The Return Of Kynect...For Now

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has kept a major campaign promise: the return of the state's wildly successful Obamacare health exchange Kynect, eliminated by previous Gov. Matt Bevin because it was so successful and Bevin needed to prove that Kynect was a failure. When Bevin couldn't, he just killed it. Now Beshear has brought it back.

 

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, with help from U.S. Health and Human Services Secrertary Xavier Becerra, rolled out the reopening Friday of Kynect, the state-based health insurance exchange.

Friday was the start of open enrollment for existing recipients of Medicaid, the government health plan for low-income people and those with disabilities. Open enrollment for private health plans on Kentucky’s exchange is from Nov. 1 to Jan. 15.

The exchange was started by Beshear’s father, former Gov. Steve Beshear, under the federal Affordable Care but was shuttered in favor of the federal health exchange by his successor, former Gov. Matt Bevin.

“I’m really excited about today. Kynect was the gold standard,” Andy Beshear said in a Zoom news conference with Becerra. “Health care coverage is neither red nor blue, Democrat or Republican. It is necessary for survival in a pandemic and it is necessary for Kentucky to thrive.”

Becerra praised Kynect, calling it a “Kentucky-made, Kentucky-driven and Kentucky-based product” and that no one knows better the health care needs of Kentuckians than Beshear. He labeled Beshear a “true champion of health care.”

Beshear said the goal is to get health insurance to 280,000 uninsured Kentuckians.

Beshear announced last year that he was bringing back Kynect, the online health exchange where people can shop for and buy health insurance, as well as sign up for Medicaid.

Kentucky received national praise for the program that brought about one of the lowest rates of uninsured in the country. Bevin, though, said it was too costly and redundant of the federal website to buy health insurance. He stopped it in 2017.

Beshear said Friday that Kentuckians now can browse plans and explore benefits at kynect.ky.gov that take effect Jan. 1, 2022.

Compared with current federal exchange offerings, Kentuckians will benefit in 2022 from more health care insurance providers and the opportunity to tailor coverage to address their unique needs, said Beshear.

He said the change is expected to save Kentuckians at least $15 million a year.

 

I'd take advantage of it while you can,  I fully expect the KY GOP supermajority to move Kynect under the aegis of Attorney General Daniel Cameron's office in January and then dismantle it in the spring, but it will be nice for a couple of months to live in a state when not everyone in political power wants poor people to die in order to stop burdening the commonwealth.

 

Don't expect Kynect to last more than a few months. Use it if you need to.

Tales From Bevinstan, Con't

It seems the universe isn't quite done yet with former Kentucky GOP Gov. Matt Bevin, who is now facing a federal investigation for a possible pay-for-play pardon scheme during his term.

Two years after Gov. Matt Bevin pardoned a convicted killer whose family hosted a political fundraiser for the governor, the FBI and federal prosecutors are investigating the executive action.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenna Reed told a federal judge during a hearing June 22 her office is conducting an "ongoing investigation" of Bevin’s pardon of Patrick Baker, whose family hosted a fundraiser at their home in Corbin that raised $21,500 to retire the debt from Bevin’s 2015 campaign.

Bevin has adamantly denied he pardoned Baker because of the fundraiser hosted by Baker's brother Eric and his wife, but the revelations show the former governor still faces possible criminal liability.

Spokesmen for the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in Lexington did not respond to questions about the pending investigation.

At the June 22 hearing, FBI Task Force Officer Mark Mefford testified he and other investigators interviewed Baker’s ex-girlfriend Dawn Turner last Dec. 28 about the fundraiser.

“And was the sole purpose of that interview was to discuss Mr. Baker's pardon and a fundraiser that was conducted for Mr. Baker?" Reed asked him.

“Yes,” Mefford replied.

Reed told U.S. District Judge Claire Horn Boom another prosecutor was heading the investigation.

Mefford testified that that joining him in the interview of Turner were FBI Special Agent Jim Huggins, FBI forensic accountant Chris Darman and Kentucky Attorney General investigator Matt Easter.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported Monday that Turner told investigators in December she believed the purpose of the fundraiser was to influence Bevin to give Patrick Baker a pardon and the donor event was “crucial” in getting it.

She also said she thought Baker’s parents wanted her at the fundraiser so Bevin would see her autistic son and it would make him more sympathetic to letting Baker out of prison, according to the Herald Leader story, which also reported she said Baker’s mother gave her $500 to contribute at the event.

Boom ordered a transcript of Turner's interview sealed after the hearing.

A jury in 2017 convicted Baker, now 43, of reckless homicide in the death of a Knox County drug dealer shot in the chest during an attempt to rob him of money and pain pills.

Baker also was convicted of robbery, impersonating a police officer and tampering with physical evidence for allegedly disposing of the homicide weapon.

A judge sentenced him to 19 years in prison in December 2017, but just two years later, Bevin commuted the sentence and pardoned him.

The commutation became among the most controversial of hundreds granted by Bevin as he left office after The Courier-Journal revealed the fundraiser.

Bevin said the evidence against Baker was “sketchy at best,” but the Kentucky Court of Appeals in an opinion called it overwhelming.

 

There's zero doubt that what Bevin did was immoral and done as a direct favor for a fundraiser in exchange for a pardon. Proving that in federal court, that's another thing. Let's remember that the Roberts Court made it clear with the overturning of the bribery conviction of Virginia Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell in 2016 that criminalizing politics was "unconstitutional", and NY state Senate leader Sheldon Silver's corruption conviction in 2017 was overturned by a federal appeals court after the McDonnell ruling for the same reason.

No, even if Bevin's convicted, his conviction will absolutely be overturned.

Just another tale from Bevinstan, you see.

Last Call For Mitch Finally Gets Infrastructure Week

A semi-truck hazmat accident on the lower decks of the Brent Spence Bridge has closed one of America's busiest bridges and wrecked traffic in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, with the bridge now closed for weeks. 

The Brent Spence Bridge closure isn't going away anytime soon so it might be time to find a permanent detour.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear told Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky residents to prepare for its primary river crossing to be closed into December.

"We are looking at weeks, perhaps more than a month," Beshear said Thursday. "We have repairs that will take weeks to execute."

Beshear offered some relief for local travelers in Northern Kentucky Friday afternoon.

One lane of I-75/I-71 north between I-275 and the Brent Spence Bridge will be opened sometime Friday night, Beshear said in a Facebook video.

“This lift in traffic restrictions will help local traffic get closer to Downtown Covington on I-75,” Beshear said.

Beshear also announced the Roebling Suspension Bridge would be reopened to traffic at 8 p.m. Trucks will not be allowed.

