Who's Reviewing the Deal? The Same People Selling It.

The board that is supposed to review the Paducah nuclear and data center projects for the public is chaired by a man who also helps run the group promoting them. That is not a rumor. It's public record.

Brent Housman chairs the McCracken County Planning Commission. That commission exists to review land use in our county and to protect the people who live here.

Housman is also the Secretary/Treasurer of the Greater Paducah Economic Development Council, the group working to bring these very projects to McCracken County. His company, 50 North LLC, is in real estate development.

Read that again. The person leading the review is also an officer of the organization doing the selling. Two hats. One table. Only one of those hats is supposed to be looking out for us.

Why this is different

A conflict of interest is not about whether someone is a good or bad person. It is about the position they are in. When the same individual sits on both sides of a decision, the public loses the one thing a review is supposed to give them: an honest second look from someone with no stake in the outcome.

We hold this standard everywhere else in life. A referee does not coach one of the teams. A judge does not represent one of the parties. We expect the person calling the play to be separate from the person who wins if the play goes through. On the biggest land use decision this county has faced in a generation, that separation is missing at the top of the commission.

It goes higher than one seat

Here is the part that turns a single conflict into a pattern. The Planning Commissioners are appointed by the Judge Executive, Craig Clymer. Clymer also sits on the GPED board, listed as Judge Executive for McCracken County.

To be fair, an elected official serving on an economic development board is common, and he is likely there because of his office. We are not claiming that seat is illegal. We are pointing out what it means when you step back and look at the whole picture. The person who appoints every planning commissioner, and the person who chairs them, both sit on the board of the group promoting these projects. That is a very small circle making very large decisions, and that circle sits on every side of the table.

Then came the questions

Protect McCracken County went to a Planning Commission meeting and did what residents are supposed to be able to do. We asked questions. Basic ones. About the projects, the site, and who is looking out for the community.

The meeting was quickly closed. The commissioners were sent home. No answers. No discussion. Just the door.

Maybe there was a routine reason. But when residents finally get in the room and the room empties out the moment they speak, people notice. Trust is built by answering questions, not by ending the meeting.

What we are actually asking for

We are not trying to run anyone out of town, and we are not against jobs or growth. We want a process people can believe in. That is not too much to ask.

So here is what a fair process looks like:

• Officials with a financial tie to these projects should disclose it and step back from decisions where that tie exists. That is what recusal is for, and it is written into the ethics rules for a reason.

• The county should open the meetings, not close them, and answer residents' questions on the record.

• The review of these projects should come from people whose only job is to protect this community, not to market it.

McCracken County deserves a real review. Right now the same names keep showing up on both sides of the deal, and that should concern every resident, no matter how you feel about the projects themselves.

If this bothers you as much as it bothers us, do three things. Share this post so your neighbors know. Come to the next Planning Commission meeting and see it for yourself. And ask the questions with us, out loud, until they get answered.

Protect McCracken County is a group of local residents working for transparency and independent review of the nuclear and data center projects proposed for our community.