There will be a new face as Western District Buchanan County Commissioner. But will there be a new party?

Democrat Bud Crockett is retiring after four terms in the seat. First-time candidate Republican Bob Ott faces first-time candidate Democrat Ron Hook, who emerged from an 11-candidate primary to get his name on the Nov. 4 ballot.

There’s a good reason why so many Democrats competed for their party’s nomination: No Republican has held the Western District seat since Joe Gray in 1974, and he was appointed to fill a vacancy, not elected.

So even though Mr. Ott is chairman of the Buchanan County Republican Central Committee, he hopes to run this race on issues rather than along party lines.

“I’m not going to the courthouse to be a friend of the courthouse or the other people there,” Mr. Ott said. “It’s not to be a toady for the current Republican commissioners. I stand on my own.”

Mr. Ott notes that the county has moved toward the Republican Party in recent elections, but local elections are about feeling that a candidate will represent the taxpayers.

“I think people are more and more looking at where they stand on issues and less on party lines,” Mr. Ott said. “Those lines are being blurred.”

Mr. Ott said any tax increase must be “necessary” and not just “wanted.” Further, the fact that people say this is a “bad time” to raise taxes just goes to show that there’s never a good time to raise taxes.

He also disagrees with the oft-repeated idea that the commission is only there to look after county roads and bridges. He said he’s been working hard to meet people and tell them he’ll look out for their tax dollars over any courthouse priorities.

“This isn’t about roads and bridges. It’s not about running for class president, where the most popular person is elected,” Mr. Ott said. “It’s about handling the county money and making sure citizens get the most effective use of their tax dollars.”

Mr. Hook gathered the most votes — 984, or about 20 percent — in a crowded 11-candidate field in the August primary. He’s not accepting the notion that this seat is a lock for the Democrat.

“Getting out of the primary was a huge hurdle that anybody had to do. I’m not taking anything different in the general election,” Mr. Hook said. “I’ve still been out door-to-door visiting with people and putting signs up.”

He said he’s always taken pleasure helping people, and he hopes to look out for the customers — the taxpayers — if elected.

“Once you get into office, you need to go in there more thinking of what’s best for the people, the taxpayers, and the growth of the county rather than, ‘I’m a Democrat, you’re a Republican.’”

Mr. Hook said he’d focus on the following issues: creating job opportunities; improving the current status of roads and bridges; cleaning up known dump sites in rural areas and improving security of those areas; and the county budget, to avoid the end-of-year cuts that the current commission faces.

He expects finances to be tight for a couple of years, and he pointed to a $30,000 county study of “green” energy savings by an out-of-town firm as one example of a lack of budget scrutiny.

“There’s definitely a priority issue,” Mr. Hook said. “We’ve got to do what’s best for the taxpayer with that money.”

In 2004, Mr. Crockett defeated Republican challenger Greg Hall by a vote of 10,571 to 6,742.

Joe Blumberg can be reached at joeblumberg@npgco.com.

CORRECTION: A profile of Ron Hook, candidate for Buchanan County Western District commissioner, on Page A1 of Saturday’s edition, contained an error due to incorrect information submitted by Mr. Hook. Mr. Hook didn’t complete a degree from Missouri Western State University.