Governors in both states said the bridge won't reopen until it's safe enough for them to transverse the river.

Beshear said he believes the bridge can be repaired, but he is not sure how long that will take.

 

Mitch McConnell has failed to get funding to replace the Brent Spence Bridge for his entire Senate career. He's used it as a stalking horse to repeal government reform, or as a ploy to attack Democratic political opponents, and he's always blocked any real effort to replace the bridge. 

 

FOX News famously accused President Obama as using the bridge as a prop when he introduced his 2011 JOBS act and McConnell couldn't wait to sneer at him over it...and the JOBS Act never got a vote.

 

Amy McGrath made replacing the bridge one of her major policy issues and she was destroyed in the election anyway. She lost Campbell and Kenton counties by double digits and Boone County by almost 30 points and McConnell frankly admitted that he would never help get funds from Washington, and that Kentucky taxpayers are going to have to pay every penny themselves.

Politicians have spent more than a decade campaigning on the promise of a replacement for the Brent Spence Bridge connecting Cincinnati to Northern Kentucky. Speaking Wednesday in Florence, Sen. Mitch McConnell said Kentuckians should look for a solution from Frankfort — not from offices like his in Washington.

“There’s never been an earmark big enough in the history of America to build that bridge,” he told the small crowd of mayors, business leaders and journalists who gathered at Kona Ice headquarters Wednesday afternoon.

McConnell, who hopes to win a seventh Senate term on Election Day, said the federal government will not set aside the funds necessary to replace the ailing span. If commuters want a replacement, he said, the money will have to come from inside their state. Gas taxes, maybe. The current plan involves tolls.

His opponent, retired Marine Corps pilot Amy McGrath, disagreed in an interview the week before.

“Brent Spence Bridge is America’s number one infrastructure emergency,” she said on Oct. 25. “We have to fix this, and we can do it without tolls, and that is what I am saying I will do.”

She said she sees the Brent Spence as a national issue that should be remedied with national funds — potentially by a cut of the Moving Forward Act, a $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill passed by the House of Representatives on July 1.

The Senate, under McConnell’s leadership, has not held a vote on the act. On the day it was passed by the House, he criticized its broad scope, which includes funding for roads, water projects, and affordable housing while pushing for “deep reductions in pollution.”

 

Matt Bevin lost Boone, Kenton, and Campbell counties last year to now Governor Andy Beshear over this, promising Kentuckians would do just that, in particular Northern Kentucky, and Beshear's margin of victory came from winning here on this issue. 

And a year later, the same voters happily voted for McConnell saying the same thing.

 

The bridge is getting emergency repair relief funds now, but it took a devastating accident that may have damaged the bridge beyond its safety capacity and is going to hurt businesses all around the region when we're already in the middle of the worst pandemic in decades.

But that's how it goes here in the NKY. We line up around to block to vote for the guy abusing us, promising to tax and toll us to the tune of $3 billion in one of the poorest states in the nation.

The Road To Gilead, Con't

The end of the availability of abortion health care services in Kentucky is almost here, as a 2-1 decision by a three-judge Sixth Circuit panel finds the state's hospital services requirement TRAP law for clinics is Constitutional. 

A federal appeals panel has upheld a controversial Kentucky abortion law that opponents argued officials had used to try to close down the commonwealth's only abortion clinic and prevent another from opening.

In a 2-1 vote, the panel for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that Kentucky may require abortion clinics to obtain signed agreements with hospitals and ambulance services to transport and admit patients in an emergency.

In doing so, the panel struck down the 2018 decision by U.S. District Judge Greg Stivers that such rules were unnecessary and posed an undue burden on women seeking abortions. Stivers' ruling followed a legal challenge by EWM Women's Surgical Center and Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky.

The decision comes more than a year after the case was argued before the 6th Circuit panel in Cincinnati.

The two-member majority, judges Joan Larsen and Chad Readler, both appointed by President Donald Trump, declined to find the Kentucky law an undue burden or unreasonable, saying that argument "cannot be sustained."

They said clinics have options, such as seeking time extensions, should they be unable to obtain agreements with hospitals and ambulance services.

But in a forceful dissent, Judge Eric Clay, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, found otherwise, saying Friday's ruling was "deeply flawed."

"At the end of the day, no matter what standard this court is bound to apply, the majority’s decision today is terribly and tragically wrong," Clay's dissent said.

The ruling represents a victory for Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who took over the case from the administration of former Gov. Matt Bevin, an anti-abortion Republican. Cameron praised the decision in a statement Friday.

“The Sixth Circuit’s ruling keeps in place an important Kentucky law for protecting the health and safety of patients" Cameron said. "Our office was proud to intervene in this case and ensure that the law was fully defended."

 

So even with Matt Bevin gone, it's looking like the future of abortion services in Kentucky and several other states will soon come to a Supreme Court decision next summer, in what will almost certainly be a 6-3 conservative court that will have the votes needed to overturn Roe and deny abortion healthcare to half the country, if not more.

It's already an undue burden for a third of women.

We're maybe a couple years out at most from a forced birth regime.

Gilead is right around the corner.

Last Call For Kentucky Goes Viral, Con't

As Kentucky has now passed 1,000 deaths and 57,000 COVID-19 cases, state Republican lawmakers are again openly accusing Gov. Andy Beshear of inflating the number of casualties and cases to "manipulate" and "control" Kentuckians.

On Thursday, the same day Kentucky announced its highest daily number of COVID-19 deaths — 22 — some lawmakers continued to question the accuracy of the state's data and whether the public should believe it.

Leading the criticism was Sen. Danny Carroll, a Paducah Republican and co-chairman of the Program Review and Investigations Committee, which called in Dr. Steven Stack, public health commissioner, for a second round of questions about how the state gets the COVID-19 numbers that Gov. Andy Beshear releases daily.

"What I do have problems with is the way that information is being used, not being completely accurate," Carroll said. "It's being used to manipulate our people, to make our people scared, to control our people."

Carroll said he gets daily complaints from people in his Western Kentucky district.

"Half of this state doesn't believe a word you all say when it comes to this data," he said, a repeat of his comments to Stack last month when the physician appeared before the committee.

Sen. Mike Nemes, a Shepherdsville Republican, wondered why restrictions are imposed on businesses such as bars when most of the deaths are occurring among the elderly, the majority in nursing homes.

"There's no 80-year-olds coming out of a bar at night," he said. "What are we doing to stop the elderly from dying?"

Stack told the committee that the state's numbers overall are reliable and provide an accurate picture of the spread and impact of COVID-19 in Kentucky, which he said he has stated in public repeatedly.

