Major-party candidates for lieutenant governor debate education and other issues for an hour on KET

By Cheyene Miller
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

Early childhood education has been a recurring talking point for the Democratic gubernatorial ticket, but “wasn’t even on the radar” of the Republican slate, its candidate for lieutenant governor said Monday night.

Overly, left, and Hampton (Lexington Herald-Leader photos)

Republican Jenean Hampton and Democrat Sannie Overly rehashed arguments over education and several other key gubernatorial race issues for an hour Monday evening on KET’s “Kentucky Tonight.” Independent Heather Curtis was not invited.

Half the time was spent on schools. Overly said that she and running mate Jack Conway released a detailed education plan “to ensure that Kentucky kids get the very best education possible.”

The state representative from Paris said she and Conway want to oversee “a historic expansion” of early learning opportunities, and she criticized Hampton running mate Matt Bevin for saying that programs like Head Start serve no purpose because their impact disappears after the third grade.

Hampton said she and Bevin would take a close look at Head Start’s results and make sure that the dollars are being spent “effectively and efficiently.”

Hampton questioned the efficiency of Head Start and pointed out Kentucky’s low literacy rates. “That is simply offensive to even accept that,” she said.

According to Hampton, early childhood education was not the issue of choice for her and Bevin’s campaign. “This is a non-issue for us,” she said. “This wasn’t even on our radar.”

Overly said that there has been extensive research proving that Head Start “is the one thing that can break a cycle of poverty in a state like Kentucky,” said Overly, adding that there are stark differences between the two tickets on education, such as the Democrats’ support of, and Republicans’ opposition to, the Common Core State Standards.  “It’s not limited to early learning programs.”

The two women also sparred on how to improve business and the economy in Kentucky, one of the poorest states in the nation.

Hampton, an industrial-process specialist, said she and Bevin have more than 60 years of business leadership experience between them, and would make Kentucky a right-to-work state and improve its ways to attract businesses.

While the candidates largely agreed on promoting Kentucky’s tourist attractions, they took polar stances on raising the state minimum wage, which currently reflects the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour and $2.13 per hour for tipped workers.

“The minimum wage was never meant to be a livable wage,” said Hampton, who said that minimum wage hikes have “disastrous effects” on small businesses.  She said it was better to attract businesses and promote competition.

Ideally, Overly said, the federal government would raise the minimum wage nationwide, but she and Conway favor a bill that would raise the state minimum to $10.10 per hour over three years.

The candidates then tried to clarify for votes the reality of the current state of the Kentucky economy.

Overly cited Kentucky winning Site Selection magazine’s Governor’s Cup for expanded industry activity per capita in 2014 as a sign that Kentucky is improving under a Democratic administration.

 “Governor Beshear has marketed our state very well through difficult times,” Overly said of her fellow Democrat, who will leave office in December.

Hampton likened Kentucky’s financial status to the sinkhole that swallowed eight cars at the National Corvette Museum in her hometown of Bowling Green, saying it was “shiny on top but eroding underneath.”

Next Monday’s edition of “Kentucky Tonight” will features a debate between Conway and Bevin with Bill Goodman moderating. The night before, they will meet in a commercially televised debate at Eastern Kentucky University.

The election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

A historic debate for lieutenant governor: all the candidates are women

By Cheyene Miller
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

Kentucky witnessed history Tuesday night as three female candidates for lieutenant governor squared off in a debate at the William T. Young Library at the University of Kentucky.

From left: Jenean Hampton, Heather Curtis and Sannie Overly
(WUKY-FM photo by Josh James)

While the three male gubernatorial candidates have dominated the state headlines in recent weeks, Tuesday night was all about the women, who discussed a range of issues affecting Kentucky. 

Democratic candidate Sannie Overly said she and running mate Jack Conway “have a record of bringing folks together from both sides of the aisle” to get things accomplished, as well as her experience in engineering and as a member of the state House.

Republican candidate Jenean Hampton talked about her experience living in an impoverished area of Detroit and working her way up to being a plant manager. “I rose from the ashes of the inner city and accomplished a lot,” she said.

Making her first appearance on a debate stage was independent candidate Heather Curtis, wife and running mate of Drew Curtis. She talked about her experience as a therapist and willingness to put scientific practical and well-researched solutions over partisan politics. “I like experts, I like people who know what they’re doing, I like science,” she said.

Many of the questions focused on issues facing Kentucky women and children, such as public education and the minimum wage, since two-thirds of Kentucky minimum wage workers are women and the event was sponsored in part by the UK Women’s Forum.

