerably more expensive for truckers to do business in Kentucky than in surrounding states, particularly Tennessee.  He notes that Tennessee’s trucking industry amounts to some 20 billion dollars in that state’s economy, while Kentucky limps along with only about 1.6 billion dollars of such business.

            Senator Moore’s was one of the key votes in this year’s landmark repeal of Jefferson County’s Vehicle Emissions Testing program.  Senator Dan Seum, the driving force behind the repeal of the VET, said that he could not have achieved his stunning victory without the assistance of Virgil Moore. 

            Moore, 68, lives in Leitchfield with his wife Sharon on their family farm.  Moore is a 1961 graduate of Eastern Kentucky University with a Bachelor of Science degree in business and mathematics.  Moore is also a highly decorated veteran, having served more than 21 years in the United States Army, earning a Bronze Star for valor, and retiring with the rank of “Major.” 

             Virgil Moore has made serious moves toward seeking the 2003 Kentucky Republican Gubernatorial nomination.  In a relatively crowded field expected to include Sixth District Congressman Ernie Fletcher, Jefferson County Judge-Executive Rebecca Jackson, and State Representative Steve Nunn, Moore stands out as a champion of individual liberty and restraint on the growth of government.  Indeed, rumor has it that many Libertarians will reregister after the November, 2002 election specifically so that they can vote for Senator Moore in the May, 2003 Republican Primary. 

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