Free Republic

Kentucky Republican candidate for governor Matt Bevin sparred with CNN host Don Lemon in a contentious interview on national television Tuesday night. Bevin appeared on CNN to discuss the controversy surrounding Democratic Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis’ refusal to issue marriage licenses and her incarceration on contempt charges. The back-and-forth between Bevin and Lemon became labored at times. During the interview Lemon played Bevin a clip from the TV show “The West Wing,” which has gone viral in response to the Davis controversy in recent weeks. The clip features actor Martin Sheen playing fictional President Jed Bartlet quoting Bible verses...

The Republican Governors Association has returned to the airwaves in Kentucky in defense of Matt Bevin’s tax record. The ad, released Tuesday, seeks to characterize Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jack Conway as misrepresenting the facts behind Bevin’s tax delinquencies — a point raised by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, and his allies in the 2014 GOP primary for Senate. “Jack Conway is playing fast and loose again. Matt Bevin did pay the taxes,” a narrator in the ad says. The ad is split into half defensive mechanism, and half positive spot featuring Kentuckians speaking on behalf of Bevin’s family bell business...

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - A defiant county clerk in Kentucky is willing to stay in jail for her beliefs, but she would prefer to be a free woman. Attorneys for Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis have officially appealed a judge's decision to put her in jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The three-page motion doesn't include arguments as to why Davis should be released but amends Davis' earlier appeal of the judge's order. Davis objects to same-sex marriage for religious reasons. U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered her to issue the licenses and the U.S. Supreme...

Kentucky Democrats sounded unconvinced that a county clerk celebrating Labor Day inside a jail cell nearly 170 miles away will have much impact on their electoral prospects this fall. Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis has been behind bars since Thursday ... The court battle has spilled into the political realm, with Republican gubernatorial nominee Matt Bevin and GOP attorney general nominee Whitney Westerfield describing the situation as a struggle for religious liberty. Many of those protesting the legal action against Davis on the Ashland courthouse steps on Thursday often railed against the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage and...

Today, Matt Bevin responded to the arrest of Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis. “It is utterly unnecessary that Rowan County clerk, Kim Davis, is sitting in a jail cell, when there is a simple solution that would respect the rights of every Kentuckian. I first put this solution forward many weeks ago. Why the cowardly silence from our Attorney General, Jack Conway? Jack Conway violated his oath of office as Attorney General when he refused to defend our state in court. Where was our Governor then demanding his resignation? The double standard applied in this case is reprehensible. Jack Conway...

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WBKO) -- Gov. Steve Beshear’s Statement on Marriage Licenses in Rowan County: “Judge Bunning’s decision today speaks for itself. The future of the Rowan County Clerk continues to be a matter between her and the courts. Deputy clerks have said they will commence issuing marriage licensesbeginning tomorrow. It appears that the citizens of Rowan County will now have access to all the services from the clerk’s office to which they are entitled. Again, the legislature has placed the authority to issue marriage licenses squarely on county clerks by statute, and I have no legal authority to relieve them...

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, a Democrat, will stay in custody. It was a circus in Ashland today, as media, and protesters on both sides of the Kim Davis controversy came nose-to-nose outside the courthouse. Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis appeared before U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning at 11:00 this morning, Bunning had her taken into custody finding her in contempt for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. Bunning told Davis that she would remain in jail until she complied with his order. Davis said “thank you” and was taken from the courtroom by a U.S....

A new outside group has kicked off a fundraising effort to help Republican gubernatorial nominee Matt Bevin win in November. Fighting for Kentucky, a super PAC run by two Kentucky Republicans and one from Texas, said it has $100,000 in pledges and hopes to raise $1 million by Sept. 15. In a fundraising email sent to Republican donors Wednesday afternoon, the group's founders said they are not bound by state laws that ban corporate donations to candidates and limit other contributors to $1,000. "To win, this campaign will cost millions of dollars, so our super PAC is raising unlimited contributions...

A super PAC supporting Auditor Adam Edelen’s re-election bid has released a Web ad using audio of an MSNBC segment lauding the incumbent Democrat’s speech at Fancy Farm this year. The two-minute video, titled “Big, Important Things,” features MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, on her Aug. 21 program, calling Edelen “the best southern Democratic politician I have seen speak at an event like this (Fancy Farm) since (former Texas Gov.) Ann Richards, since Bill Clinton in his prime.” The ad also includes portions of Edelen’s speech and footage of him at Fancy Farm events. Kentuckians for Honesty in Government released the video...

The political 501(c )(4) group Americans for Prosperity is jumping into the fall election cycle with an ad attempting to tie Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jack Conway to President Barack Obama and the Affordable Care Act. The ad, first reported by the Lexington Herald-Leader, launched Monday in what AFP told the newspaper is a “hefty” six-figure ad buy. AFP is supported by the billionaire ultra-conservative Koch brothers. “Jack Conway chose Washington insiders over Kentucky families when he decided not to take Obamacare to court — now we are yolked with double-digit premium increases and thousands of lost jobs,” Julia Crigler, state...