Hampton said inflating the minimum wage would be “a disaster waiting to happen,” and that she had to work her way up the ladder when she worked a low wage job. “The minimum wage was never meant to be a living wage,” she said.

Overly said she and Conway support raising the minimum wage on the state level to $10.10 an hour over a period of three years, and criticized Hampton’s running mate Matt Bevin for not wanting to give Kentucky workers a living wage.

Curtis posited potentially offering an exemption for small businesses, which she said tend to get hit the hardest by minimum-wage hikes.

Overly said she and Conway released a detailed education plan, and intend to create a “historic expansion of early learning opportunities” for Kentucky children, while criticizing Bevin for not supporting early childhood education.

Hampton said Head Start programs are not doing their jobs and many Kentuckians have substandard literacy. “I believe that is unacceptable, apparently my opponent does not,” said Hampton, who said Kentuckians must be better stewards of the dollar.

Curtis said the biggest problems with education are inequality and poverty. She promoted a concept called “scaffolding,” which she described as teaching children a step at a time, and that it would be “a great place to start.”

Addressing poverty in Kentucky, one of the poorest states, Hampton touted creating more economic opportunity. The single biggest thing we can do … is increase opportunity,” said Hampton, who proposed making Kentucky a right-to-work state and look into restructuring the state’s tax code. 

Overly said the state should “invest in education,” as a way to combat poverty. “Our (Overly and Conway) education plan addresses education from top to bottom,” she said. Curtis said Kentucky politicians should look to experts and scholars such as the ones at UK for solutions on the state’s poverty dilemma.

The latest Bluegrass Poll, released Sept. 30, showed Conway with a slight lead over Bevin, 42 percent to 37 percent. Seven percent said they would vote for Drew Curtis and 15 percent were undecided. The election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Lieutenant-governor candidates disagree on sexual-harassment case, education, health care and more

By Megan Ingros
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications
An initial version of this story first appeared in the Kentucky Kernel, the independent student newspaper.

Candidates for Kentucky lieutenant governor were divided on a sexual harassment scandal, education, health care and other major issues in their first debate Wednesday night.

Candidates Sannie Overly and Jenean Hampton met at Midway University in a debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Kentucky, which prepared the questions.

Overly is running with Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway, and Hampton with Republican businessman Matt Bevin. Independent candidate Heather Curtis, running mate of husband Drew Curtis, did not meet the league's polling criteria (10 percent or higher voter recognition in established nonpartisan polls) to participate. The last public poll, in late July, didn't measure name recognition but showed Drew Curtis with 8 percent support.

The debate was more civil than the first televised gubernatorial debate held last week, but included its share of sharp moments. The sharpest came when Overly denounced Bevin for his “false attacks” in that debate, in which he said she turned her back on female state workers who said they were sexually harassed by a former state lawmaker, a Democrat.

“That’s why even Kentucky Republicans call Matt Bevin a pathological liar,” said Overly, who said she and Conway condemned the behavior and would change the culture in Frankfort.

Hampton replied that Overly “fought very hard during the harassment case to have her deposition sealed,” and would not testify in the case until she knew it would be sealed.

On education issues, the candidates disagreed about the Common Core State Standards and state vouchers for private education.

Hampton said she understands the need for education because it “was the key to escaping the inner city” of Detroit, but “I do not support Common Core because from what I’ve seen from it, it dumbs down the curriculum and our students are better than that.”

Overly said, “I think the results speak for themselves. We’ve doubled the number of kids in Kentucky who are college ready at graduation. . . . Since the Kentucky core standards have been implemented our college readiness at high school has doubled. It's gone from 31 percent to 62 percent.”

On rebuttal, Overly took a shot: “While the Bevin campaign may not support Common Core or even Kentucky high standards, we do know that Bevin has enriched himself from investing in companies that sell Common Core software.” Hampton didn’t reply to that, but said Common Core is “too driven from the top down” and “We need a system. We need to find the best and implement that here.”

Overly noted her slate's support of expanded early-childhood education, and noted that Bevin has said it "serves no purpose: "It is another big contrast in this race."

Hampton said Common Core is "too driven from the top top down" and pledged to return control of schools to the local level as much as possible. "We also believe in parental choice" of schools, she said.

Common Core is a set of standards for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. According to the initiative it was “create to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live.”

Asked how they would make post-secondary education more affordable, Overly said she wants to hold colleges and universities accountable and offer a statewide apprentice program so students can "earn while they learn" and afford the cost of college.