"The data has limitations. The data has imperfections," he said. "But even allowing for all those things, the data is incredibly valuable and incredibly informative and helps to guide decision-making when used in the proper context."
He said the elderly continue to be at greatest risk from the virus and stringent measures are in effect for nursing homes to try to limit spread. And anyone who visits a bar and gets infected has the potential to spread it to others, he said.

As at the previous meeting, the discussion broke down along partisan lines, with Republicans who control the legislature criticizing Beshear, a Democrat, and members of the governor's party defending him.

Sen. Karen Berg, a Louisville Democrat and the only physician on the panel, sounded incredulous as she accused committee members including Carroll of seeking to discredit data about COVID-19.

"I talk to constituents daily whose response is, 'Thank God, thank God, our governor is acting, thank God our administration is acting,'" she said. "Think how many more people would be dead."

Berg added she found the debate especially upsetting because "I'm on the front lines. I go to the hospital and fight this every day."

It really says something that there's only one medical professional on the General Assembly's main oversight committee. It's also astonishing to me that six months after the pandemic started, we still have state lawmakers that lack basic knowledge of epidemiology.

Lawmakers asked about recent news reports of a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found 94% of deaths linked to COVID-19 were among people with "comorbidities," other health conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure.

"Is COVID really the basis" (of such deaths)? asked Rep. Lynn Bechler, a Marion Republican and committee co-chairman.

Yes, Stack said. While evidence shows people with other health conditions are more likely to have serious or fatal outcomes from COVID-19, only deaths believed caused by the coronavirus are listed as such, he said.

"We've said all along people with chronic medical problems are in the highest of risk categories," Stack told the committee. "I think there are a lot of people, perhaps some people in this room, who are taking blood pressure pills, cholesterol pills, diabetes medication and are doing just fine and will continue to live for quite a few more decades."

And that's important to point out: the comorbidities have existing prevention and treatment options. COVID-19 doesn't have an effective treatment.

I shudder to think of how many thousands would be dead over the last six months if Matt Bevin were in his second term.

The Ghosts Of Bevinstan

Two bizarre and awful stories today about Republicans Behaving Badly here in Kentucky, the first is Robert Goforth, the state House Republican who tried to primary then Gov. Matt Bevin last year and got 40% of the vote, has been arrested on domestic violence charges.  Warning, this is relatively graphic.

Former Kentucky gubernatorial candidate Robert Goforth was arrested Tuesday morning on domestic violence charges, according to authorities.

Goforth, 44, was booked into the Laurel County Detention Center just after 4 a.m. on charges of first-degree strangulation, fourth-degree assault (domestic violence) and third-degree terroristic threatening.

The Laurel County Sheriff's Office arrested Goforth just after 3 a.m. at a residence off Blevins and Brown Road after a woman filed a complaint at the 911 Dispatch Center in London, according to an arrest citation.

The woman alleged the assault happened about 1:30 a.m. with three small children in the home, and she had visible marks on her forehead, neck and arms, according to authorities.

The arrest citation noted that the woman completed paperwork for an emergency protective order and told deputies that Goforth tried to "hog tie her."

Police say that Goforth, a Republican legislator from East Bernstadt, strangled the woman with an "Ethernet cord from a kitchen drawer, and threatened to kill her".

Goforth also struck the woman, leaving her with a bruise and knot on the forehead, according to the arrest report.

The woman told deputies that when her face was toward the ground, Goforth grabbed an Ethernet cable and began strangling her "to the point that she had difficulty breathing and believed she was going to pass out," according to the citation.

The woman said she was able to leave the residence after promising Goforth she would unlock her phone, which is what "initiated the altercation," according to the citation.

When deputies traveled to the residence, they had to make two attempts to make contact with Goforth, and they also found all three children safe, the arrest report said.

Goforth did not appear to be "under the influence of alcohol or drugs," the citation noted.

And speaking of Matt Bevin, after months of speculation about rumors that he had an affair with a staffer last year, Bevin exploded on Twitter at an account late last night, loudly denying what he called "vulgar and slanderous lies".

Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin chastised an anonymous Twitter user who accused Bevin of cheating on his wife and impregnating a former staffer, calling the allegations "vulgar and slanderous lies."

"Let me be perfectly clear," Bevin said in an April 20 tweet. "The vulgar and slanderous lies being spread about me and my family and others by the partisan hacks on this Twitter feed are reprehensible and utterly baseless."

The former governor was responding to a Twitter account dubbed "kypoljunkie" that alleged Bevin "had an affair with his press secretary. She's pregnant."

The account does not identify the staffer by name.

"The fact is, Matt, I could care less about your personal life," the anonymous account said in response to Bevin. "I think most Kentuckians would agree we’re all way better off with you, especially considering the situation we’re currently facing. My source has no reason to lie. I found it worth sharing as such, you lying fraud."

imilar anonymous online accounts making those allegations and other claims against Bevin have been popped up for weeks but have not been reported or substantiated by any Kentucky media outlet.

The anonymous account claims it has "pretty solid news from a solid source" about Bevin, who lashed out at the allegations online.

"Your 'deep' and 'solid' Frankfort sources, if they actually exist, are full of crap and are nasty, lying rumor mongers just like you," Bevin tweeted.

"My wife and I have been faithfully married to one another for 24 years and counting, and for all of you nitwits to slander her and my family in this way is disgusting... Shame on you!"

Now, Bevin has a temper and used it a number of times in press conferences and in speeches, but I can't recall him exploding on Twitter and getting in an argument with randos online like this, which definitely makes me think  there's something to this story.  Bevin's previously been radio silent since his now infamous "Chicken Little" tweet last month on COVID-19. Methinks the former governor doth protest too much.

Either way, a not-so-gentle reminder that Kentucky Republicans, like Republicans across the country, are awful, terrible human beings, and we need to stop voting for them as a country.

Last Call For Meanwhile In Not Bevinstan...

Here in Kentucky, Gov. Beshear is not messing around and is joining Ohio's Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in calling for K-12 schools to close as a COVID-19 response.

Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday asked public and private schools in Kentucky to, as of Monday, cease in person classes for at least two weeks to curb the coronavirus outbreak.

On Wednesday, Beshear had warned Kentucky school superintendents that they should be ready to close their districts on short notice, within 72 hours if need be. Superintendents have this week been reaching out to the Kentucky Department of Education to apply to the state’s non-traditional instruction program that allows students to learn from home.

Eight confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including five in Harrison County, two in Fayette and one in Jefferson, had been reported by 5 p.m. Thursday. But Beshear said at a news conference he thought there had been two more positive test results in Kentucky, one in Jefferson and one in Fayette.

