OPINION: Kentuckians on Medicaid voted against their own interests, and the Democratic base wasn't motivated

By Cheyene Miller
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

Back in 2004, journalist and historian Thomas Frank wrote the political book “What’s the Matter with Kansas?”

Frank explores a political landscape historically dominated by left-wing [opulist movements, until conservatives started using social issues like abortion and gay marriage to appeal to the working class.

In doing so, Republicans were able to sway middle class and low-income citizens to vote against their own economic interests.

He argues the political discourse in America’s heartland has moved from discussion of economic mobility and opportunity to culture war issues, which are based in perceived anger toward “liberal elites.” Eleven years later, Kentucky has become the new face of this phenomenon.

Prior to the Nov. 3 gubernatorial election, Kentucky was known as the only Southern state where Democrats dominate most levels of government. But with Republican candidate Matt Bevin’s victory over Democrat Jack Conway, Kentucky might be the new Kansas.

During the campaign Bevin spoke against raising the minimum wage, advocated dismantling the state’s online insurance market Kynect, and posited restructuring the Medicaid expansion. And yet Bevin’s largest amount of support came from the most impoverished areas of the state which have high numbers of Medicaid recipients.

Polls consistently had Conway ahead of Bevin throughout the race, and yet Bevin defeated Conway by nearly nine percentage points. Political experts have suggested several reasons for how this happened, such as low interest among Democratic voters and conservatives being less likely to participate in polls.

Another likely reason is that religious conservatives, which make up a huge voting community in Kentucky, were motivated by the situation surrounding Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis.

The escapade involving Davis and her refusal to issue marriage licenses in wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage received national attention, and Bevin showed support for Davis’ cause, turning a relatively insignificant issue into a culture war issue on which many conservatives base their votes.

Bevin’s victory should serve as a wakeup call to those on the left and even the center. The Democratic base was not motivated in this election, and the party paid the ultimate political price on Election Day. Regardless of whether or not they are justified in their sentiment, much of working class America is angry, and Republicans have proven to be more capable of capitalizing on the emotions of the citizenry and turning them into victories.

Cheyene Miller is the managing editor of the Kentucky Kernel, for which he wrote this column. It also appears at http://kykernel.com/2015/11/19/kentuckians-voted-against-their-own-interests/.

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.

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.

Candidates use religious values: Bevin on Rowan clerk, Conway on Bevin's attitude toward Medicaid expansion

By Cheyene Miller
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

The big job at stake this year is Kentucky governor, but the headlines and sound bites suggest that the Nov. 3 election is about religious values.

In a race that doesn’t seem to be gathering much public interest, Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway and Republican businessman Matt Bevin are using religion to appeal to Kentucky voters, who remain a highly religious voting base.

Bevin is using Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis’s jailing for refusing to issue marriage licenses to his advantage, saying Davis’s religious liberties and First Amendment rights are being violated.

Bevin criticizes Conway, who refused to appeal last year’s federal ruling that Kentucky’ same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional, for not doing his job.

Conway said last year that he would not appeal because the lower-court judge got it right, an appeal would be on the wrong side of history, and good-paying jobs are going to states that allow marriage equality.

The independent candidate, Fark.com CEO Drew Curtis, says clerks have the right to their own personal beliefs but must follow the law as public officials.

The Davis situation did not mark the first time Bevin spoke about Christian values, as he made it one of his primary talking points during Fancy Farm Picnic weekend July 31-Aug. 1. “We need to stop apologizing for the Christian principles, the great American values that make this country great,” he said at a Republican dinner.

Conway has found his religious angle with the Medicaid expansion and Kynect, the Kentucky health insurance market, established under federal health reform. The two functions have given coverage to about 521,000 people and helped Kentucky reduce its uninsured rate more than almost any state in the nation.

In his speech at Fancy Farm, Conway criticized Bevin for not applying his Christian values to his views on health care. He said voters should elect someone who “understands that the truly Christian thing to do is to say that we are our brother’s keeper and healthcare for our people makes us a healthier and better society.”

Bevin has said that he would dismantle Kynect, but has backtracked on plans to abolish the Medicaid expansion, saying he would adopt a less expensive program, perhaps like Indiana’s, in which clients can pay premiums to get better benefits and get refunds if they don’t use the benefits.

In addition to health care, Conway and Bevin have also sparred on Kentucky’s pension system, which is considered one of the worst in the country. 

Bevin cites his experience at managing pension-fund assets, but was unfamiliar with a key facet of the state’s pension system when questioned about it this summer. He advocates moving away from Kentucky’s current pension system in favor of a 401k-style system and offering incentives to current employees who switch.

Conway says he is committed to making the pension payments required by a recent law, and wants to find a designated source of revenue for that.

Curtis proposes issuing a $5 billion bond, structured as a line of credit, that can be tapped in years when pension funds aren’t keeping up with their obligations, and pay back the debt in years when it runs ahead.

Conway is focusing his campaign strategy on education and Bevin’s statement in the Republican primary debate that early childhood education’s effects disappear after the third grade.

Conway released his education plan on Tuesday, proposing early education for 3-year-olds with parents making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level (the same level as those who qualify for the Medicaid expansion) to during his first year in office, and all 3- and 4-year-olds whose parents make up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level by the end of his first term.

Bevin is more conservative on education and favors charter schools.

On television, the candidates and their supporters have questioned each other’s integrity.  Conway has used recycled verbal jabs from the 2014 Senate Republican primary, in which Sen. Mitch McConnell’s campaign called Bevin an “East Coast con man” and a “pathological liar.” He also criticizes Bevin for not releasing his tax returns, which Bevin says he will do if elected.

Bevin hasn’t run TV ads in the general election, but outside groups supporting him are trying to tie Conway to President Obama,

All three candidates have female lieutenant-governor running mates, Democrat Sannie Overly, Republican Jenean Hampton and independent Heather Curtis, the candidate’s wife. Hampton would be Kentucky’s first black statewide elected official.

The most recent Bluegrass Poll, in late July, had Conway leading with 43 percent of respondents, Bevin with 38 percent and Curtis with 8 percent.

The first debate with all three candidates will be held Tuesday at Bellarmine University in Louisville, from 7 to 8 p.m. ET. It will be televised and streamed by WHAS-TV and WKYT-TV, and is also sponsored by The Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader. The four news outlets sponsor the Bluegrass Poll.

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.