For many at one Lexington poll, the choice was between an experienced officeholder and a shake-it-up outsider

By Al Cross
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

For many voters at the polls at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church at Alumni Drive and New Circle Road in Lexington, the choice in today's election for governor was between an experienced politician who knows how to get things done in Frankfort and an outsider who wants to shake it up.

“I didn’t feel like we had much of a choice, but I thought we needed a change,” said Mary Lynne Lovingood, 66, a retired chemistry teacher who voted for Republican Matt Bevin. “I’m tired of the atmosphere of everything.”

Several voters said they favored Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway because of his eight years as attorney general.

“I feel like Conway can do a better job because he is a Kentucky guy who’s been in politics for a while,” said Paul Jenkins, 48, a registered Republican who has a small manufacturing company.

Retired architect Michael Schenck, 65, said Bevin “seems to be smarter” than Conway “but he doesn’t have the experience. . . . I don’t know how much support he would have in Frankfort.” Schenck said he typically votes Democratic.

Therapist and yoga instructor Toni Reiss, 63, who described herself as an independent Democrat, said she voted for Conway because she didn’t think Bevin “has the interests of the everyday people in mind” because of his positions on education and health care, “which is what we pay our taxes for.” Also, she said, “He seems to be quick-tempered, not one prone to conversations and problem-solving through shared ideas.”

Some voters said they couldn’t trust Bevin. Veterinarian Patricia Davis, 31, said she mostly votes Democratic and didn’t consider Bevin because “I don’t find him trustworthy at all for a governor.”

Pamela Mathis-yon, 73,a retired family therapist who said she is a registered Democrat but “sort of a Republican,” said she couldn’t vote for Bevin because he hasn’t always paid his taxes on time. “Anybody that doesn’t pay their taxes . . . that totally turned me off.”

However, the tax questions didn’t bother retired bookkeeper Sheila Hein, 74. “I got so tired of hearing about the tax thing,” she said. “If you’re in business, you always pay the penalty and pay your taxes late.”

Hein said she was going to vote for Conway but “He started getting smirky” and “I couldn’t take those negative ads anymore.”

Her husband, Republican and retired tire dealer Bernard Hein, 73, said he voted for Bevin because “Conway crucified him” and didn’t say enough good about his own record.

C.R. Gash, 40, said he usually votes Democratic but voted for Bevin because the Democratic administration of Gov. Steve Beshear forced him to increase wages of his home-health employees. He said he was planning to vote for independent Drew Curtis, but didn’t want to waste his vote. “I’ll probably vote Democratic next time, because it’ll swing too far to the right and I’ll say, ‘Why did I do that?””

Curtis drew some votes from people unhappy with the political system or the other candidates.

“I didn’t like either one of the other two. I thought they were both liars,” said Mark Williamson, 46, a retired jail worker. If he hadn’t chosen Curtis, Williamson said, he would have voted for Bevin “because I don’t like Obama.” He said that while Obama won’t be in office much longer, “I believe Obamacare is going to be short-lived.” He said the president is the biggest issue for him: “Obama’s an idiot.”

Nominees for governor differ greatly on issues, personality

By Cheyene Miller

University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

One candidate’s wonkiness and the other’s confrontational personality, and their stark differences on some issues, have culminated in a virtual toss-up in the Nov. 3 election for governor.

Democrat Jack Conway and Republican Matt Bevin differ greatly in their stances on the race’s hottest issues, including the state’s crumbling pension system, the Medicaid expansion under federal health reform and the state’s education system, which makes up more than half the state budget.

Regarding the underfunded pension system, Bevin touts his experience as a businessman, managing pensions and making payroll.

He has advocated moving new state workers to a 401(k) style system and offering current workers the opportunity to join the system, which the legislature recently changed to save money.

Bevin said during Monday’s KET debate, “We’re not really solving the problem at all,” partly because the estimated rate of return on investments is too optimistic.