Kentucky Interim Education Commissioner Kevin Brown appeared at a 5 p.m. news conference that Beshear held and said he supported the recommendation to close schools.

Fayette Superintendent Manny Caulk did not immediately comment.

Caulk previously said that if necessary, the district would be prepared to close, including providing educational activities and learning opportunities for students while they were at home. However, Fayette officials were for several days pointing to advice from local health department officials who previously said there was not a public health risk at district schools.

Several Kentucky school districts announced Thursday that they would be closed for nearly a month and Lexington’s Catholic Christ the King Elementary School is closed on Friday.

Elsewhere in the United States, Ohio public schools will be closed for three weeks, officials announced.

If anyone is wondering what difference it does make having Beshear instead of a Matt Bevin second term, the answer is "COVID-19 response or total lack thereof".

Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin appeared to mock growing nationwide concerns over the coronavirus in a tweet Wednesday as the state braces for the closure of schools along with calls to suspend religious services.

"Breaking news: Chicken Little has just confirmed that the sky is indeed falling," he tweeted. "Everyone is advised to take cover immediately and to bring lots of toilet paper with them when they do so."
Bevin, a Republican, could not be immediately reached for comment about the tweet.

Things are not going well for Matt these days.

The former governor was extensively criticized. Responders to the tweet seemed to take it as a shot at Gov. Andy Beshear, who defeated Bevin in the Kentucky gubernatorial election in November.

Most responses claimed Bevin would not be handling the coronavirus situation well, and many said they thought Kentucky voters made the right choice by voting Bevin out of office in November.

There no doubt in my mind that Bevin would refuse to close school or to do anything, leaving it up to KY Republicans in the General Assembly, to pass legislation.  Of course, they're too busy passing unconstitutional anti-choice laws trying to close the last abortion clinic in the state to do anything about COVID-19.

Just because Bevin's gone, doesn't mean Bevinstan is totally gone either.  But it's a nice start.

Holidaze: The Last Days Of Bevinstan

The feds would like to have a little chat with former Kentucky GOP Gov. Matt Bevin about his pay-for-play pardons and twisted exonerations of child molesters, among other things.

The FBI is asking questions about the pardons Matt Bevin issued during his last weeks as Kentucky governor, The Courier Journal has learned.

State Rep. Chris Harris, D-Forest Hills, told reporters that a criminal investigator contacted him last week and asked what he knew about Bevin's pardons.

Harris did not elaborate on what questions were asked, and he declined to say which law enforcement agency contacted him.

"I can confirm that I have been contacted by someone looking into the pardons that were issued by Gov. Bevin on his way out the door," he said. "The impression I got is that there was an investigation ramping up."

Two sources with knowledge of the inquiry told The Courier Journal on Monday that an FBI agent had spoken with Harris. An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment, saying the agency could "neither confirm nor deny the existence of said investigation" when reached late Monday night.

Bevin has received national criticism for pardoning or commuting the sentences of more than 650 people following his failed reelection bid in November.

State prosecutors and leaders such as U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have condemned several of Bevin's decisions, particularly his pardon of Patrick Baker, who had servedtwo years of a 19-year sentence for reckless homicide and robbery in the slaying of a Knox County man in front of his family.
The Courier Journal reported on Dec. 11 that Baker's brother held a campaign fundraiser at his home for Bevin in July 2018 that raised $21,500. The former governor also received a letter from business executive Terry Forcht, one of the state’s Republican mega-donors, urging Bevin to pardon Baker.

Forcht has given at least $2.8 million to state and national political causes in the last 40 years, including more than $100,000 to Bevin's campaign and inauguration funds.

Bevin has welcomed an investigation and denied political gifts had anything to do with his pardons.

I'd love to see Bevin in prison over this, it would be the perfect end to the Bevinstan era.  We'll see what happens, but even Mitch McConnell is horrified by such obvious criminality (or more correctly he's horrified at Bevin getting so easily caught).

Here's to you, Matt.  Enjoy the hoosegow.

The Last Days of Bevinstan

Outgoing GOP Gov. Matt Bevin left office at midnight on Tuesday, and Gov. Andy Beshear is now chief executive of the Bluegrass state, but Bevin didn't leave without a boatload of controversial pardons.

The family of a man pardoned by Gov. Matt Bevin for a homicide and other crimes in a fatal 2014 Knox County home invasion raised $21,500 at a political fundraiser last year to retire debt from Bevin’s 2015 gubernatorial campaign.
The brother and sister-in-law of offender Patrick Brian Baker also gave $4,000 to Bevin’s campaign on the day of the fundraiser, according to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance database.

A photo of Bevin attending the July 26, 2018, fundraiser at the home of Eric and Kathryn Baker in Corbin was published six days later in a local paper, the News Journal.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Jackie Steele, who prosecuted Patrick Baker and other defendants for the 2014 death of Donald Mills, told The Courier Journal on Wednesday it would be an “understatement to say I am aggrieved” by Bevin’s pardon.
Steele identified Patrick Baker as the brother of Eric Baker, who hosted the Bevin fundraiser at his Corbin home.

The Friday order was one of 428 pardons and commutations Bevin issued since his narrow loss in November to Democrat Andy Beshear, who was sworn into office Tuesday.
The beneficiaries include one offender convicted of raping a child, another who hired a hit man to kill his business partner and a third who killed his parents.

Steele noted Baker served two years of a 19-year sentence on his conviction for reckless homicide, robbery, impersonating a peace officer and tampering with evidence.

Steele, who, like Bevin, is a Republican, also cited the fact that two of Baker’s co-defendants are still in prison. "What makes Mr. Baker any different than the other two?" he asked.

Answering that question, he said he believes Baker was pardoned while the others remain locked up because Baker’s family has given generously to Bevin. State records show that Victoria Baker, who lives at the same Corbin address where the fundraiser was held, donated $1,000 in 2015 and that Kathryn Baker gave another $500 to Bevin’s reelection in March.

In a pardon order Friday, Bevin said Baker had made “a series of unwise decisions in his adult life” and that his drug addiction “resulted in his association with people that in turn led to his arrest, prosecution and conviction for murder.”

Bevin wrote that the evidence supporting Baker’s conviction is “sketchy at best. I am not convinced that justice has been served on the death of Donald Mills, nor am I convinced that the evidence has proven the involvement of Patrick Baker as a murderer.”

Good to know that twenty-five grand or so will get a loved one off the hook for murder in Kentucky.

Well, if you're the right kind of person, that is.

Not going to miss Matt Bevin at all.

Last Call For Meanwhile In Bevinstan...

