Editing Pike County, Kentucky (section)

===Local government===
The office of Pike County [[County Judge-Executive|Judge Executive]] served as a launching pad for the governorship of [[Paul E. Patton]] (1995–2003).<ref>[http://www.pikecountyky.gov/index.php?id=judge-executive Pike County Judge/Executives Since 1965] Office of the Pike County Judge Executive. Retrieved June 25, 2014.</ref>

In 2016, Pike County voted to switch from a magisterial form of government to a commissioner form of government. As of 2019, the Pike County Fiscal Court is composed of three county commissioners and the county judge/executive. This was a bipartisan effort led by a citizens' group, Pike Countians Against Government Waste, that garnered signature petitions in 2015–16 to place the question on the ballot. In 2016, nearly 70% of voters supported changing to a commissioner form of government. In March 2017, the fiscal court, composed of six magistrates and a judge-executive, voted unanimously to sue the judge-executive (who voted to sue himself) to overturn the results of the ballot question to change the form of government. The fiscal court, composed of magistrates Jeff Anderson, Vernon "Chick" Johnson, Leo Murphy, Hilman Dotson, and Bobby Varney and Judge Bill Deskins, was first represented by Assistant County Attorney John Doug Hays and then by County Attorney Howard Keith Hall. The citizens' group was represented by State Senator Ray S. Jones II, who filed a motion to intervene on behalf of the citizens of Pike County. In October 2017, Special Judge Rebecca Phillips of Morgan County dismissed the lawsuit in a 23-page decision, which effectively ended the effort to overturn the voters' decision. The commissioner form of government replaced the magistrate form in 2019.