Democrats seek censure of Rep. Maddox, say she ‘set the stage’ for Beshear effigy hanging
Kentucky House Democratic leaders said Wednesday that Republican state Rep. Savannah Maddox “set the stage” for a controversial hanging of Gov. Andy Beshear in effigy that has garnered national attention.
They asked Maddox to apologize and for House Republican leaders to begin a formal censure process of her. They also presented tweets from her, some at least five years old, that they said were “racist and religiously intolerant.”
“Enough is enough,” said House Minority Leader Joni Jenkins of Louisville. “I call on Rep. Maddox to renounce her harmful words of hate and to apologize for her role in this disgraceful display of intolerance that has been broadcast across this nation.”
Censures are rare in the Kentucky House. They require a vote of two-thirds of the 100 members when the chamber is in session.
Maddox, a freshman lawmaker from Dry Ridge who is unopposed this year for re-election of the 61st House District,that includes Grant and parts of Boone, Kenton and Scott counties, said the news conference by the three House Democratic leaders was “part of a concerted effort to shift blame onto myself and other legislators who have stood by Kentuckians who are hurting.”
She also said it “further signifies an unwillingness to face the fact that Kentucky ranks No. 1 in unemployment in the nation — with 40 percent of our workforce out of a job.”
The legislator said she “will not be silenced in demanding accountability from our governor. Neither I, nor any of the legislators being implicated by the governor were present at Sunday’s rally and I stand in unison with the House Majority Caucus in condemning all acts of hatred in the context of political discourse.”
Beshear, on Tuesday, called the hanging “a celebration of assassination on our Capitol grounds” and said he would not be intimidated by it. The Democratic governor said a group known as the 3 Percenters hung an effigy of him from a tree Sunday at the end of a 2nd Amendment rally on the Capitol grounds in Frankfort.
He also said, without naming names, that some elected officials stirred such action at an earlier protest at the Capitol against his COVID-19 policies.
“You cannot fan the flames and then condemn the fire,” Beshear said on Tuesday.
Along with Maddox, Rep. Stan Lee, R-Lexington; Rep. Kim King, R-Harrodsburg; Rep. David Hale, R-Wellington; and Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, all spoke at an earlier “Kentucky Freedom Rally” this month. Rep. Mark Hart, R-Falmouth, also attended the previous rally, which took place before businesses were allowed to reopen, but did not address the crowd.
At the rally, Maddox said Beshear was making Kentuckians prisoners in their own homes by his COVID-19 policies. She also said she would not take a vaccine for the virus if one were available.
House Minority Leader Jenkins said at the Democratic leadership news conference Wednesday that Maddox has been “the most forefront in this” but all of the legislators at the protest should be held accountable.
She said it was “very, very curious” that no lawmaker was present at Sunday’s rally, making her wonder if they had advanced knowledge of the effigy hanging.
Pressed on what she knew about that, she said she had no proof, that it was “just speculation.”
House Minority Caucus Chair Derrick Graham of Graham said the hanging “should be offensive to all Kentuckians” and called on all House members to denounce it
House Minority Whip Angie Hatton of Whitesburg also displayed and criticized tweets Maddox had posted in recent years.
One from January 2015 read: “Why is it we don’t see Muslim hospitals or orphanages or universities? Because the faith is about destruction.” Another said of former President Obama, “Obama is not black. He is of African ancestry, not sharing the Black American heritage or experience.”