The Supreme Court won't touch Kentucky's "Road to Gilead" abortion punishment law, so for now the women who go though the state's last remaining abortion clinic get a nice does of state-mandated mental anguish for being slutty slut sluts.

The Supreme Court on Monday left in place a Kentucky law, mandating doctors perform ultrasounds and show fetal images to patients before they can perform abortions.

The high court declined, without comment, to hear an appeal brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the state's lone abortion clinic.

The Kentucky law, which requires a doctor to describe an ultrasound in detail while a pregnant woman hears the fetal heartbeat, was passed in 2017.

It was signed by Gov. Matt Bevin, an anti-abortion Republican who lost his bid for re-election last month.

The ACLU had argued that the Kentucky statute had no medical basis and was designed only to coerce a woman into opting out of having an abortion. Defenders of the law said it represented a straightforward attempt to help patients make a well-informed decision.

The high court's action let stand the law which had been upheld by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, senior staff attorney at the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a statement Monday that the high court had "rubber-stamped" Kentucky's interference in the "doctor-patient relationship.”

Bevin may be out this week, but the damage from his four years will last decades.  I'm not sure how much Andy Beshear will be able to do to even save the state's last abortion clinic, and that's not counting the inevitable "leaving abortion rights to states to decide" decision dismantling Roe in six months.  Beshear's veto of an anti-abortion law would almost certainly be overridden.

After that, it's Gilead.

Meahwhile In Bevinstan...

The big scandal this weekend in the NKY is Kenton County Family Court Judge Dawn Gentry, who is apparently a refugee from a Scott Turow legal thriller in real life.

The judge is accused of seeking to or having sex with people she employed and appointed to a panel designed to help abused children. There are three people connected to those claims.

Katherine Schulz reportedly quit a panel the judge appointed her to after the judge flirted with her via Snapchat, pressured her to seduce the judge’s husband and asked her to join the judge and a former church pastor in a threesome.

That former pastor is Stephen Penrose, who the judge hired as her case specialist after she reportedly asked the former specialist, Meredith Smith, to resign. Then, Gentry gave Penrose a salary $10,000 more than Smith’s, according to payroll records The Enquirer obtained through a Kentucky Open Records Act Request.

"You hired Stephen Penrose because you were engaged in a personal relationship with him, not on the basis of merit," investigators wrote.

Penrose and Gentry were in a band together, too, called South of Cincy. Penrose played guitar and Gentry was the bassist. The band's Facebook page was taken down Wednesday evening after reports of the investigation surfaced.

State investigators claimed Gentry and Penrose had a personal sexual relationship. Gentry also "improperly delegated judicial functions," to Penrose, according to the charges.

The investigation also claimed that the two engaged in sexual activities in a courthouse office during work hours with Gentry's secretary, Laura Aubrey. Gentry also approved inaccurate time sheets for Penrose and Aubrey, according to the charges.

But it gets worse.

The state alleged the judge appointed attorney Delana Sanders to the panel in exchange for her husband Kenton County Commonwealth Attorney Rob Sanders' support. The Sanders donated quadruple the amount Mike Hummel donated to Gentry’s campaign. Hummel was removed from the panel shortly after the election, he told The Enquirer.
The Sanders donated a combined total of $3,450. Hummel donated $750, according to public campaign finance records.

The state claimed Gentry coerced attorneys on the panel designed to help abused children to donate the maximum amount to her 2018 reelection campaign.

Gentry, a Republican, became judge in 2016 when outgoing Gov. Matt Bevin picked her to fill a vacancy. She was re-elected to a four-year-term in 2018.

The judge, according to the charges, also required panel members to serve on her campaign's finance committee and asked an attorney to put up a campaign sign while they were in court.

Ahh, but she's a Republican after all, and the whole point of Republican-appointed judges is to be reprehensibly cruel.

When people didn't do what the judge wanted, she retaliated, state investigators claim.

She retaliated against:

• Former case specialist Meredith Smith for not sufficiently supporting the judge's campaign.
• Attorney Mike Hummel for failing to make the maximum donation to her campaign and declining to campaign on your behalf by removing him from the panel.
• Attorneys who did not support her campaign by delaying hearing dates for their cases.
• School liaison officer Kelly Blevins for supporting her opponent in the 2018 election.

It seems Gentry wasn't honest with the commission about some of their inquiries.

"You failed to be candid and honest with the Commission in a previous inquiry regarding the appointment of Ms. Sanders and the firing of Ms. Smith and Mr. Hummel, as well as about the quality of Mr. Hummel’s work on the GAL panel," the documents read.

So had an affair on company time, took campaign money from her lovers, extorted her staff and attorneys who appeared before her, abused the power of her office to harm people who didn't do her bidding, and of course she was appointed by outgoing asshole Gov. Matt Bevin.

A real piece of work, this one.

Par for the course for the GOP though.

Last Call For Meanwhile In Bevinstan...

Matt Bevin refuses to go out graciously after his loss last month to Democratic Gov.-Elect Andy Beshear, giving a series of giant dog-foghorn racist interviews on why he was defeated at the ballot box.

During a series of interviews on talk radio shows Wednesday morning, outgoing Republican Gov. Matt Bevin said that he lost his race for reelection because the Democratic Party “harvested votes in urban communities.”

Bevin lost to Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear last month by a little more than 5,000 votes.

During an interview on 55KRC in Cincinnati, Bevin said that the election was a “surprise” that defies logic.

“The left, those who think of a different ideological bent, they are getting so good at harvesting votes in the urban communities,” Bevin said.

“They were able to go into urban communities where people are densely populated on college campuses and public housing projects.”

Bevin has repeatedly questioned the outcome of the election, suggesting — without evidence — that voter fraud took place.

Beshear did well in Kentucky’s urban and suburban areas like Louisville, Lexington, Bowling Green, Richmond and northern Kentucky, as well as some historic Democratic strongholds in eastern Kentucky.

Vote harvesting refers to collecting absentee or mail-in ballots in order to sway an election. The practice is illegal in some states, but Kentucky is one of 27 states that allows absentee ballots to be returned by a designated agents.

Vote harvesting took place in the 2018 race for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional district, which Bevin referenced in the aftermath of his failed reelection attempt. Vote harvesting is illegal in North Carolina and a new election was ordered in the race.

During the interview on 55KRC, Bevin said that he was encouraged by his supporters on Election Day, but that Democrats brought “more less-informed people” to the polls.

“Conservatives are going to have to find some counterpoint,” Bevin said. “The harvesting of votes in urban cores in particular that is done by the left overwhelmed even that. And that’s the difference, that’s the tipping point."

So yeah, confirming once again that the Republican definition of voter fraud is an election where black people are allowed to vote, Bevin goes out like a racist piece of human filth he is.