Conway has said implementing such a system would actually cost the state $8 billion more in the first 15 years, since new hires are helping to pay current benefits. He has more or less advocated keeping the revised system in place, saying the state can meet its immediate obligations because it has a $219 million surplus.

“I think we can make it. I think that’s manageable,” Conway said in the debate.

Conway has said that moving teachers to a 401(k) style system would be “absolutely off the table” because they do not participate in Social Security, which would be their safety net should the 401(k) investments fall short. Bevin has said he would apply for a waiver to let teachers participate in Social Security without the state and schools making the employer match.

On the Medicaid expansion, which has extended health coverage to about 400,000 Kentuckians, Conway favors keeping it, as well as sustaining Kynect, the state’s health-insurance market that has about 100,000 Kentuckians in private plans. Bevin wants to abolish Kynect and use the federal exchange.

Bevin said in February he would immediately reverse the Medicaid expansion upon taking office, but later denied saying that. Since July he has said he would seek a federal waiver to convert to a system like Indiana’s, where Medicaid beneficiaries pay higher premiums to receive better benefits, as well as co-payments.

“I don’t care if it’s a dollar or two dollars,” Bevin said in the KET debate. “People should have skin in the game.” Conway said in the debate that the Indiana program keeps people from getting coverage.

Bevin says the expansion is not sustainable, but Conway cites a state-funded study predicting that it will pay for itself by generating health-care jobs and tax revenue. He acknowledged during the debate that his administration would be challenged to prove that.

Conway has focused his campaign heavily on education, especially advocating more funding for early childhood education, citing research that shows 90 percent of brain development happens by age 5.  He has also shown openness to restoring some of the funding cut from higher education.

Bevin has questioned the effectiveness of Head Start and called for tax vouchers to support private education, which Conway opposes. Bevin says he would use “outcomes-based funding” to encourage more graduates in science, technology, engineering and math. Conway said on Monday’s debate that he would consider such an approach but wants a “level playing field” for universities.

Both candidates have touted their ability to improve the state’s economy, albeit through different methods.

Bevin says that the pension system is the top economic priority and calls for making Kentucky a right-to-work state because states that border Kentucky have the law that bans requirements to pay union dues or fees.

Conway opposes right-to-work and supports raising Kentucky’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour over a three year period.  Bevin’s opposes raising the minimum wage, now $7.25 an hour.

 “I’m the only one sitting here who’s ever created a job,” the Louisville businessman said in the KET debate and on numerous other occasions.

Conway has noted that he is the only candidate who has run a government agency, and accused Bevin of not knowing how government works.

Television commercials supporting Conway have used many of the largely disproven attacks on Bevin that U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell used to beat him in last year’s Senate primary. In debates, Bevin has repeatedly accused Conway of lying about him.

In the last few days Bevin has increased his effort to associate Conway with President Obama, who is unpopular in the state. Conway has noted that he was the only Democratic attorney general to sue the Obama administration for its anti-coal regulations.

Independent candidate Drew Curtis is also on Tuesday’s ballot.

Cheyene Miller of London is a journalism senior at the University of Kentucky. He wrote this story for Covering the Governor’s Race, a course taught by Associate Professor Al Cross and Journalist-in-Residence John Winn Miller.

Bevin, Conway have first televised, one-on-one debate

By Cheyene Miller and Matt Young
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

Neither of the two major party candidates made a large impact with the first televised head-to-head debate in the governor’s race, four weeks before the Nov. 3 election.

Republican Matt Bevin and Democrat Jack Conway both threw plenty of punches, but neither landed with the force they had probably hoped. They broke little new ground on the issues during Tuesday night’s debate at Centre College in Danville.

In a race that has struggled to gain attention or interest from voters, both candidates took to the stage to press repeat on their record players of political statements.

One of the few times the debate elicited a response from the audience came when Bevin said he wants to make it easier and more attractive for businesses in Kentucky to open. “We will, indeed, un-constipate Frankfort,” Bevin said. “You can take that to the bank.”

That line won applause, but so did Conway’s reply.

