The State Capitol saw the first steps Wednesday in a dramatic
five-week transition of power that is spreading both hope and concern
across the commonwealth.
The preliminary steps from the
eight-year leadership of moderate Democrat Steve Beshear to Tea Party
conservative Matt Bevin began behind the scenes and in a cooperative
spirit.
But emotions are stirring about a candidate
elected with a mandate Tuesday who has promised to cut the size of
government, rework public pensions, initiate charter schools, adopt a
so-called right-to-work law, blasted Obamacare and embraced the cause of
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis.
“The change in Frankfort
could be extremely radical. State employees are very concerned,” said
state Sen. Julian Carroll, D-Frankfort, a former governor. “But the
question of what change we’ve got coming will depend on which Matt Bevin
shows up as governor. He went all the way from radical in the primary,
to moderate in the general election, to being a peacemaker last night.”
Senate
President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said although Democrats retain
majority control in the House, Bevin’s victory margin of more than
80,000 votes is a mandate that could see passage of much of a Republican
agenda stalled under Beshear.
“It
becomes a different dynamic now that we have the bully pulpit of the
governor’s office and the power of that office to make things happen,”
Stivers said.
Bevin remained out of public view on his first day as governor-elect.
His
campaign spokeswoman Jessica Ditto said Wednesday that Bevin is
“spending private time with his family and having planning meetings.”
Stivers
said he met on Wednesday in Frankfort with what he called the
“pre-transition” team of 10 to 12 Bevin advisers, including state Rep.
Jerry Miller, R-Eastwood. He estimated that the new administration will
need to fill up to 800 positions in state government.
Beshear
released a statement Wednesday saying that he called Bevin earlier in
the day to congratulate him and promise an orderly transition through
the Dec. 8 inauguration of Bevin.
“My office will work
with his administration to answer any questions and provide all
information necessary to assure consistent delivery of all services,”
Beshear said.
During
the campaign Bevin repeatedly advertised his endorsement by Kentucky
Right to Life, he said he would defund Planned Parenthood, and he
strongly backed Kim Davis after she was jailed briefly by a federal
judge after Davis refused to issue a marriage license to same-sex
couples despite a U.S. Supreme court ruling legalizing same-sex
marriages.
Among those hopeful about the transition is
Martin Cothran, senior policy adviser for the Family Foundation of
Kentucky. “It’s going to be a big change in policy in this state,
I think … to have the governor’s office in the hands of somebody who
really wants to make some conservative change is heartening.”
Cothran
said, “We’ve elected a governor who has expressed strong support for
religious freedom, who is also in favor of charter schools. So we are
hopeful some of the policy statements he made during the campaign are
realized.”
But David Smith, executive director of the
Kentucky Association of State Employees, is worried about Bevin's
promises as a candidate to “shrink the size of government.”
Bevin
said in an interview with The Courier-Journal last month, “Every
department, every cabinet, every single area of government will have to
tighten their budgets to the absolute degree possible.”
Smith said he fears Bevin will cut too deeply in areas the new governor does not consider priorities.
“We’re
expecting cuts to personnel right off the bat, we anticipate the
possibility of privatization of parks service,” Smith said. “I hope what
he said in his acceptance speech about trying to bring everybody in
Kentucky together for the best solutions is true. … But for now, I would
say 99 percent of state workers feel concerned about what’s coming
next: Where are we going to be cut? Is there a possibility I won’t even
have a job come July?”
Many also are concerned over
Bevin’s campaign proposal to place newly hired teachers into a
401(k)-style retirement plan instead of a traditional pension.
Stephanie
Winkler, president of the Kentucky Education Association, raised doubts
that the Democrat-led House would support the change but said teachers
are nevertheless worried over their pensions and the future of public
education. She said the organization would fight hard against any
attempt to move to a 401(k).
Stivers said Wednesday that
while Senate Republicans remain concerned over the stability of
pensions, members have not discussed the 401(k) change and that support
is still unclear.
In general, he stressed that while
Senate Republicans and Bevin believe in many of the same platforms,
“from a process standpoint, we are not going to give up our legislative
independence.”
Democratic
House Speaker Greg Stumbo said that he has yet to meet Bevin in
person but hopes the two sides can find common ground on several key
issues, including Kentucky's pension woes, the future of the state
health insurance exchange and managing money for education.
Bevin
will be the first Republican governor since Stumbo took the helm as
House speaker, and Stumbo said he is encouraging House legislators to
keep an open mind and avoid getting entrenched in policy positions.
"I
intend to make every effort to work with him and I would encourage my
colleagues to do the same," he said. "Are we going to battle over
certain political issues -- sure that's part of the beast. But what I
think we should do is find things we can agree upon and move forward
with those things."
It’s unclear if a Bevin
administration will allow House Democrats to highlight differences with
Republicans or force them to pivot to the right as they defend their
last outpost.
Democratic strategist Danny Briscoe
said that with Stumbo in control, the House will likely serve as a check
on Bevin’s more conservative objectives, including right-to-work
legislation and a proposal to move newly hired teachers into a
401(k)-style retirement plan instead of a traditional pension.
He predicted that lawmakers will regard every piece of legislation next year through the prism of the 2016 House elections.
“Every
bill that comes up, every critical issue that comes up, Republicans
will say ‘how is it going to affect our chances in November,’ and the
Democrats will say the same thing, which I think means we probably won’t
get a lot done,” Briscoe said.
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