Paul E. Osborne

Who is Paul E. Osborne?

Paul Edward Osborne is a realtor who served as the mayor of Campbellsville in Taylor County in central Kentucky from 1999 to 2002.

A Democrat, Osborne unseated the 33-year-incumbent Robert L. Miller in the election held on November 2, 1998. Miller was also a Democrat, but the municipal offices in Campbellsville are elected on a nonpartisan basis. At the time of Osborne's election, the Fruit of the Loom plant, the largest employer in Taylor County, was closing its operations after forty-six years. Amazon.com later moved into Campbellsville to fill part of the large void in employment there.

Osborne noted that Fruit of the Loom had signaled a decade before its closing that it might eventually move to Latin America. However, because of the long-term stable employment in Taylor County, local officials were caught off-guard. Not long after the underwear plant ceased operations, the Indiana-based Batesville Casket Company also closed its Campbellsville operations. Amid the economic readjustment, Campbellsville had to re-tool its industrial recruitment efforts.