KY Dem Gov Hits Ground Running         12/14 09:55

   FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- Just days into his term as Kentucky's governor, 
Democrat Andy Beshear already has checked off some big priorities from his 
to-do list: a new state school board installed; the education commissioner 
gone; more than 140,000 nonviolent felons' voting rights restored.

   Now comes the hard part --- working with a Republican-led legislature with 
its own policy priorities.

   "This week's actions are pieces of cake compared to what he faces in terms 
of building a budget and getting a program through the legislature," longtime 
Kentucky political commentator Al Cross said.

   Beshear's aggressive start as governor was possible because he did most of 
it with executive orders, fulfilling promises he had made during the campaign.

   Another executive order is expected any day now --- one that would rescind 
his Republican predecessor's effort to impose a work requirement as a condition 
for Medicaid health coverage.

   Despite a narrow victory margin in the election, Beshear could benefit from 
being the anti-Bevin. The man he ousted, former Gov. Matt Bevin, was known for 
fostering contentious relations even within his own party, and most election 
post-mortems have blamed him for his own defeat.

   That could work to Beshear's benefit, making Republicans weary of his 
predecessor's combative ways more receptive to his overtures about bringing 
back civility in politics.

   But some key Republican lawmakers said Beshear's lofty words about 
cooperation weren't matched by his action reorganizing the Kentucky Board of 
Education. Beshear appointed a partisan board without consulting with Senate 
Republicans, said Senate President Robert Stivers.

   "It is apparent that collaboration and cooperation have yet to come to 
Frankfort as promised by Gov. Beshear," Stivers said.

   Stivers noted that the Senate ultimately has confirmation power over the 
governor's appointments.

   Things are sure to get even more complicated when Beshear submits a two-year 
budget plan to lawmakers in early 2020. Beshear faces a budget shortfall that 
could exceed $1 billion, based on a memo the Bevin administration circulated on 
its way out. Key contributors to the state's bleak budget situation are 
pension, Medicaid and corrections costs.

   Despite the dire forecast, Beshear has forged ahead with his promise to make 
public education a priority. He has committed to include in his budget 
blueprint the $2,000 across-the-board pay raise for public school teachers that 
he campaigned on. 

   "If our public schools --- especially those in struggling areas --- are 
going to survive and thrive, we need to make sure they are adequately funded," 
Beshear said in his inaugural speech Tuesday. "That means looking at class 
size, providing technology and striving to give every child true opportunity. 
This is not a partisan issue. This is a Kentucky issue."

   Beshear, who won election with strong backing from teachers, could build 
alliances with rural GOP lawmakers in his push for public schools, Cross said.

   "That's why we don't have charter schools funded in this state," he said. 
"That's why we don't have tax credits for private education. Because rural 
Republicans are big supporters of public education."

   It was Beshear's opposition to charter schools that spurred his first big 
decision as governor --- disbanding the state school board and then recreating 
it with 11 new members.

   Beshear announced the board reorganization in his inaugural speech. Two days 
later, the new state school board accepted Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis' 
immediate resignation. The state will start a national search for a permanent 
replacement. With the actions, Beshear had dispatched school board members and 
a commissioner who support charter schools.

   Lawmakers voted during Bevin's term to allow charter schools, which get 
public funding but operate outside of state standards. But lawmakers did not 
vote for a permanent way to pay for them, and the concept hasn't gained a 
foothold in the state.

   Beshear was promptly sued by 10 of the school board members he dismissed. 
They say state law protects them from removal before their terms end when 
there's no just cause for dismissal.

   On another issue, Beshear basked in the type of setting governors crave --- 
a cheering crowd in the state Capitol Rotunda --- when he issued the order 
Thursday to restore voting rights for more than 140,000 nonviolent offenders 
who completed their sentences.

   "Today, a day that I thought I'd never see. ... Gov. Beshear gave me back my 
equality as an American," said Rynn Young, who has never voted due to his drug 
conviction as an 18 year old in the late 1990s.


(KR)