Hampton said she would work with students to help them understand they can minimize their debt, and work with schools to make students are aware of their choices as a career path.

Health care was another major topic, with Overly supporting the expansion of Medicaid to 400,000 Kentuckians and the state's Kynect health-insurance exchange.

Hampton questioned the cost of the expansion and said "Kynect is a redundant system and we don't have the money to continue it." The exchange is funded by a 1 percent fee on all health-insurance policies sold in the state.

Overly said, “If we do away with that and go to federal exchange it’s going to go to a 3 1/2 percent charge, which in essence would be a tax increase for Kentuckians,” Overly said. Actually, the federal fee is only on policies sold through the federal exchange.

Overly said it would cost $23 million to dismantle Kynect and asked Hampton, "Where are you going to come up with that money?"

Hampton replied, "My question is, where we come up with the dollars to go to Medicaid at the end of 2017, when the federal subsidies are gone?" Actually, the subsidies for the Medicaid expansion do not disappear. The federal government is paying the entire cost of the expansion through next year, but states will begin paying 5 percent in 2017, rising in steps to the law's limit of 10 percent in 2020.

“Jack and I will monitor Medicaid and see if we can afford going forward,” Overly said. She cited a state-funded study predicting that the expansion will pay for itself by creating health-care jobs and tax revenue, putting $30 billion into Kentucky’s economy through 2021.

Hampton said the underlying premise of "Obamacare" is the belief that people are incapable of making their own health-care decisions, but she didn't elaborate.

Asked if they agreed with Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis's refusal to issue same-sex marriage licenses, Overly said Davis should have followed a federal judge's order, but Hampton said “Matt and I side with Kim Davis because this is an issue of religious freedom. However, to say that it is the law of the land is questionable . . . because if that were true I would still be a slave.”

The Supreme Court interprets the Constitution, which was amended in 1865 to ban slavery. Hampton also questioned whether the court can overrule the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, but Overly, a lawyer, noted that the U.S. Constitution has a supremacy clause overriding state laws.

The debate's first question was "What is the most significant issue the new governor will face?"

Hampton said, “The $34 billion pension shortfall has potential to derail everything we do in Kentucky,” Hampton said. She repeated Bevin's emphasis on growing the economy to fund programs.

Overly replied, “Growing more and better good paying jobs for the people here in Kentucky,” making the first of several mentions of heir campaign's jobs plan that will "change the environment here in Kentucky."

The debate was co-sponsored by Midway University and CBS affiliates WKYT-TV of Lexington and WLKY-TV of Louisville. WKYT anchor and political editor Bill Bryant and WLKY anchor Vicki Dortch asked the questions.

Major-party nominees leave independent Drew Curtis plenty of room to run in their first debate

By Matthew Young
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

When you are polling at only 8 percent, you can afford to take some risks. This is the position in which independent candidate Drew Curtis entered Tuesday night’s gubernatorial debate, the first among the three candidates.

Being the long-shot provided Curtis insulation from attacks by Republican Matt Bevin and Democrat Jack Conway. When candidates were given time to ask each other questions, neither of the two major party candidates directed theirs toward Curtis, leaving him free to state his case largely unchallenged. Happy to let Conway and Bevin take shots at the other, Curtis also provided comedic relief.

The political circus surrounding Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, whose refusal to issue marriage licenses following the Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage landed her in jail for five days, provided Curtis with his first of many memorable lines.

Drew Curtis

“I think you’re both wrong,” Curtis told his foes to an uproar of laughter. Bevin had reiterated his view that Conway and Gov. Steve Beshear should provide some accommodation for Davis’s religious freedom – a step they say they have no power to do.

Curtis said, “As the executive you have an oath to uphold the laws of your land ... When the rule of law is not upheld society falls apart at the seams.”

When Conway asked Bevin why he had not released his tax returns, Bevin dodged the question, complaining that this was only a distraction from issues unfavorable to Conway.

Curtis again cut the tension with a joke: “So, I’ll actually answer this question.” Curtis had to wait a few seconds for the laughter in the room to subside before saying he will also release his tax returns, and offered anyone a tour of his house to prove his transparency.

When Curtis was asked about the state’s underfunded pensions, he had another line ready for Bevin: “You know you have been trying to ignore me, and I appreciate that.”

Curtis then asked for specific math on how Bevin’s proposed pension plan would work. When Bevin again sidestepped a specific answer Curtis used humor to display his displeasure. “On a math base the money is not there. [We] can’t convert everyone to a 401k plan right now and we cannot start putting new hires into it because the revenue bankrupts the system a good year earlier; and I’ll make a spreadsheet and send it to you.”

