Free Republic

Former Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, two months out of office, said Thursday that his conscience would not allow him to "ride off into the sunset" as he unveiled a nonprofit group that will advocate to retain federal health reforms he enacted. Save Kentucky Healthcare, a 501(c )(4) organization, will be launching an online advertising campaign, said Beshear... He also cited an economic report by Deloitte Consulting that Bevin has called "baloney." "Look, Gov. Bevin prides himself on being a successful businessman, and he should recognize and appreciate hard numbers, facts and evidence," Beshear said at a press conference at the...

Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Bevin issued the following statement regarding the closure of Kentucky Health Cooperative, Inc. "This financial debacle is a direct result of Obamacare, which Governor Beshear was too quick to embrace. Even though it is a disaster for Kentucky taxpayers, Jack Conway still says he would have been proud to vote for Obamacare," said Bevin. "It is the job of the attorney general to watch out for Kentucky consumers. Where has Jack Conway been in investigating this catastrophic co-op? Once again, Jack is playing political games instead of doing his job. The tragic result is that 51,000...

Kentucky’s nonprofit health insurer set up under ObamaCare is shutting down because of financial problems, the latest in a string of closures for the nonprofit plans around the country. Kentucky Health Cooperative, a nonprofit insurer known as a co-op, explained that it could not stay financially afloat after learning of a low payment from an ObamaCare program called “risk corridors.” That program was intended to protect insurers from heavy losses in the early years of the health law by taking money from better-performing insurers and giving it to worse-performing ones. However, the Obama administration announced on Oct. 1 that the...

FRANKFORT — The largest private provider of health insurance policies on Kynect, Kentucky's health insurance exchange, is going out of business. The Louisville-based Kentucky Health Cooperative Inc. announced Friday that it will end current memberships on Dec. 31 and will not add new members because of financial problems. It will not offer health insurance plans on Kynect when open enrollment for 2016 coverage starts on Nov. 1. The cooperative has about 51,000 members in all 120 Kentucky counties. ... Jonathan Gold, press secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in an email that the federal government...

FRANKFORT — The race for Kentucky attorney general slid to the right during the last 60 days as Democrat Andy Beshear lost the seven-point lead he held in July over Republican Whitney Westerfield. Beshear and Westerfield are tied at 38 percent in a new statewide Bluegrass Poll of 701 likely voters conducted Sept. 22-27 by SurveyUSA. Twenty-two percent said they were undecided; 2 percent said they were not following the race. The poll, taken on behalf of the Herald-Leader and WKYT-TV in Lexington and The Courier-Journal and WHAS-TV in Louisville, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8...

Andy Beshear, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, has been promoting his plan to fight heroin use in Kentucky, including mandatory minimum prison terms for dealers, better access to anti-overdose medication for emergency workers and a "Good Samaritan law" that legally protects drug users who report an overdose to authorities, all of which he says should be done "without further delay." But Beshear's proposals — featured on his campaign website — already are the law. They were included in last winter's hotly debated Senate Bill 192, signed by his father, Gov. Steve Beshear, in March, and crafted in part by...

The Republican Attorneys General Association has launched a new television ad released Thursday again linking Democratic attorney general candidate Andy Beshear with President Barack Obama. A female narrator in the ad, titled “Follow the Money,” says Beshear has collected “hundreds of thousands from the same liberal donors who funded Barack Obama.” “Why? Because Beshear would support Obama’s policies, putting Obama ahead of Kentucky,” the narrator says in the 30-second spot, which can be viewed here: Scott Will, executive director of RAGA, said in a statement, “You may not always know what Andy Beshear stands for, but you know who he...

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...

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...

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

The Republican Attorneys General Association is keeping up their mid-July ad barrage against Democratic candidate Andy Beshear, seeking to bring attention to Beshear’s background. In the ad, the group specifically targets who Beshear would represent as attorney general. The 30-second spot points to a lack of law enforcement experience for the candidate, who is an attorney with Louisville-based Stites and Harbison. “How about the special interests bankrolling his campaign raising questions of ethics? Or the companies he’s worked for but would oversee as attorney general,” a narrator in the 30-second ad says. When asked by Pure Politics and other media...

Gov. Beshear tells county clerks to set aside convictions of same-sex marriage but won't share his own views on subject FRANKFORT — Despite telling the few county clerks who still refuse to issue marriage licenses to set aside their personal beliefs on same-sex marriage and perform their duties, Gov. Steve Beshear on Tuesday twice declined to say whether he followed his own advice when he decided to appeal a 2014 federal court ruling overturning Kentucky’s ban on same-sex marriage. Beshear, whose second term as governor ends in December, continually brushed aside questions on his personal views toward same-sex marriage as...

