Free Republic

Hillary Clinton says it’s “time people stopped listening to Republican propaganda.” The remark was pushback from the likely Democratic presidential nominee against a vocal critic during a rally in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, on Monday. Clinton was praising the record of former Gov. Steven Beshear, a Democrat, noting education and employment gains, as well as his expansion of Medicaid under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Clinton then said that Republican Gov. Matt Bevin is “trying to undo it all.” …

GEORGETOWN, Ky. (AP) — The fate of the last legislative chamber in the South still controlled by Democrats is in the hands of a few thousand Kentucky voters in four House districts scattered throughout the state. Those voters will choose four state representatives Tuesday in a series of special elections created by resignations and two strategic appointments by new Republican Gov. Matt Bevin. Democrats have 50 members and Republicans 46 in the Kentucky House of Representatives, where Democrats have held the majority for nearly a century. A Republican sweep would mean Democrats would not control the chamber for the first...

FRANKFORT – Kynect, the portal to Kentucky’s health insurance exchange, was described as too expensive and not sustainable by Kentucky Medicaid Commissioner Stephen Miller and Vicki Yates Brown Glisson, Secretary, Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Glisson told members of the House Budget Subcommittee on Human Resources on Tuesday that since the federal money used to support Kynect is beginning to go away, it is fast becoming cost prohibitive to keep what she calls “the website, or portal” intact. “The day of reckoning has come, and we’re going to have to pay the bills,” Glisson said. Glisson told legislators that...

When Republican businessman Matt Bevin ran for governor of Kentucky, he promised to make a number of budget cuts in order to help fix the commonwealth's budget and salvage the huge deficit in the state's pension plan. He also promised to change marriage licenses issued by county clerks and to end the commonwealth's healthcare exchange program.The heart of Kentucky's Democratic political fortresses in Lexington and Louisville didn't think Bevin stood a chance on beating out their candidate, Jack Conway, then Kentucky Attorney General. Since 1947, only 2 Republicans have won the governor's mansion in this good old boy state prior...

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- At the start, of course, he was a joke -- a rich man playing politics, dismissed by friend and foe. But he stayed in it. His numbers climbed. And at a certain point, he wasn't funny anymore. He is Matt Bevin, the governor of Kentucky, and his election last fall may say more about the current state of Republican politics than anything happening in New Hampshire this week. Bevin has been called "The Donald Trump of Kentucky." But he's more of an amalgam really: a mix of Trump, Ted Cruz and something all his own. His success...

WITH VIDEO - The first pro-life bill to clear the House and Senate in a dozen years was personally walked down to Governor Matt Bevin by members of the GOP on Tuesday for his signature. Senate Bill 4, which allows real-time telemedicine consultations between doctors and women seeking an abortion, was signed on the spot by Kentucky's governor. GOP members of the Senate decided to walk the bill down to the governor's office where bill sponsor Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, personally handed the legislation to Bevin. Bevin gave the group the option to move the signing date to February...

From Governor Matt Bevin, responding to PP's allegation that his administration approved them to open an abortion clinic: You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts. Nov. 19 - Planned Parenthood filed deficient application to provide abortions. Attached to the application were purported written agreements, however, neither was actually with a "licensed acute care hospital capable of treating patients with unforeseen complications," or a "licensed local ambulance service for the transport of any emergency patient," both of which are required to be filed with the Cabinet before abortions can be performed. Dec. 7 - Mere hours...

Louisville, Ky. (WDRB) -- Gov. Matt Bevin (R) claimed Thursday that Planned Parenthood is performing illegal and unlicensed abortions in Kentucky. He spoke to reporters and photographers during an unrelated event in Louisville. "I've always been a very strongly unapologetic pro-life individual," Bevin said. "To that end, that has not changed. What I tell you is interesting, and this is just breaking news even today, is that Planned Parenthood is illegally performing abortions in Kentucky." He went on to say, "It's that brazen disregard for the law that is going to be hammered down. There is no tolerance whatsoever for...

Governor Matt Bevin (R-Kentucky) State of the Commonwealth Budget Address - click link for live stream

Lexington Mayor Jim Gray filed to run for the U.S. Senate Tuesday morning as a Democrat, declaring his candidacy to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul on the day of Kentucky’s filing deadline. Gray, 62, told the Herald-Leader Monday night that he decided to challenge Paul last week and that he “absolutely” thinks he can win despite the state’s rightward lurch and widespread disapproval of President Barack Obama. Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article56605288.html#storylink=cpy

Obamacare continues to be the policy issue that confounds grassroots conservatives, causing a major rift between activists and Republican politicians. Republican candidates across the nation tapped into voter anger over the unpopular health care program to propel their elections only to fail on the campaign pledges to end it. After years of promises, Congress finally passed a bill to repeal Obamacare in an effort to launch 2016 in a conservative direction. As expected, President Obama promptly vetoed the legislation, reminding the GOP of their futile efforts to repeal his health care plan. In his veto message, President Obama said...