“I prefer to say I’m going to streamline it, rather than un-constipate it,” said Conway, who also said Kentucky is number two in the nation in small business creation per capita.

Bevin said changes need to be made to make Kentucky more competitive and he would push “right to work” legislation, which would outlaw labor contracts that require workers to pay union dues. Both Tennessee and Indiana have these laws, and Bevin argued that they put Kentucky at a competitive disadvantage for attracting business.

“For those of you that are struggling to find gainful employment, how is that per capita ratio thing working for you?” asked Bevin, who also said Kentucky currently has 71,000 fewer jobs than at the beginning of Conway’s term as attorney general.

Bevin opened by touting his business career, saying he was the only one on stage who had “been the executive of anything.” He added that of the two candidates, he was the only one who ever ran a business, created a job or made payroll.

Conway cast himself as a fiscal conservative, saying he cut his office’s budget by 40 percent and was the only Democratic attorney general in the country who sued the Environmental Protection Agency over regulations on coal.

The candidates reiterated their positions on under-funding of state pensions, perhaps the most critical long-term issue facing Kentucky lawmakers.

“We have to make changes or nobody will get what’s been promised to them,” said Bevin, who advocated moving pension recipients to a defined contribution plan, similar to a 401(k) style savings plan. This creates a problem with the Kentucky Teachers Retirement System because teachers are not eligible to receive social security, and risk outliving their 401(k).

Conway said the state legislature has made the proper fixes in previous years and the systems can be solvent if the minimum payment, known as ARC, was made by the legislature — something that has not consistently happened for over a decade.

The soundbites got serious when the candidates were asked about the recent shooting at an Oregon community college that left nine people dead. The question introduced the topic of gun control, which often follows in the wake of mass shootings.

“We have to take a good, hard look at mental illness,” said Conway, who said that he does not favor stricter gun regulations or allowing teachers to be armed in schools.

Bevin said he is also against stricter gun regulations, and said he favored allowing armed teachers in school. He noted that he, his wife, his running mate Jenean Hampton and her husband are proud gun owners.

When Bevin and Conway were directly questioned each other, Conway continued to focus on Bevin’s refusal to release his tax returns, an unofficial tradition for Kentucky candidates for governor. Bevin said he will not release his tax returns, and noted once again that he is not legally required to do so.

Bevin took the opportunity to question Conway for taking money from political groups with anti-coal agendas, to which Conway replied he has accepted money from people he later put in jail.

In their closing statements, the candidates told voters to ask themselves who they trust to run their state.

“I don’t feel the need to lie about Jack Conway,” said Bevin, referring to the millions of dollars in attack advertising against him. He emphasized his business career as a qualification for the governor’s office.

Conway said his experience as attorney general qualified him for the job. “I understand Kentucky,” said Conway, of Louisville. “I have a plan for Kentucky, and I’ve delivered for Kentucky.”

The most recent Bluegrass Poll, released on Sept. 30, showed Conway with a small edge at 42 percent of potential votes compared to Bevin’s 37 percent. Seven percent said they would vote for independent candidate Drew Curtis and 15 percent are undecided.

Curtis did not meet the organizers' criteria for inclusion in the debate, but was in the debate hall and answered reporters' questions after the hour-long debate. Today the founder of social-networking news site fark.com published an essay questioning the need for political parties.

The debate was sponsored by Centre, AARP and WAVE-TV, Louisville, and was also broadcast on stations in Lexington and Northern Kentucky, and by out-of state stations serving northeastern Kentucky and the Paducah and Owensboro regions.

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 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.

Bevin and Conway clash at Farm Bureau forum

By Anthony Pendleton
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

Gubernatorial candidates Matt Bevin and Jack Conway attacked each other's character and accused each other of being liars at the Kentucky Farm Bureau "Measure the Candidates" event in Louisville July 23.

The event, labeled as "a forum, not a debate" in a press release, felt more like a debate due to all the back-and forth attacks. The two also disagreed on issues such as Medicaid expansion, and debated other issues such as public-private partnerships and tax breaks.

