Posted on 04/20/2016 12:46:02 PM PDT by reaganaut1
Kentuckys Republican governor on Tuesday ordered an investigation into what he described as wrongdoing under his Democratic predecessor, charging that state employees were coerced into contributing to political campaigns and that a contract was improperly steered to a politically connected company.
Gov. Matt Bevins allegation of greed and oftentimes corruption escalates the feud between the new governor, who took office in December, and the Beshear family: former Gov. Steven L. Beshear and his son Andy, the state attorney general. On April 11, Andy Beshear sued Mr. Bevin, saying the governor acted illegally in cutting higher education spending without approval by the Legislature. Steven Beshear is leading a public-relations campaign against his successors moves to roll back the states expansion of health coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
A former state official close to the Beshears, Timothy M. Longmeyer, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a federal bribery charge, a case Mr. Bevin referred to in calling for a new investigation. As a member of Steve Beshears cabinet, Mr. Longmeyer steered contracts related to the health plan for state employees to a company that paid him kickbacks. Mr. Longmeyer briefly served this year as a deputy attorney general, under Andy Beshear, before resigning.
In a brief statement, Mr. Bevin said that in his months in office, his administration had found evidence that state workers were forced to contribute last year to the campaigns of Andy Beshear and Jack Conway, the previous attorney general, who was Mr. Bevins Democratic opponent in the race for governor. And he charged that the state had awarded a $3 million no-bid contract to a company with ties to Steve Beshears administration.
Mr. Bevin said he had directed an official in his cabinet to hire an outside law firm to investigate the matters.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
So Bevin doesn’t want to reach across the aisle to shake the hands of the Rats? Good. I’d say kick them in the groin, metaphorically speaking.
The people of Kentucky did good when they elected Matt Bevin instead of Jack Conway. But they fell short by selecting Andy Beshear for Attorney General. Andy will do everything in his power to make life miserable for Matt. Andy and Jack could be in jeopardy since both were “allegedly” recipients of coerced campaign contributions and political kickbacks.
A joke I heard a very long time ago: So a politician is giving a speech and while speaking a person in the crowd is interrupting saying “WE WANT MORE LAND,” and the politician says to one of his entourage you gotta do something to get this guy to stop. Latter in the day, the politician asks one of the entourage “How did you get him to stop,” and the person says well I just gave him two acres. :-)
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