Once again, there's a reason why Republicans want fewer people to be allowed to vote, guys.

BREAKING The Battle For Bevinstan Is Behind Us

After today's recanvass of the votes from last week didn't change voting totals more than a few ticks, Kentucky GOP Gov. Matt Bevin is picking up his ball and going home.

JUST IN: @GovMattBevin says he won't contest #kygov election outcome, @AndyBeshearKY will be next governor: https://t.co/2SJnosKfjB via @courierjournal

— Joe Sonka 😐 (@joesonka) November 14, 2019

And that's the ball game for Bevinstan.

Governor Andy Beshear, you're up.

Last Call For The Battle Of Bevinstan, Con't

Nervous Kentucky Republicans, cognizant of being put in the national spotlight (and not being as evil as NC Republicans apparently) are putting the onus on Matt Bevin to either prove those election irregularities he keeps complaining about or to concede the election to Andy Beshear.

A growing number of Republican lawmakers are urging Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, a fellow Republican, to either provide evidence of the voting “irregularities” he has alleged or concede Tuesday’s election to Gov.-elect Andy Beshear, who defeated him by 5,189 votes.

“The best thing to do, the right thing to do, is for Governor Bevin to concede the election today so we can move on,” said Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville.

Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, first raised the possibility of the tight election being decided by the Republican-led legislature Tuesday night when he explained the process that would occur if Bevin decided to challenge the results of the race. Bevin bolstered that speculation Wednesday by claiming that thousands of absentee ballots were counted illegally without presenting any proof to back up his claim.

Republicans in the legislature aren’t buying it.

Nemes said he has not seen much support for an election challenge among his Republican colleagues in the House, largely because the governor has not backed up his claims. None of the lawmakers the Herald-Leader spoke to Thursday said they had seen evidence to support Bevin’s claims.
Rep. John Blanton, R-Salyersville, is a former state police officer who said he has heard rumors of election problems but no hard evidence.

“The last thing anyone wants to do is overturn a constitutional election,” Blanton said. “We want the will of the people to be done.”

House Republicans have had a rocky relationship with Bevin since they gained control of the chamber in 2016. Often, it was the GOP-led House that blocked Bevin’s policy priorities, such as a funding mechanism for charter schools and more aggressive reforms to the pension system.

It's really something that Matt Bevin has managed to piss enough enough Republicans in the KY General Assembly that they're flat out not backing his play in the House. 

Even my own state House member, Republican Adam Koenig, told Bevin to suck it.

“There’s nothing wrong with checking the math,” said state Rep. Adam Koenig, R-Erlanger. “Unless there is a mountain of clear, unambiguous evidence, then he should let it go.”

State Senate leader Rob Stivers is now crawling back from the limb he went out on Tuesday night.

Republican Senate President Robert Stivers believes Gov. Matt Bevin should concede his loss to Democrat Andy Beshear if next week's recanvass doesn't significantly change the vote totals.

“It’s time to call it quits and go home, say he had a good four years and congratulate Gov.-elect Beshear,” Stivers said in a brief Friday interview at the Capitol.

Maybe the loads of bad press have something to do with it.  Also, and I can't stress this enough, Matt Bevin is an asshole.

But Bevin isn't giving up.  Robocalls seeking evidence of "voting irregularities" to be reported are going out now, funded by Bevin supporters who want this fight to go until Beshear's victory is overturned.

Conservative political activist Frank Simon, a longtime supporter of Gov. Matt Bevin, is sending robocalls asking Kentuckians to report suspicious activity or voter fraud to the State Board of Elections before Nov. 14 — the day of Bevin's requested recanvass.

Bevin finished 5,189 votes behind Democrat Andy Beshear in Tuesday's gubernatorial election but has refused to concede the race, requesting a recanvass of the vote, which is essentially a review of the vote totals in each county.

The governor has also made allegations of widespread voting irregularities and fraud on Election Day, but he hasn't provided any evidence to back up those claims.

According to a voicemail of the robocall sent to a Republican in Western Kentucky, Simon says, "If you or anyone you know has information regarding suspicious activity at polling locations, please report suspected voter fraud to the state department of elections by calling 502-573-7100."

He also asked that those calls to the State Board of Elections phone number take place by Nov. 13 — the day before each county board of elections conducts the recanvass.

There is no disclaimer on the call indicating who paid for it, nor is it explained that the call is not coming from the State Board of Elections.

Simon, of Louisville, did not return voicemails and an email asking who paid for the robocall and how many people it went to, or if any other group requested that he make the calls.

The president of the American Family Association of Kentucky, Simon has been known for decades as a socially conservative political activist, most notably for his opposition to Louisville's 1999 ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Battle for Bevinstan is just starting.

The Battle For Bevinstan

Kentucky GOP Gov. Matt Bevin has not conceded after last night's loss, and not only is he planning a recount, the GOP-controlled state legislature is planning to steal the election outright from Andy Beshear.  Joe Sonka breaks it all down:

Bevin said he "wanted the process to be followed" under law before he made a concession, referring to unspecified "irregularities" that were "corroborated." 

The first step in that process under Kentucky law, when it comes to election results that are contested, should be as familiar to Bevin as anyone else in the state, as he won a razor-thin victory in the Republican gubernatorial primary of 2015 by margin of just 83 votes over now Rep. James Comer. 

The first step under Kentucky law is a recanvass of the vote, which is a review of the vote totals by each county clerk — counting absentee votes and checking printouts to make sure the numbers they transmitted to the State Board of Elections were correct. 

State law allows for a recanvassing if a county clerk or a county board of elections notices a discrepancy, or if a candidate makes a written request to the secretary of state. 

Comer requested a recanvass of the vote totals in that 2015 race, but the results were unchanged. He declined to request the next possible step in the process under Kentucky law — a formal recount that includes a physical examination of the ballots. 

There is no provision for an automatic recount under Kentucky law. A candidate must file a petition with the Franklin Circuit Court by the Tuesday following the election. 

If petitioned, the judge would take possession of the paper ballots and voting machines and conduct their own recount. After doing so, the judge would make the final decision on who won the race, but that would be subject to appeal to the Kentucky Court of Appeals or the Kentucky Supreme Court.

Joshua Douglas, a professor in the University of Kentucky Law School, told The Courier Journal that while Bevin would not be charged for the costs of a recanvass should he want one, he would have to pay for a recount. 

Most people would stop here and concede.  But Bevin won't, because Donald Trump will not let him do so.  Monday night, Trump put his neck on the line for Bevin, and Trump doesn't repay failure well.  Bevin's career is over unless he makes good on Trump's promise.  So here's where things get ugly.

