Bevin turns up the heat, during debate and afterward

By Matthew Young
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

In a governor’s race that has been conspicuous for its relative silence, Republican Matt Bevin is turning up the heat on Democrat Jack Conway.

Matt Bevin and Jack Conway
(Lexington Herald-Leader photos)

Content for weeks to ride the wave of conservative anger and frustration over County Clerk Kim Davis’ fight against gay marriage in Rowan County, Bevin is now aiming directly at Conway, the two-term state attorney general.

The most spirited attack came in Tuesday night’s Bellarmine University debate when Bevin called Conway, in no uncertain terms, a liar.

That came after Conway accused Bevin of saying he would like to see the road fund in Kentucky – in dire need of cash – drained all the way to zero, then have it audited. Bevin’s anger was palpable in his response:

“First of all, so much of what comes out of your mouth, Jack, is absolutely made up. I have never once called for letting anything go to zero and then auditing it. You literally make lies up on the fly. So I would challenge those of you watching, check carefully with the facts.”

The Conway campaign later cited a Beattyville Enterprise article from last year’s U.S. Senate primary in which Bevin said government public-works projects have "served their purpose," but could not provide any evidence that Bevin wanted the highway fund to fall to zero.

Bevin lashed back at several attacks.

He is still fighting off claims that he was delinquent on taxes, something fact-checkers largely cleared him of early in the Senate primary against Sen. Mitch McConnell.

A recent Conway ad shows Bevin saying the Farm Bill was “an insult to farmers.” The screen then splits and shows him saying that was “a misrepresentation of what I said.”

Bevin has a case, since the “insult” he spoke about was the bill’s longstanding non-agriculture provisions, and the money it funneled to big agribusiness.

The ad also says Bevin told one group that early childhood education “after the age of nine serves no purpose,” then shows him denying that he opposes early childhood education.

While Bevin has said Head Start’s benefits to children disappear after the third grade, Head Start and early childhood education are not exactly the same.

More clearly, Bevin has backtracked on the expansion of Medicaid in Kentucky to include more than 400,000 people. After he said he would end the expansion, and Conway accused him of being callous, he denied saying he would end it and said he would seek a less expensive alternative, like Indiana’s.

The frustration seems to have taken its toll on Bevin. Tuesday night’s debate was not the only time he directly attacked Conway.

In an interview with Kentucky Public Radio, Bevin told host Ryland Barton, “Jack Conway supports the idea of bankrupting the coal industry.” Conway notes that he is the only Democratic attorney general who has sued to block the Obama administration’s regulation of greenhouse gases from coal-fired power plants.

While Bevin may lack evidence to back up this attack, it suggests he will keep up the heat as the race heats up.

Perhaps the most personal attack from Bevin was about race.

Bevin, who has adopted four black children from Ethiopia and chose Jenean Hampton, a black conservative activist, as his running mate for lieutenant governor, used race to question a lack of action from Conway on Gov. Steve Beshear’s appointment to university boards.

“I would question whether or not it's racially motivated that our governor and attorney general have no qualm with, even though its statutorily required, having no blacks on the University of Louisville board,” he said in the debate. Conway has said he would correct that.

Returning to his favorite argument, about the Rowan County clerk’s stand against gay marriage, and Conway’s non-appeal of a ruling that led to the Supreme Court’s legalization of it, Bevin said, “We have an attorney general who is once again turning a blind eye. We’re quick to put a Kim Davis in jail for not doing her job; we tell her to quit or do her job. We have an attorney general that repeatedly does not do his job, and a governor in the same boat. We cannot have a double standard in this state."

Conway replied that the law gives him discretion not to appeal, an appeal would have been futile and wasteful, and “the good-paying jobs of the future” will come to states that are inclusive. “I think Kim Davis went to jail because she defied a federal court order. I have sympathy for her, but we are a nation of laws.”

Matt Young is a student in Covering the Governor's Race, a course in the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications, taught by Journalist In Residence John Winn Miller and Associate Extension Professor Al Cross.

