FAYETTEVILLE, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Fayette County Assessor Harvey “Eddie” Young has officially made the switch from Democrat to Republican, stating that the national Democrat party has gone too far left.
Assessor Harvey Young says this decision was not made on a whim, and it’s something he’s been contemplating for nearly four years now.
“It’s been a long time coming, the Democratic Party on the national level has gone so far left that my faith doesn’t allow me to be a part of that,” Young said. “So the thing for me is, what can I do to voice my displeasure with that, the only thing I can come up with is switch.”
Young realizes there may be potential backlash for his switch, but says that it will not change his effectiveness as assessor.
“It may make some folks mad and I get that, but being a Democrat or Republican has nothing to do with my job,” Young explained. “I never ask when someone comes through my door, are you a Democrat or are you Republican? I don’t care. I treat everybody the same, I’m going to be the same guy.”
Young says although he has officially joined the Republicans, he has nothing negative to say about Democrats locally.
“It was not because of the Fayette County Democrats, they’re good people,” Young said. “There are good people and there’s bad people on every side of politics. The Democratic Party in this county has been good to me.”
Young says he is proud of the work he and his team at the assessor’s office have accomplished.
“I’ve tried to keep our office on the cutting edge of technology, and we have an awesome GIS mapping program that I got off the ground in my first term, it’s state of the art, which helps the taxpayers and it helps us be more accurate in our jobs,” Young explained.
Young has won multiple awards during his time as assessor including West Virginia Assessor of the Year and the Richard Shelton Memorial Award presented by the West Virginia Association of Counties.
Harvey “Eddie” Young has served as Fayette County Assessor for a total of five terms, with a total of over 35 years of service in the assessor’s office. He has run unopposed each time.
