In a recent OpEd from Kentucky’s Senate Majority Caucus touting their achievements, Senate President Robert Stivers and state Sen. Chris McDaniel wrote, “Governor Andy Beshear’s attempts to take credit for these improvements” when the legislature has done the work.
This is a consistent drumbeat. They are perturbed that the governor shows up in our communities and hands out checks to local officials with monies allocated by the legislative branch.
“Governor Andy Beshear’s attempts to take credit” is a consistent GOP mantra. They are perturbed that the governor shows up in our communities and hands out checks to local officials with monies allocated by the legislature.
I have attended my fair share of these events in my small county. What I see are citizens across the political spectrum excited to see the governor. And when he is at the podium he praises our leaders for their work. Here in Anderson County he thanks Rep. James Tipton (a Republican), Sen. Adrienne Southworth (a Republican), Judge Executive Orbrey Gritton (a Republican), Lawrenceburg Mayor Troy Young (a Republican) etc… and details the good the money will do.
In other words, the governor gives credit to Republicans. I have never heard him take sole, personal credit for the check he is handing out locally.
Republicans hold an overwhelming supermajority in Frankfort, which they run zero risk of losing in the Nov. 5 election; they control they budget; they can do virtually anything on any scale, unchecked; they can easily override gubernatorial vetoes.
So why all the handwringing about not getting enough credit?
Here’s an idea. If the KY GOP wants publicity, wants credit for taking on something truly difficult and life changing, they should go big. Take on an issue that seems hard but isn’t: do the barebones basics to reduce gun violence.
On a Saturday night in early September — just a little over one month ago — you may recall that a sniper was shooting at cars on I-75 from a remote perch, in or around Laurel County. It was reported that he had purchased an AR-style gun and a thousand rounds of ammunition the same day. Traffic was at a standstill. People were injured. Fear spread.
The sniper remained at large for many days in a heavily wooded, expansive area. Several law enforcement agencies were deployed. The community and surrounding communities were on high alert. Schools in the area closed, which made it hard for parents to go to work.
House speaker David Osborne told LEX18, “We have to do more to address the root cause of these issues, which is mental illness. We’ve done a lot, we’re doing a lot, but clearly, we’re not doing enough,” and “It’s always a conversation” … “We’re always looking for ways to close loopholes and things like that.”
Speaker Osborne’s contention that “It’s always a conversation” … “We’re always looking for ways to close loopholes and things like that” does not jive with reality.
They have not “done a lot.” They have done nothing, by choice, and Speaker Osborne knows it.
During the 2024 General Assembly, a Crisis Aversion and Rights Retention bill (Senate Bill 13) was filed by state senator Whitney Westerfield, a Republican, to prevent people experiencing a mental health crisis from possessing or buying a firearm. This bill would save lives. This bill would cost virtually nothing but the courage to pass it. And they said no thanks.
GOP leadership — Stivers and Osborne — buried SB 13 in the Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection Committee where it was never seen again.
Ironically, they buried SB 13 even as they claimed public safety was their top priority. One of the most complex and publicly debated bills of the 2024 GA was House Bill 5, the Safer Kentucky Act, estimated to cost Kentucky taxpayers more than $1 Billion over the next decade.
How was gun violence prevention not part of a safer Kentucky? It boggles the mind.
On Sep. 10, as law enforcement searched 24/7 for the I-75 sniper, I sent an email to Stivers and Osborne which read, in part, “You talk of your success in reducing taxes, yet do not consider the massive tax dollars Kentuckians expend in just one manhunt the size and duration of the one for the I-75 shooter. And all that focus on House Bill 5 was for … what, exactly? HB5 which did not, for its massive scope, address safe storage or access to guns for those with mental illness. Why? What would have been the harm?”
Neither Stivers nor Osborne responded.
The aforementioned OpEd states, “Kentucky’s Constitution clarifies that the power to raise and expend revenue is exclusively that of your legislature, not the governor.” This is true. So why waste time bellyaching about the governor?
Like Dorothy’s red slippers in The Wizard of Oz, our GOP supermajority legislature has the power to address mental health and gun violence. They have had it all along.
They could keep mentally disturbed men from the same-day-purchase of an automatic weapon and a thousand rounds. They have the power to prevent chaos, save tax dollars, and save lives from senseless gun violence.
They should do it. We would gladly give them all the credit they need.
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