Bevin’s last appointments to UK board put it out of compliance with state law
Former Gov. Matt Bevin’s four appointments to the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees late last year have put it out of compliance with a state law dealing with its political makeup.
Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said Friday that the Senate, which has to confirm university board appointments, will not be able to confirm all three Republicans Bevin appointed in the last part of 2019 before his term ended Dec. 10 because of the law.
The governor appoints 16 members to the UK board. They must be confirmed by the state Senate. Before Bevin’s four appointments late last year, the political makeup of board members who had received Senate confirmation was seven Republicans and five Democrats.
“Gov. Bevin did put people on there that takes it out of political balance and I have informed the governor’s office we do not plan to confirm individuals who take it out of balance contrary to the statute,” Stivers said earlier this week.
“It was in balance but Bevin as he walked out the door appointed three Republicans and one Democrat which would make the political balance 10 Republicans to seven Democrats and that is wrong.”
State law — KRS 164.131 — requires the governor’s appointments to university boards to reflect proportional representation of the two leading political parties based on the state’s voter registration.
As of the end of 2019, Democrats outnumbered Republicans in the state about 1.68 million to 1.47 million.
“We’re actually looking at the voter registration what the political makeup should be,” Stivers said Friday, “but we know at this time that if we confirmed all three of Bevin’s Republican appointments from late last year, it would put the board at nine Republicans and seven Democrats and that would not comply with the law.”
He said the board should have at least an equal number of Democratic and Republican members or slightly more Democrats than Republicans.
“We can’t appoint all three Republicans Bevin gave us in late 2020,” said the Senate president.
He said it would be appropriate to confirm Bevin’s Democratic appointment from late last year but cannot uphold all three Republicans.
Bevin’s last appointment to the UK board came last Nov. 22, a few weeks before his term as governor ended. That appointment was Republican Bryan Sunderland, who was Bevin’s deputy chief of staff for policy and legislation and former employee in public affairs for the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.
Last August, Bevin appointed to the UK board two Republicans: Joe Bowen of Owensboro, who did not seek re-election last year to the Senate, and Somerset attorney A.C. Donahue. He also appointed at that time Democrat Cathy Black, a senior producer for CBS in New York.
All four of Bevin’s last-year appointees have been serving on the board.
State law — KRS 11.160(f) — allows university board members appointed when the General Assembly is not in session to serve on the board between appointment and confirmation. They must leave the board if not confirmed by the Senate.
Stivers said there have been no discussions yet about whom the Senate might not confirm to UK’s board.
The issue of UK board’s political makeup came up during recent floor speeches in the Senate between Stivers and Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville.
Stivers said he may file a bill that would make the state board of education racially, politically and gender diverse. He has criticized Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear for appointing all Democrats to the state school board.
Stivers went on to say that Bevin, early in his administration, inherited from former Gov. Steve Beshear, the current governor’s father, a governing board at the University of Louisville that was “totally out of balance” with state law with 13 Democrats, one Republican and one independent.
McGarvey, in response, said, “Gov. Bevin’s board with UK is out of compliance with the statute.”
Stivers then said, “Not yet.”
Concerning the U of L board, Bevin reorganized it and then-Attorney General Andy Beshear challenged the move in court. In September 2017, the Kentucky Supreme Court dismissed Beshear’s suit, saying the issue was moot because the General Assembly had rewritten the law.
