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/.

Viewers not excited by debate, but some are slightly swayed each way; some give Bevin edge over Conway

By Kevin Erpenbeck, Megan Ingros, Ben Johnson and Jerry Seale
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

The major-party candidates for Kentucky governor had a good debate Tuesday night, but didn’t prompt major changes in voters’ opinions, according to interviews of likely voters around the state. 

“The contestants are not exactly fireballs,” quipped Iva Frank, a 68-year-old AT&T retiree from Crestwood. “But I’m still not changing my vote.”

Frank, a supporter of Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway, said she learned nothing new from the debate and even went so far as labeling it as “dull and boring.”

That appeared to be a common feeling among the 10 people interviewed, who were selected from the participants in the most recent Bluegrass State poll of likely voters who said they were willing to grant follow-up interviews.

“I heard the same old he-said, she-said lies,” said Carson Godbey, 56, an undecided Republican from Russell Springs, said. “They never come across with actual issues. They just blame each other.”

However, the debate between Conway and Republican Matt Bevin at Centre College in Danville did changed some opinions.

Ben Marks, 81, a south Louisville retiree, was also undecided before the debate, but said he is now going to vote for Conway.

“I think it was pretty well even tonight, both were doing the same thing, making statements,” said Marks, who worked at the old Naval Ordnance Station.

Marks, who told the poll that he leans Democratic, said in the interview that he disagreed with Bevin’s positions on several issues, including a “right to work” law, same-sex marriage and the economy.

“Bevin was talking like he could straighten out our financial problems and things in ways that I don’t think will work,” Marks said.

But Bevin, a Louisville businessman, did gain some approval from Democrat Devina Witt of Corbin during the debate sponsored by WAVE-TV, AARP and Centre College.

Witt, 57, was leaning toward Conway heading into the debate but said afterward that she is on the fence and “could easily swing to Bevin.” She said he won the debate.

In particular, Witt disliked that Conway trumpeted shutting down pain clinics that let people abuse prescription drugs without mentioning that the crackdown has led – in her opinion – to an epidemic of heroin overdoses.

Witt also disapproved of Conway’s stance on Kim Davis, the Rowan County clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses after the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage. She said Davis’ religious rights were infringed.

However, Witt said she was unhappy that Bevin refuses to release his tax returns: “Why not bring them out and show them?”

The proposed right-to-work law, which would prohibit employees from being forced to pay union dues, also caught some viewers’ attention. Take Leona Starks, a 55-year-old cook from western Louisville, who is a supporter of Conway.

“Jack really impressed me stating the federal law and what it really is, and it impressed me that he stood his ground,” Starks said.

However, despite her political leanings, Starks said she thought Bevin won the debate.

“I’m still for Conway,” Starks said. “He was less on point for me, but I know the points he meant to say. But he just wasn’t there tonight.”

Thomas Hunt, 19, a church volunteer in Winchester and a firm Bevin supporter, also thought his candidate won the debate.

“Jack Conway had the guilty smile all night like he knew he was wrong,” Hunt said.

He added that Bevin separated himself in the debate because Conway’s desire to raise the minimum wage will make Kentucky’s small business problem worse. Hunt said he wasn’t worried about Bevin’s unwillingness to release his tax returns.

Strong Republican Gregg Turner, 68, of Louisville, said he thought both candidates did well. The retired property maintenance man added that he liked what Conway had to say about his plans for education and the economy, but he still strongly supports Bevin.

“He handled himself well up there today and what he had to say was interesting,” Turner said of Conway. “But Bevin is a more savvy guy with a lot more structured plans.”

Despite a contentious exchange between the candidates about arming teachers to deal with school shootings, none of the 10 people interviewed said that issue would have an impact on how they vote.

Mike Abbott, a 64-year-old retired truck driver from Annville, said he was originally for independent candidate Drew Curtis -- who was not invited to participate in the debate -- but is now leaning toward Conway

Abbott, a Teamster who said he leans Republican but thinks the party “is not what it used to be,” said he didn’t approve of Bevin’s opposition to raising the minimum wage.

“What good is a job if people starve to death?” he asked. “Anyone who works should be able to earn a real living.”

And like most of the people who were interviewed, he didn’t think any candidate won the debate.

“Both guys are probably top-of-the-line good people,” he said. “It’s just a matter of differences of opinions.”

The writers are students in an advanced journalism course at the University of Kentucky, Covering the Governor's Race, taught by John Winn Miller and Al Cross. Thanks to the sponsors of the Bluegrass Poll (The Courier-Journal, the Lexington Herald-Leader, WHAS-TV and WKYT-TV) for making the poll respondents available for interviews.

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.

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.