FRANKFORT — The Kentucky County Clerks Association will propose removing clerks’ names from the document in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage. Overturning the state’s ban on same-sex marriage has prompted Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis and two others to deny licenses to all couples, drawing a federal lawsuit against Davis as well as calls to change the licensing process. Leslie County Clerk James Lewis, chairman of the association’s elections committee, told reporters Tuesday that his group is drafting “a simple solution” to the matter. “You would have the county and the county seat listed...

After his recent criticism of Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, says Vice President Joe Biden’s entry in the race “could cause a lot of problems for a lot of Democrats (with) split loyalties.” Speaking to Pure Politics on Tuesday, Yarmuth said he’s “not sure yet” if a run from Biden would be better for Democrats seeking to keep the White House. “Joe is very popular. He is a great public servant,” Yarmuth said. (3:53) “I’ve known him since he came to the Senate in 1972. He’s a wonderful man, and I think he’d be a...

Democratic super PAC Kentucky Family Values is sharpening their messaging in their latest TV with a focus on Republican gubernatorial nominee Matt Bevin’s refusal to release his tax returns. The 30-second ad released on Tuesday by the pro-Jack Conway PAC focuses on the “tradition” of gubernatorial candidates releasing their tax-returns for public inspection as a candidate. The ad also turns to the previous tax delinquency claims made by the campaign of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell in the 2014 GOP primary against Bevin, and numerous Democratic attacks in the gubernatorial campaign this year. “It’s a tradition in Kentucky,” A male narrator...

Controversial sports radio host Matt Jones is considering challenging U.S. Rep. Andy Barr for the 6th District Congressional seat in 2016. Jones, an unabashed supporter of President Barack Obama, first confirmed he has been approached by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to the Lexington Herald-Leader’s Sam Youngman on Sunday. ... Hillary Clinton and Kentucky’s gubernatorial race Chuck Todd, the host of NBC’s “Meet the Press”, has already predicted that Kentucky’s gubernatorial election could be the “last of the Obama wars,” but now the Todd says Hillary Clinton’s expanding problems with her private email server could play a role too. In...

GEORGETOWN — Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer is known for his ability to stir the pot when it comes to partisan politics. Thayer, R-Georgetown, is doing just that in the gubernatorial election by connecting Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jack Conway, the state’s attorney general, to an imbalance in university board appointments in the state which has landed a previous Republican governor in court. “The for sale sign is up” in the executive branch, Thayer said, pointing to reporting done by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting and Louisville Courier-Journal showing university boards around the state are out-of-whack with the partisan...

SOMERSET — U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., stumped for Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Bevin on Friday, but Bevin refused to endorse Paul’s presidential bid when asked by reporters after the event. Paul offered a Peyton Manning-style, two-minute-drill pitch to supporters asking them to back Bevin in the election against Democratic nominee Jack Conway and independent candidate Drew Curtis. “You know what I think people are really hungry for in Kentucky? A Republican governor,” Paul told the crowd. “I think that it’s time that we get not only Republican, but a conservative Republican who has a vision for Kentucky, who knows...

<p>Incredible - after the scathing auditors report, they are able to do this - read the excuses given.</p>

In March, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul put his odds of winning the Republican presidential nomination at "one in five, one in six." But on a Thursday night conference call with Republicans who will vote this Saturday on whether to have a presidential caucus next year, Paul adjusted those odds to "one in 10." Paul, who told callers he was under the weather, called in with nearly 350 members of the Republican Party of Kentucky's state central committee in an effort to persuade them to go ahead with a proposal that would allow him an end-around a state law that prohibits...

Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway launched the first negative ad from a gubernatorial nominee on Tuesday, hitting Republican Matt Bevin on seemingly every tax issue that has emerged this year and in last year’s U.S. Senate primary. The 30-second spot, titled “30 Times,” begins with Bevin’s press conference upon launching his bid to unseat then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, telling reporters that he had “no tax delinquency problem, nor have I ever.” The ad then transitions to reports of more than $100,000 owed by Bevin Brothers Manufacturing in East Hampton, Conn., earning the company a spot atop a listing of...

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul wrote in a letter last week to nearly 350 members of the Republican Party of Kentucky's central committee that he had transferred $250,000 to a state GOP account to cover the initial costs of holding a presidential caucus next year. But committee members told the Herald-Leader on Tuesday that Paul hasn't provided a dime. In his letter, which was mailed about a week before the committee is to vote on whether to move forward with the caucus that Paul has requested, Paul wrote that he had already "transferred $250,000 in an RPK account to begin the...