LOUISVILLE (WHAS11) – A pedicure received by Kentucky Attorney General Candidate Whitney Westerfield before his 2009 wedding is the focus of an attack ad launched Monday, July 20, by the Kentucky Democratic Party. Calling pedicures Westerfield's "secret guilty pleasure," the ad relies on a report by CN2 that showed criticism of Westerfield by a former co-worker in his personnel file as an assistant Commonwealth's Attorney that alleged Westerfield's "'personal interests often [took] priority over work duties,'" including "'Teeth Cleaning vs. Jury Trial,' 'Pedicure vs. Arraignments,' and 'Cell Phone in Court.'" Westerfield is the Republican nominee for Kentucky Attorney General. He...

The campaign of Democratic attorney general candidate Andy Beshear is attempting to have an ad by the Republican Attorneys General Association removed from Lexington airwaves. The ad first was launched on Tuesday in the Lexington market where the 30-second spot is airing on: WLEX-TV, WKYT-TV and WTVQ-TV. As previously reported, the spot highlights Republican candidate Whitney Westerfield, a Hopkinsville attorney and the state Senate Judiciary chairman, as having spent time as a prosecutor “who put criminals behind bars.” The ad targets Beshear for having a lack of law enforcement experience, having a campaign “funded by special interests he would oversee...

With an 8 paragraph long statement Republican candidate for governor Matt Bevin is siding with county clerks in their request to issue marriage licenses for same-sex couples online. Bevin, who initially expressed disappointment in the U.S. Supreme Court decision allow same-sex couples to be married, said his first thought is that the “government should be out of the marriage business altogether.” “We can comply with the law while protecting our citizens’ rights to freedom of religion simply by separating the religious covenant of marriage from the legal, contractual relationship established by marriage as recognized by the state,” Bevin said. “The...

FRANKFORT – Fifty-seven county clerks form every region of the commonwealth sent a formal letter to Gov. Steve Beshear on Wednesday requesting that he immediately call for a special session of the General Assembly to address issues relating to issuing same-sex marriage licenses. Casey County Clerk Casey Davis, who has stopped issuing marriage licenses altogether to avoid issuing them to same-sex couples, visited with Beshear in Frankfort on Thursday where Beshear reiterated his stance that he will not call a special session on the subject. Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who is the other judge-executive who has chosen not to...

Health insurance costs will probably jump by 10 percent or more next year for many Kentuckians buying coverage through Kynect, the state-run insurance exchange created under the federal Affordable Care Act. The five providers that are returning to Kynect have requested average rate changes for 2016 that range from a decrease of 9.28 percent (WellCare Health Plans of Kentucky) to an increase of 25.1 percent (Kentucky Health Cooperative). Two other companies offering insurance plans in the private marketplace that comply with requirements of the health law requested rate increases of 9.93 percent and 11.5 percent. ... Kentucky is one of...

As lawmakers head toward a likely conference committee to negotiate an agreement on anti-heroin legislation, Gov. Steve Beshear says a provision to allow local needle-exchange programs should be part of a final bill. Speaking to reporters outside his Capitol office just hours after the Senate Judiciary Committee heard discussion on the House version of the heroin legislation, Beshear said he was in favor of the House version of the bill but applauded both the House and Senate for their work on the issue. “I personally would like to see a needle exchange,” Beshear said. “Number one, I don’t think it...

Gov. Steve Beshear's office is standing behind a decision to expand the state's Medicaid program after the release of a new report from Deloitte Consulting LLC and the University of Louisville's Urban Studies Institute. The report said the expansion will add 40,000 health care jobs and $30 billion to the state's economy through 2021. Expansion also will generate a net positive impact of nearly $820 million to state and local government budgets. State budget director Jane Driskell said in a news release that the analysis shows expansion creates both savings and new revenue, totaling more than double the amount the...

Gov. Steve Beshear was named Thursday to the Democratic National Committee’s “Democratic Victory Task Force” to assess the party’s strengths and weaknesses ahead of future elections. Beshear was selected by DNC Chair and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz, D-Florida, alongside nine other appointees. “We are proud to announce the members of the Democratic Victory Task Force, and are eager to work with them to build on what we’ve done that works, identify and prioritize challenges and ultimately improve our party’s performance in future elections,” Wasserman Schultz said in a press release. “This diverse group of Democratic Party officials, strategists and...