Fact-checking statements in debate: Conway can't back up his Road Fund claim

By Anthony Pendleton
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

As the candidates for governor covered numerous topics in an hour-long debate Tuesday night, some questionable statements were presented as facts. Here are a list of statements those that have been fact-checked.

Democrat Jack Conway claimed Republican Matt Bevin said the Road Fund should “go to zero.” We could find no evidence that Bevin said this. The Conway campaign cited several Bevin statements about infrastructure but none of them had the "zero" element or mentioned the Road Fund. The closest was a remark during last year's Senate race, when Bevin said the time for government involvement in public works projects had ended, apparently meaning the federal government.

When Herald-Leader political writer Sam Youngman asked Bevin about his change in position on the Medicaid expansion – from ending it immediately to how he would tweak the program, Conway replied as if Bevin had not changed his position, calling Bevin “callous” and acting as if he still wants to end the expansion.

When Conway said Bevin's plan to put all new state pension plan members into 401(k) accounts wouldn't work for teachers because they don't participate in Social Security, Bevin said "We can change that." But that would require the state to match teachers' payroll deductions for Social Security.

Conway said he’s “been supported by the NRA in the past.” Bevin said Conway has a “C” rating with the NRA. According to RealClearPolitics, Conway received an “A” rating from the NRA Political Victory Fund in 2011 for his attorney general re-election campaign. According to VoteSmart.org, the NRA gave Conway a 43 percent rating in 2015. UPDATE: The State Journal of Frankfort confirmed that Conway has a C rating.

Bevin said his running mate, Jenean Hampton of Bowling Green, is the first African-American woman “to ever run for governor or lieutenant governor.” In 1999, Naliah Jumoke-Yarbrough of Louisville was the gubernatorial nominee of the Natural Law Party.

Bevin said coal “powers 90 percent of the electricity in this room,” but then said “38 percent of the electricity in this state” comes from coal. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 92 percent of Kentucky’s net-electrical generation came from coal in 2014. The EIA says 39 percent of the nation’s electricity was coal-generated in 2014.

Candidates keep making news after the debate

By Cheyene Miller

University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The three men running for governor battled on stage for an hour at Bellarmine University but put on smiles for reporters afterwards, and kept making news.

During the debate Republican Matt Bevin accused Democrat Jack Conway, the state’s attorney general, of not enforcing the law that says university boards should be racially and politically inclusive, in reference to the University of Louisville board of trustees having no black members despite the city being more than 20 percent black.

Conway, who has said he would correct that, put some distance between himself and Democratic Gov, Steve Beshear as he spoke with reporters afterward.

“I’m disappointed in the governor that he didn’t put African Americans on the U of L board … and when I’m governor I’m going to rectify that,” Conway said.

Independent candidate Drew Curtis told reporters that he thinks he can win because Democrats and Republicans aren't enthused about their candidates and may not vote. "All of my people are coming," he said.

Curtis said that if he were not in the race he would vote for the Republican slate of Matt Bevin and running mate, Jenean Hampton, because of her.

“She’s a huge nerd, just like me, and we talked about who was the best Batman,” said Curtis to a group of reporters after the debate.

Phillip M. Bailey, an African American who is a reporter for The Courier-Journal, asked Bevin if he is receiving negative feedback from the eastern and western parts of the state for having an African American running mate who would be Kentucky’s first black statewide elective officeholder.

“It may be unconventional, but let me tell you something, it’s 2015, it’s time,” said Bevin, who said liberal Democrats often support inclusivity and diversity, but that for his campaign “the proof is in the pudding.”

Bevin is the father of four adoptive children from Ethiopia, and has pointedly said he is not running against President Obama, whose race has been a factor in opposition to Obama from Kentucky voters, according to exit polls.

After the debate, Conway repeated his criticism of Bevin for not releasing his tax returns, a major talking point for Conway and Kentucky Democrats.

“I have an opponent who’s the number one tax delinquent in his region and now won’t release his tax returns,” Conway told reporters. Fact-checkers found in 2013 that Bevin’s tax delinquencies were the result of a change in mortgage companies and the troubles of a business that he was not operating at the time its taxes went delinquent.