The third step that a candidate could take is a formal election contest, which must also be filed by the Tuesday after the election. Under this contest, the candidate challenging the results must specify the grounds for the action, such as a violation of campaign finance rules or specific problems when it comes to how ballots were cast. 

Last but not least, there is Section 90 of the state constitution, which addresses a "contest of election for Governor or Lieutenant Governor." 

Section 90 states: "Contested elections for Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be determined by both Houses of the General Assembly, according to such regulations as may be established by law."

You catch that?  Bevin is already complaining of "irregularities" in the vote that are "corroborated".  He's already on step one as of this afternoon.  He has a week for steps two and three in order to set up step four: election theft.

Sam Marcosson, a constitutional law professor at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law, told The Courier Journal that this language of the state Constitution suggests there must be procedure established by law for a review of a contested election to take place by the House and Senate. 

“They can’t just make them up,” Marcosson said. 

Further, he said, such a review would be extremely risky for lawmakers to undertake without clear reasons for a contested election. 

“If the House and Senate were just to proceed on vague allegations without proof, that raises serious questions about disenfranchisement of the voters who voted for Attorney General Beshear,” Marcosson said. “It’s an extraordinary proposition to suggest that the General Assembly would take vague allegations of unspecified irregularities and call into question a gubernatorial election.” 

Douglas, noting that he had “no idea” what irregularities Bevin referred to in his speech to supporters Tuesday night, said in the case of a legislative election contest, Bevin would have to call a special session of the General Assembly. Douglas said his session would involve a committee of 11 members, eight from the House and three from the Senate, which “would hear evidence and make a final determination. And that determination would be final.” 

After that committee decision, no lawsuits could be filed over the decision, Douglas added.

Watch this very closely.  I promise you the GOP dirty tricks department is gaming this scenario out right now.

The Battle for Bevinstan is just beginning.

Last Call For Meanwhile In Bevinstan...

Bevinstan may be no more.

After a hard-fought race marked by angry rhetoric about teachers and the intervention of national politics, Kentucky voters finally got the chance to make their decision at the ballot box.

In the end, Attorney General Andy Beshear was able to emerge victorious in a gubernatorial race being watched as much for what it says next year's national elections as it does about the direction of the commonwealth.

Both men were with supporters in Louisville on Tuesday night watching as the results came in.

The Democrats -- Beshear and his running mate, Jacqueline Coleman -- placed much of their focus on Kentucky's educators and their anger over moves by the Bevin administration to make changes to their pensions.

"I believe the more Kentuckians that come out, the better our chances are, because people are hungry for a governor that listens more than he talks and solves more problems than he creates," Beshear said earlier Tuesday.

Bevin, a Republican who has polled consistently as among the least popular governors in the nation, highlighted his anti-abortion rights agenda and close ties with President Donald Trump. He switched his lieutenant governor running mate this time out to Ralph Alvardo.

John Hicks and Ann Cormican ran a long-shot race on the Libertarian Party ticket.

On Tuesday after casting his ballot, Bevin said he was feeling good and confident.

“I thought we’d win by 6 to 10 [percentage points]. I still feel very confident in that," he said. "I’d like it to be more like 10 to 12. We’ll see.”
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence made high-profile visits in the final week before the election, including an election eve rally by Trump in downtown Lexington at Rupp Arena.

While Bevin basked in the attention and personal visits from Trump and Pence, Beshear worked to shore up votes and keep voters looking at local issues, including his support for expanded gambling in the state.

The story: turnout.  2015 saw about 970k voters.  Tonight, Kentucky had 1.425 million, a nearly 50% increase.  Beshear's final margin is less than 5,000 votes and Bevin didn't concede citing 'voting irregularities".  But Beshear declared victory tonight anyway.

In the other statewide races, the Democrats didn't do nearly as well.  Beshear will be the last bastion of blue in the Bluegrass for a while now.

But Bevin's still governor for a while, and he can still do some damage.  A recount is coming, maybe more than one.  I don't know.

It's not over yet.

Meanwhile in Bevinstan...

Yet another poll shows Matt Bevin has now tied up the Kentucky Governor's race with Andy Beshear with under two weeks to go, and Louisville Courier-Journal columnist Joe Gerth wonders what it's going to take for KY Dems to learn how to close a race they led for months against arguably the most unpopular Governor in America.

Democrats across Kentucky must be banging their heads against the wall and mumbling to themselves, “Not again.”

As has been the case in recent elections, Democrats have fielded a candidate for major statewide office who comes screaming out of the gate with a lead in the polls, only to see it wither away in the final month or so before the election.

Some early internal polls had Attorney General Andy Beshear with nearly a double-digit lead over Gov. Matt Bevin after he dispatched House Minority Leader Rocky Adkins and former state Auditor Adam Edelen in May.

But a Mason Dixon poll released last week has the race as a tie, with momentum clearly on Bevin’s side as we hit the last two weeks before Election Day.

We saw the same phenomena in 2015, when Jack Conway led Bevin in mid-summer polling only to see it turn as brown as the trees by November. Bevin won by nine percentage points.

We saw it in 2014, when Alison Lundergan Grimes had a four-point lead over Sen. Mitch McConnell, according to the Bluegrass Poll, only to see it evaporate. McConnell won by 15 percentage points.

In 2008, Bruce Lunsford pulled within a point of McConnell, only to lose in November by six percentage points.

Democrats say their internals still have Beshear ahead of Bevin, and Republicans say their polls actually have their candidate leading.

Either way, the race has tightened, and we’re seeing the same pattern emerge that has meant doom for Democrats in recent years. That’s not to say Beshear still can’t pull this out, but if he does, he’s going to have to sweat it out on election night.

It ain’t gonna be easy.

Bevin has run the last six weeks on ending abortion in Kentucky and ads about scary MS-13 gang members invading Kentucky from Mexico, and he's probably going to win because of it.

I'm tired of KY Dems blowing leads time and time again.  Another four years of Bevin and Kentucky will be dead last in education, teacher pay, health care, environmental safety, and will become the first state without a single abortion provider.

And my neighbors are either going to stay home or vote for this prick to take everything from us.  It infuriates me to no end.  Bevin straight up lied about Medicaid, he lied about teachers, he lied about everything, and he dumped the state's first black statewide officer off the ticket since Reconstruction because she was a drag with his white supremacist base.

But he's a 50-50 shot to win.

Amazing.

We deserve the destruction this asshole will bring.

Meanwhile In Bevinstan...

The Kentucky governor's race, as widely expected, has tightened up.  If you believe the polls, that is.  Four years ago, the polls were wrong.  Badly wrong.

