GOP state senator says Kentucky governor 'failed miserably' and endorses Democrat
Republican state Sen. Dan Seum endorsed Andy Beshear, the Democratic challenger to Kentucky GOP Gov. Matt Bevin.
Republican Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin is so toxic that a state senator of his own party not only abandoned him but made a video endorsing Bevin’s Democratic challenger, Andy Beshear. Kentucky is one of a handful of states holding a gubernatorial election in 2019.
“Today I’m here to endorse Andy Beshear for governor,” state Sen. Dan Seum, a Republican who represents a district south of Louisville, said. “This is not about partisan politics; this is about who’s going to lead this state for the next four years.”
But Seum didn’t stop there; he went on to slam Bevin for being a miserable failure.
“Today we have a governor who has failed miserably on the pension issue, and spent the last year running around the state insulting everyone including the four teachers in my family,” Seum said.
Seum was referring to a recent special session of the Kentucky legislature to vote on and pass a pension bill proposed by Bevin. Critics of the bill say it “harms the nation’s worst-funded public retirement system,” and “would severely undermine retirement security for potentially thousands of career employees who have dedicated their lives to public service.”
In addition, Bevin has spent much of his first term attacking teachers across the state.
In April 2018, Bevin lashed out at teachers who went on strike demanding more education funding.
“I guarantee you somewhere in Kentucky today a child was sexually assaulted that was left at home because there was nobody there to watch them,” Bevin told a local television station, offering no evidence when he blamed teachers for children who were assaulted during the strike.
In addition, Bevin claimed, again without evidence, that children may have consumed poison or been introduced to drugs because schools were closed.
Instead of taking the high road and apologizing to teachers, Bevin attacked critics for supposedly misunderstanding his claims.
A year later, in April 2019, Bevin blamed the teachers who called in sick to protest pension changes for the shooting death of a 7-year-old girl who was shot by another child. Bevin, who enjoys an “A+” rating from the NRA, blamed teachers rather than calling for commonsense gun safety measures.
According to polls, Bevin is the least popular governor in the United States. His attacks on pensions and teachers are even driving members of his own party to endorse his Democratic challenger.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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