From The Lexington Herald-Leader: Bevin, Beshear clash on several issues at farm bureau forum
By BRUCE SCHREINER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republican Gov. Matt Bevin and Democratic challenger Andy Beshear clashed on education and health care policies while sharing the stage for a forum before Kentucky's most influential agricultural group that turned feisty Wednesday.
Speaking at Kentucky Farm Bureau headquarters, Beshear challenged Bevin's support for school-choice initiatives and the governor's efforts to impose work requirements for some low-income people on Medicaid. The Democratic challenger said those policies would hurt public schools and hospitals in rural Kentucky, which drew an aggressive response from the Republican incumbent in defending the initiatives.
Bevin kept up a theme of his campaign — pointing to his experience as a business executive as an advantage for the state that differentiates him from Beshear. In pushing back, Beshear said the person representing the state shouldn't be someone who has feuded with public education groups, as Bevin has done, or whose administration has been mired in a spat with his lieutenant governor.