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) is tied with his Democratic rival just three weeks before Election Day in a race President Trump's political team is watching closely. 

A new survey conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy finds Bevin and state Attorney General Andy Beshear (D) tied at 46 percent each. 

That's an improvement for Bevin, whose job approval rating has been underwater for years. The last time Mason-Dixon surveyed the race, in December, Beshear led by 8 points. 

Bevin is still unpopular; just 45 percent of voters approve of the job he's doing as governor, while 48 percent disapprove. But the incumbent is moving in the right direction — his approval rating has climbed 7 points since December, despite a brutal primary campaign in which Bevin only narrowly won the Republican nomination. 

The rifts from that primary campaign seem to have healed. Bevin is now winning more than three quarters of the Republican vote, according to the poll, as well as 22 percent of Democrats, likely those who live in ancestrally Democratic areas where coal jobs and union membership were once dominant. 

Independent voters break for Beshear by a 46 percent to 38 percent margin, the poll finds. Beshear leads by double digits in Louisville and Lexington, while Bevin holds big advantages in the rural eastern and western sections of the state. 

Few other public surveys have tested Kentucky's electorate, but Democrats have been optimistic about Beshear's chances in recent months, especially in the wake of the vicious Republican primary.

So, like four years ago, it's all about turnout.  The turnout models four years ago were all wrong, missing the nascent Trump wave and the white rural rage it represented, turning what should have been Jack Conway 11 point win into a seven point loss.

But Bevin isn't Trump, and he's still hurt a lot of people in the last four years.  He's still unpopular, just not the most unpopular in the nation anymore.

We'll see in three weeks.

Last Call For Meanwhile In Bevinstan, Con't

Kentucky GOP Gov. Matt Bevin's reelection campaign is in serious trouble and he knows it.  With just over three weeks to go until Election Day here, Bevin appealed to anti-choice voters in Kentucky along with GOP AG candidate Daniel Cameron and GOP Treasurer Alison Bell at a Susan B. Anthony list endorsement event at the Governor's Mansion, all but promising if he's reelected, Kentucky will go down as the first state to end legal abortion.

Joined by dozens of anti-abortion activists and Kentucky pastors Friday at the Governor's Mansion, Republican incumbent Matt Bevin pummeled Democratic challenger Andy Beshear on supporting a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy. 

"If we cannot stand for life, what is the role of government but to protect the weak against the strong, the voiceless against those with a powerful voice," Bevin said. 

The Bevin campaign event also featured Treasurer Allison Ball and attorney general candidate Daniel Cameron, who, like Bevin, have been endorsed by the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion group. 

Marjorie Dannenfelser, the group's president, introduced each candidate and said the Bluegrass State's fall election is a bellwether for other states. She said her members, who were clad in blue T-shirts proclaiming, "I vote pro-life," think this is the most important election since 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court allowed abortion. 

"The contrast between Gov. Bevin and his opponent, Andy Beshear, is honestly a gift in politics," she said. "It's also a sign of a tragedy in Kentucky. The only way Andy Beshear can win is if people don't know what his position is."

Bevin however has a much bigger problem, and that is Donald Trump's impeachment.

The White House is planning an 11th-hour push to stave off an embarrassing defeat for the Republican governor of Kentucky, with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence expected to make separate trips to the state in the runup to the Nov. 5 election. 

Trump is expected to travel to the state to stump for Gov. Matt Bevin the day before Election Day, according to two people familiar with the planning for the event. Pence, meanwhile, is slated to appear in the state on Nov. 1. Final details for the rallies are still being worked out.

White House spokespersons did not respond to a request for comment.

Bevin is likely to make Trump a central part of his closing argument, and Trump has made last-minute trips to heavily Republican areas a staple of his campaign arsenal for GOP allies. Bevin has portrayed himself as a staunch White House ally and has aired TV ads which prominently feature the president. Trump won Kentucky by nearly 30 percentage points in 2016. 

The offensive comes amid Republican concerns over Bevin’s standing. Bevin has consistently ranked as one of the least popular governors in the country, and he faces a formidable Democratic opponent in state Attorney General Andy Beshear, the son of a popular former governor.

Donald Trump hasn't made Bevin any more popular.  He's one of the least-liked governors in America, and as of July he was dead last in the country.

Now imagine where Trump is going to be three weeks from now, given the flood of impeachment testimony and bad news.  Trump wants to be the man to "save" Bevin and take credit for his win, but there's a really good chance Trump may not be in a position to help Bevin one bit.

We'll see.

Welcome To Bevinstan, Donny Jr.

Donald Trump Jr. came to Kentucky this week to stump for GOP Gov. Matt Bevin, and basically nobody cared.

Donald Trump Jr. spoke to a mostly-empty arena in Pikeville Thursday afternoon, hoping to muster support within a historically Democratic county for the reelection of Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.

Like much of Eastern Kentucky, Pike County has long been a Democratic stronghold, but swung to the right during the last presidential election in a landslide victory for President Donald Trump.

Bevin won Pike County four years ago with 54.8% of the vote, but he narrowly lost Pike County and many other Eastern Kentucky counties to a lesser-known opponent during the 2019 Republican primary. He received fewer votes in Floyd, Johnson and Pike counties than Democrat Rocky Adkins, the most popular candidate within the region. Adkins lost to Attorney General Andy Beshear statewide.

As Bevin ramps up his reelection efforts, Trump Jr.’s visit illustrates his attempt to lean on President Trump’s popularity as he attempts to win over Registered Democrats who voted for Trump.

During the rally, Trump Jr. acknowledged this dichotomy to the crowd, saying he understood the cultural implications of the region’s historic alliance with Democrats, but that “this is not your grandfather’s Democratic Party.”

Trump Jr. spoke mostly about the successes of his father as president. He railed against Hillary Clinton and the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election by Robert Mueller, and against the media’s perceived bias against Trump.

In an area ravaged by the continuous decline of coal production, Trump Jr. also touted his father’s attempts to bolster economic growth within the manufacturing and energy sectors. He complimented Bevin for similar efforts within Kentucky.

“Bevin is selling Kentucky and bringing jobs here,” Trump Jr. said.

Matt Bevin of course remains the most unpopular governor in America and all the polls show him losing substantially to Andy Beshear in nine weeks, but we'll see.  As Bevin keeps reminding everyone who will listen, the polls showed him losing to Jack Conway four years ago, right up until the polls were off by 14 points.

It was a far cry from the Trump Senior campaign event with Bevin in Louisville last weekend but nobody seems pretty keen on Bevin winning right now.

Bevin's a loser, and Trump doesn't like losers.