Lawmakers remain wary of Bevin, but 2019 General Assembly was a ‘huge win’ for him

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin has often made life difficult for his Republican counterparts in the legislature during the last two years. He urged them to tackle tax reform and pension reform, then criticized their efforts. They don’t have the “intestinal fortitude” to pass his pension agenda, he has repeatedly grumbled.

That was then. This is now.

When the legislature adjourned their 2019 law-making session at 11:50 p.m. Thursday, Bevin wasn’t around to field questions and he turned away reporters on Friday. But many of his top priorities were on display as lawmakers ran down the list of bills they passed in this year’s legislative session.

“I think it was a huge win for Governor Bevin,” said Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown. “And it should help solidify his standing as a strong conservative leader who gets things done.”

As Bevin embarks on his statewide campaign to convince Kentuckians, many of whom don’t like him very much, to give him a second term in the governor’s mansion, the legislature gave him plenty of fodder to attract conservative voters.

They passed a school safety bill. They passed a recycling tax credit Bevin said was necessary to help recruit a $1.3 billion steel mill to Meade County. They gave his administration $50 million to fix up state parks, killed a bill that would cut the $375,000 salary of his chief technology officer, and provided pension payment relief to mental health departments and universities. They also passed four bills restricting abortion rights.

“I think if you look back at it, the governor can’t be anything but happy with this session,” Thayer said.

Publicly, Bevin largely stayed out of the legislature’s hair during the 30-workday session, though he couldn’t resist saying lawmakers didn’t have the “intestinal fortitude” to vote for his pension proposals in a radio interview and claimed he received several phone calls from lawmakers asking him to veto bills because they didn’t have time to read them before they passed.

Those remarks, though, weren’t enough to turn lawmakers against him.

In the House of Representatives, where Bevin sees more in-party opposition than the Senate (Rep. Robert Goforth, R-East Bernstadt, is even challenging Bevin in the Republican primary), Rep. Melinda Gibbons Prunty, R-Belton, presented a resolution late Thursday honoring Bevin for defending the legislature’s abortion bills in court and knocking Attorney General Andy Beshear, the Democratic front-runner in the gubernatorial race, for failing to do the same.

State Rep. Attica Scott, D-Louisville, responded to Prunty on Twitter by saying she had “seen the face of evil and it looks like” Prunty. Still, the resolution gained 35 co-sponsors after it was approved by voice vote.

Abortion has long been an issue that helps Republicans win elections in Kentucky and Bevin will be able to wield that political weapon again this fall against Beshear or House Minority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins should either of them win the Democratic nomination for governor. Beshear has refused to defend the newly-passed laws in court, and Adkins voted against some of them.

When asked whether he considered the session a win for Bevin, House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, deflected the question.

“I think the people of Kentucky are the winner of the legislative session,” Osborne said. “You’d have to ask his campaign if he thinks he’s a winner or not.”

Bevin’s campaign does not yet have a spokesperson. His office did not respond to an email asking the question.

On the other side of the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Robert Stivers tried to use his pulpit to blast Beshear and his connection to Tim Longmeyer, Beshear’s former deputy attorney general who went to jail for soliciting bribes when he was secretary of the personnel cabinet under former Gov. Steve Beshear.

Stivers proposed bills and made floor speeches to keep the case front and center and one of them, a bill that would tighten rules for executive branch lobbying, was signed into law.

Despite consternation over Bevin’s reelection bid — U.S. Rep. Jamie Comer, R-Tompkinsville, was encouraged by several Republican lawmakers to run for governor — Republicans seem to have fallen in line as they hope to maintain their single-party control over Frankfort in November.

Bevin has spent several months touring the state, talking about the accomplishments of his first three years in office. The Republican Party of Kentucky even helped Bevin’s campaign set up a fundraiser with Vice President Mike Pence in Lexington, much to Goforth’s dismay.

Thayer said while he wishes Bevin were more careful about some of the things he says, the governor helped pave the way for several conservative accomplishments.

“Even if one party is in control there’s going to be a natural tension between the executive and the legislature,” Thayer said.