One of the more important topics was the lack of high-speed Internet service in rural Kentucky. Both candidates agree that it needs to be expanded to those areas. Conway says he supports public-private partnerships, paid for partly by the government and partly by business, in order to bring broadband to those counties.

A public-private partnership was made in December between the state and Macquarie Capital, an Australian financial services group, to achieve that goal. Conway, a Democrat, accused Bevin, a Republican, of being against public-private partnerships.

Bevin denied the accusation, saying he’s a “strong proponent of it.” Bevin added, “We need to be very mindful of the way in which we enter into these and who is actually ultimately gonna pay for them.”

Another big issue was the topic of Medicaid, a federal-state program that funds health coverage for low-income people. According to Conway, “about 350,000 new people” signed up for Medicaid once it was expanded, through additional funding from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, to people with household incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, bringing the total to 1.2 million Kentuckians.

“I agree too many people are on Medicaid. We need a healthier economy so that we get people off Medicaid,” Conway said. He said Bevin would eliminate the state’s Medicaid expansion on his first day in office, which would be "callous."

Bevin denied the accusation, calling it an “absolute lie.” However, Bevin said at a press conference in February that he would eliminate the expansion: “No question about it. I would reverse that immediately.”

UPDATE: On July 28, at a state Chamber of Commerce forum, Bevin said he wouldn’t end the expansion but would transition to a modified program, perhaps like Indiana’s, which state Senate President Robert Stivers had mentioned as an alternative the day before.

On the issue of "tax expenditures," which are tax credits, deductions, and exemptions, both candidates said they support continuing them for Kentucky’s farmers. Conway again accused Bevin of lying, saying that Bevin had said he would eliminate all tax expenditures.

Bevin denied the accusation, saying he’s not opposed to all of them. “We need to look very closely at them,” he said. ”There’s many of them that, frankly, make good sense. . . but there are many that don’t,” he added.

However, at a forum hosted by the Jessamine County Republican Party in April, Bevin said, “We have gotta get rid of what are called ‘tax expenditures’ in the state of Kentucky. Tax expenditures are Frankfort-speak for ‘loopholes’ that cost the taxpayers $10 billion a year.”

The two threw out numerous attacks. Bevin trivialized Conway’s time as a private-sector attorney, saying Conway only worked “for maybe five or six years total, in your entire life, in between political jobs, when you’ve lost an office and your dad’s hired you for a little while.”

Bevin also told Conway,. “You’ve been very strongly supportive of President Obama time and time and time again.”

They also bragged about their accomplishments. Conway mentioned how he and other attorneys general sued the Environmental Protection Agency over coal regulations, while Bevin brought up his achievements as a small business owner.

In his closing remarks, each candidates said the choice in the election is a question of trust. Bevin said he would govern as a Christian. “I’m running for a civic office, but I am unapologetic about the fact that my Christian faith defines my decision-making process. . . I will bring those Christian principles and that mindset to Frankfort.”

Conway said Kentuckians would "vote for the attorney general who has stood up for them the last seven and a half years," and noted that Bevin has refused to release his tax returns. "Yeah, who do you wanna trust the future to? Someone with a record of accomplishment? Or someone that the McConnell people have called ‘an East Coast con-man’ who is the number-one tax delinquent in his hometown of Connecticut?” Bevin, who ran against U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell in last year's Republican primary for senator, said later that he never lived in Connecticut.

This was the second public meeting of the two candidates. The first was June 19 at the Kentucky County Judge-Executive Association/Kentucky Magistrates and Commissioners Association joint summer conference in Louisville, but they spoke back to back and had no interchanges.

Independent candidate Drew Curtis, Lexington resident and creator of the news aggregator Fark.com, wasn’t invited to either event or the Chamber forum.

In a press release, Curtis expressed his dissatisfaction with the two candidates. “Bevin is a Tea Party extremist and Conway is trying so hard to get Republican swing voters that he was actually quoting Reagan. If Kentucky voters want a real change in Kentucky, they need to vote for a candidate who looks at facts first, not party politics.”