Lexington Herald-Leader Endorses Andy Beshear, Calls Him “Both Temperamentally And Substantively Ready” For Governor’s Office
Today, the Lexington Herald-Leader endorsed Attorney General Andy Beshear for Governor, praising him for his “deep understanding of Kentucky’s most crucial issues.” The paper has the second-largest circulation in Kentucky.
The editorial board noted Beshear “understands exactly where Kentucky’s revenue-starved schools need the most help, and he support[sic] pay raises and moral support to overworked teachers.”
On the other hand, Bevin is still “thin-skinned, rude to those who disagree with him and staunchly convinced he’s the smartest man in whatever room he enters.” But his actions are worse, especially when he “tried to gut funding for higher education” and undo “one of the most important changes in Kentucky history: the Medicaid expansion.”
You can subscribe here to The Lexington Herald-Leader. Read an excerpt Lexington Herald-Leader’s ringing endorsement of Andy Beshear:
Lexington Herald-Leader: The Lexington Herald-Leader endorses Andy Beshear for governor
Four years ago, this editorial board called gubernatorial candidate Matt Bevin, “fundamentally unsuited to govern, both by temperament and experience.”
Four years later, Gov. Bevin has gained some experience, but those words about his suitability and temperament have proven all too true.
He is still thin-skinned, rude to those who disagree with him and staunchly convinced that he’s the smartest man in whatever room he enters. When trapped, he adopts a Trumpian style of gaslighting by denying words clearly caught on tape. He claims to value transparency, but has hidden personal trips on a state airplane behind a dodge of security concerns, and has never released his tax returns. He has declined to meet with the Herald-Leader editorial board, including an invitation to interview for this endorsement. His treatment and speech toward teachers, our state’s most valuable public servants, have rightly made him one of the most unpopular governors in the country.
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Although Republicans have tried to paint him as a patsy for the pharmaceutical industry, Beshear has filed nine lawsuits against the makers and distributors of the opioids that have ravaged this state. At the same time, he understands the importance of criminal justice reform that could provide a more humane approach to addiction, while at the same time easing the burden of our dangerously over-crowded prisons.
In these final weeks of the election, Bevin has tightened up the race with shameless flogging of cultural issues that have very little to do with the economic problems that affect Kentuckians most, from squawking about abortion to preacher parties in the Governor’s Mansion. But like much of Bevin’s tenure, this is “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Andy Beshear is both temperamentally and substantively ready for the Governor’s office and deserves your vote.