'Bevin is still the best recruiter we've got'
By BERRY CRAIG
AFT Local 1360
What do two Kentucky Democratic bigwigs and GOP Gov. Matt Bevin have in common these days?
They're firing up the Democratic faithful. Yep, Bevin is, too.
“…The rallying cries must spread beyond the Capitol grounds, and advocacy must continue, especially now that the legislative session is complete,” exhorted Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes in an email to grassroots Democratic activists.
“Republicans are so arrogant that Gov. Bevin recently told a reporter that we don't show up to vote and won't be able to change things in November,” jabbed a get-out-the-vote email from Mary Nishimuta, the state party’s executive director.
She quoted the gov:
"... ironically some of the most emotional, reactionary, social media-minded people don't tend to vote, sadly. It's a shame that they don't. I wish everybody voted regardless of their ideology. It's important to get people's votes when the ballot box is open. But I don't think it's going to make a difference, no, it makes for a lot of social commentary. It makes for a lot of misspelled signs that people parade around with, but at the end of the day it's not going to change things politically."
Added Nishimuta: “Bevin thinks the rallies in Frankfort were all just a big show and a joke. Tuesday is our first chance to prove him wrong. Are you ready to show up and make your voice heard?”
Teachers have heard Bevin loud and clear. He seems to relish riling them, especially those who rallied in Frankfort to protest GOP efforts to lop billions of dollars off their pension benefits.
Bevin blustered that the protestors were “remarkably selfish and short-sighted.” He accused them of “throwing a temper tantrum” and having “a thug mentality.”
As the legislative session was winding down inside the Capitol, bilious Bevin stomped outside and blew a fuse against teachers who were still thronging the Capitol: "I guarantee you somewhere in Kentucky today a child was sexually assaulted that was left at home because there was nobody there to watch them. I guarantee you somewhere today, a child was physically harmed or ingested poison because they were home alone because a single parent didn't have enough money to take care of them."
He claimed that he had espied many of the demonstrators "hanging out, shoes off, hanging out, smoking, hanging out, leaving trash around (and) taking the day off."
Feeling the heat, even from some jittery Republicans, the governor apologized for his rant, but that didn't unring the bell. "Bevin is still the best recruiter we've got," a gleeful Democratic lawmaker confided in me the other day.
Among a slew of teachers and other public employees, the pension plan the Republicans passed is about as popular as a wet dog at a wedding. The Dems are counting on voter anger over the legislation to pay big dividends at the polls on Tuesday, but especially come Nov. 6.
Anyway, the governor would do well to heed an old Kentucky expression: “Don’t let you mouth overload your posterior.” Okay, we don’t say “posterior.”
But heedless he is, and the loyal opposition is loving it.
To be sure, flipping the 27-11 GOP Senate and 63-37 House in a single election cycle is a tall order, if not mission impossible.
Nonetheless, if the Democrats make significant gains in both chambers they ought to give Bevin their version of the Army's Master Recruiter badge. It's gold and black and has an eagle with uplifted wings seemingly supporting a flaming torch.
The Dems might go with a blue background--for their party and UK--and stick Bevin's mug on a wet hen, hoppin' mad and squawking on the Capitol portico.