Donald Trump has been trying to burnish his conservative credentials in his recent attacks on other Republican candidates. Despite his normal attacks on Lindsey Graham and Jeb Bush, he has now taken to attacking Ted Cruz, calling him an "ultimate hypocrite" and implying that he is ineligible to run for the Presidency. Now it is revealed that Trump attacked current Kentucky Governor and former Senate candidate Matt Bevin. Before Bevin's victory last November he attempted to unseat Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the 2014 Senate primary.

FRANKFORT - Two Kentucky Republicans who won lopsided victories over their Democratic opponents - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Gov. Matt Bevin - predicted Wednesday that the last southern legislative chamber in Democratic hands would soon come under GOP control. McConnell, who met with Bevin privately in the governor's Capitol office, called the political outcome "inevitable", and Bevin said Republicans would triumph in the upcoming election cycle. "It is a matter of time," Bevin said. "It's a function of when the House turns. It will happen in 2016. There's no question about that." ... "In my election where...

Last Tuesday, Kentucky's new governor, Matt Bevin, issued an executive order that eliminates the names of all county clerks from marriage licenses and protects the unalienable constitutional rights and religious freedoms of Kim Davis and all other clerks in Kentucky."This action is a fulfillment of a campaign promise by Gov. Bevin and is directly what our client Kim Davis has been requesting for months," said Mat Staver, Davis' attorney and founder of the Christian civil rights firm Liberty Counsel. "This promise will enable her and other clerks to do their jobs without compromising religious values and beliefs."The governor's statement reads in part:"To...

"Wage rates ideally would be established by the demands of the labor market instead of being set by the government" he said. "The minimum wage stifles job creation and disproportionately impacts lower skilled workers seeking entry-level jobs," Bevin wrote in his executive order.

Governor Matt Bevin (R-Kentucky) and Lt. Governor Jeanine Hampton (R-Kentucky) were officially sworn in shortly after midnight today and had a public ceremonial swearing-in later in the day along with inaugural parade and other festivities. Unfortunately I was not able to find the full inauguration day videos, but was able to find their speeches from the swearing-in, which are well worth watching: Inauguration speech of Lt. Governor Jeanine Hampton Inauguration speech of Governor Matt Bevin Official swearing in shortly after midnight and remarks by Bevin and Hampton

Dr. Jeffrey Fugate supports Ted Cruz for PresidentHOUSTON, Texas – Presidential candidate Ted Cruz today announced the endorsement of Dr. Jeff Fugate, a prominent Independent Baptist pastor in Kentucky.Dr. Jeffery J. Fugate became the pastor of Clays Mill Road Baptist Church in 1991, with 18 people attending his first service as pastor. Now, more than 2,000 people call Clays Mill Road Baptist Church their church home. He has led many outreach ministries, specifically serving as founder of Commonwealth Baptist College and Clays Mill Road Baptist Christian Academy, and has been instrumental in starting 28 new churches in Kentucky and other...

Fort Worth, TX – The Madison Project PAC, the first conservative PAC to endorse Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Matt Bevin (R-KY), announced today that it is supporting Colonel Rob Maness for U.S. Senate against Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) in Louisiana. "Rob Maness provides conservatives with a refreshing change from typical senatorial candidates,” said Drew Ryun of the Madison Project. “As a career Air Force officer who fought in combat for our country, constitutional principles are more than just a talking point. With a dearth of courage within the ranks of the Senate GOP Conference, Maness would bring his leadership...

People are outraged after the Herald Leader published political cartoonist Joel Pett's recent cartoon about Governor Elect Matt Bevin. The cartoon has been viewed by many as an attack on Bevin's adopted children. The Governor Elect is calling Pett a racist and some people are demanding that the paper fire Pett and the entire editorial staff at the Herald Leader. The cartoon, published Thursday, shows Bevin under his desk, shivering with fear. The caption reads, "Sir, they're not terrorists...they're your own adopted kids!" The children referenced in this cartoon are the four Ethiopian children the Governor Elect and his wife...

Rep. Denny Butler of Louisville has switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican. ... The impetus for Butler’s decision to move from the Democratic ranks to the Republican column may stem from retiring Rep. Larry Clark’s endorsement of Alan Gentry in the Democratic primary to replace him in the 46th House District... “I know there’s been a, sort of a feud down there in the district that Larry Clark represented,” Stumbo said at the Kentucky Association of Counties conference in Lexington. “I assume that has something to do with it, but I hope that he will reconsider. He comes...