To fix the pension system, which is underfunded by over $9 billion, Curtis would create a line of credit for the state by issuing $5 billion in bonds. During years when annual return on the invested pension funds is lower the credit line could be tapped to fund the pension fund at 100 percent. During years when the return is high the accrual could be used to pay down the line of credit.

Bevin’s plan is to move all newly hired employees into a new 401(k) system of defined contributions – a type of savings where the employee and the state make contributions.

Perhaps Curtis’ most memorable line of the night came in response to a question about why he chose his wife Heather as his running mate, given the history of governors and lieutenant governors not getting along even after running together as they have since the early 1990s.

“I’ve been surprised by the number of people who think that it's a strange thing. I'm really starting to question all the rest of your marriages,” Curtis said.

He explained that while his strength is strategy, his wife’s is operations, pointing to the success of Fark.com, which she has run for years.

When he wasn’t lightening the occasion with his wit, Curtis used the stage to make voters more familiar with his positions, which include:

●            Using data analytics to make state government more efficient

●            Support for a statewide needle exchange program

●            Bringing broadband networks to all corners of Kentucky

●            Addressing mental health issues to keep guns away from mentally unstable, and

●            Restoring voting rights to 180,000 non-violent released convicts.

At the end of the night each candidate got what they wanted from the debate, said Bill Stone, former Jefferson County Republican Party chairman. Curtis benefited from his exposure to the spotlight, which has been hard for him to find as the independent.

Democrats seeking lesser offices attack Bevin while their Republican opponents attack Obama and Conway

FANCY FARM, Ky. – The focus of the political speaking at the Fancy Farm Picnic is on those holding or seeking top-ranking offices, but is also a valuable opportunity for other statewide candidates to connect with the politically minded crowd and a statewide television audience. Cheyene Miller of the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications wrote this account of their speeches, in the order they were given Saturday.

Lieutenant Governor

Like her running mate, Jack Conway, state House Democratic Caucus Chair Sannie Overly of Paris focused on criticizing Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Bevin.  She did not mention her opponent, Jenean Hampton of Bowling Green.

Overly began by saying that at the picnic, the “line for the barbecue is as long as Matt Bevin’s nose,” and said he wants to keep Kentucky workers at the current minimum wage.

She talked about being raised in Bourbon County with Kentucky values, which she says Bevin lacks. Sounding a refrain used by other Democrats, she said, “Matt Bevin isn’t from Kentucky, he’s wrong for Kentucky, and he’s lied to Kentucky.”

Overly said she had never seen anything like the Republican primary, which “had three very qualified Kentucky candidates with long histories in their community, and they went with Matt Bevin.”

Hampton made history by becoming the first black woman to speak on the stage at Fancy Farm, which she immediately referenced.

“I know for some of you I’m an anomaly, I know I’m something you haven’t seen, I’m a black conservative,” said Hampton, asking the crowd to judge her by her character and qualifications.

Like her running mate, Hampton avoided attacks and counterattacks. She spoke about her service in the Air Force and growing up in Detroit saying she “rose from the wreckage of the inner city by rejecting voices that said I was a victim.”

Hampton said that success can often depend on someone saying “you’re better than this,” and that applies to Kentucky.

Agriculture Commissioner

Democrats continued to make things personal, as agriculture-commissioner candidate Jean Marie Lawson Spann said Republican opponent Ryan Quarles has said he has six college degrees and quoted one of her friends as saying “This fella has spent so much time getting degrees that he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.”

Spann called herself a proud product of public education in Kentucky, and cited her experience growing up in a farm family as one of her qualifications for the job.

Quarles implied that his opponent’s farm credentials are suspect. “Kentucky deserves a commissioner with a real farm background,” he said.

Quarles recounted his experience growing up on a farm, doing everything from working with tobacco and livestock to shoveling cow manure, a job which he says “prepared me well for Frankfort politics.”

Promising to stand up to “Obama liberals both in Washington (D.C.) and in Frankfort,” Quarles said the choice is between someone who voted for the president and someone who didn’t.

Attorney General

Democratic candidate Andy Beshear, the son of Gov. Steve Beshear, Beshear said he has consistently been ranked among the top attorneys in America and that he takes on the “big, complex cases.”

He promised to fight Marathon Oil to make sure that Kentuckians pay fair gas prices, fight child abuse and drugs, find better drug-treatment methods, and protect senior citizens from fraud.

Beshear then returned to grilling his opponent, state Sen. Whitney Westerfield of Hopkinsville, accusing him of not understanding the attorney general’s budget.

Earlier, he said politicians try to avoid put their feet in their mouths at Fancy Farm, but “We know that if my opponent puts his foot in his mouth, it’ll be clean, well-trimmed and polished.” That was a reference to a news report that Westerfield missed work to get a pedicure.

Westerfield replied, “I did have a pedicure at lunch but I’m ready to go toe-to-toe with you right now.”

Westerfield pointed out that he’s the only candidate who’s been a prosecutor, and that he has experience fighting drugs and child abuse.

Alluding to Beshear’s heavy funding from interests who stand to gain or lose at the hands of his father’s administration, Westerfield said, “The Beshears are cashing checks that should never have been written.”

Quoting the old expression that there is no education in the second kick of a mule, he said ”There’s no sense in electing another Beshear in Kentucky.”

Westerfield concluded by saying the state needs to protect religious freedom and public officials who exercise it – a reference to the three or four Kentucky county clerks who are refusing to issue any marriage licenses in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision for nationwide gay marriage.

Secretary of State

After sitting through jabs at her refusal to say who she voted for in the 2012 presidential election, Democratic Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes wasted no time in returning the heat toward Kentucky Republicans.

Repeating McConnell’s attacks on Bevin in last year’s Senate primary, she said, “See, Mitch and I actually do agree on some things.” Grime lost to McConnell in the general election.

Grimes then fired at her opponent, Erlanger Council Member Steve Knipper, saying “The last time this office was on the ballot, the Republican who wants to be Kentucky’s chief election official … didn’t even vote.”

Rehashing Republican attack ads from last year’s Senate race, Knipper began his speech by accusing Grimes of spending half her work time running for the Senate.

“You actually have to be in office to accomplish something, and that hasn’t always been the case with Ms. Grimes,” he said.

Knipper said Democrats had attacked Bevin for having something to hide while Grimes had been away from her duties.  He then threw in his approval of Bevin, saying that he had the job experience to improve Kentucky’s economy, and that Knipper himself had the technological skills.

Auditor of Public Accounts

Republican state Rep. Mike Harmon of Danville sarcastically said that the Democratic side of the crowd would boo him even though they knew deep in their hearts that he would be a much better state auditor than incumbent Adam Edelen.

“Well, go ahead and boo, I’m a big guy, I can handle it. I won’t cry like Jack Conway,” Harmon said, referring to the tears Conway shed when explaining his decision not to appeal one of the same-sex marriage rulings that the Supreme Court upheld.

Harmon claimed Edelen switched parties in high school in hopes of being governor, and criticized Edelen for not filling out a questionnaire from Kentucky Right to Life, which endorsed Harmon.

Like his fellow Republicans, Harmon connected Kentucky Democrats to Obama, and encouraged the crowd to give Republicans power in the state capital.

Edelen spoke briefly about his office’s efforts to make a count on unprocessed rape kits to aid sexual assault victims, then about his parents, who taught him the value of hard work, education and meeting their obligations.

“Those are true family values,” he said, accusing Republicans of not being genuine in their advocacy of Christian values.

“Kicking half a million Kentuckians off the insurance rolls with a stroke of a pen is callous, it’s not Christian,” Edelen said, referring to Bevin’s plan to shut down the state health-insurance exchange and original plan to repeal Medicaid expansion.  “Maybe this side of the aisle should put down the books of Ayn Rand and pick up the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.”

Edelen said the election is a battle between “the mainstream and the extreme,” and “values that say ‘we understand we owe a little something, against the law of the jungle.”

State Treasurer

Republican candidate Allison Ball of Prestonsburg spent much of her speech differentiating herself and the other candidate with a similar name.

“I’m the good Allison,” she said in reference to Grimes. 

Ball described herself as a friend of coal and said she voted against Obama.

Finally turning to her opponent, state Rep. Rick Nelson of Middlesboro, Ball said she was the only qualified candidate due to her experience as a bankruptcy attorney, while her opponent is a retired teacher and a liberal Democrat.

Nelson said that he had never been called a liberal, and said his National Rifle Association rating “is 20 points higher than Allison’s.” He said he makes it a policy not to engage in mudslinging.

Nelson, a retired teacher, said a teacher’s life is hard has the opportunity to change lives.  He said his coal-mining family had few material possessions, but lived well with what they had.

“I believe that I have the life experience and the job experience to be your next Kentucky treasurer,” he said.