Endorsement: Andy Beshear has the vision to lift families and transform Kentucky

The Courier Journal editorial board | Courier Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Kentucky governor race: Andy Beshear interviewed by editorial board Democratic Kentucky governor candidate Andy Beshear was asked the tough questions by The Courier Journal editorial board during a visit to the paper.

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Election Day is Nov. 5

Kentucky desperately needs a governor with a broad vision to move the commonwealth forward, especially in the critical areas of education and the economy.

The situation is dire.

One out of every 5.5 residents lives in poverty, and Kentucky is one of the least-educated states in America. As rapidly advancing technology transforms our nation and world, Kentucky is being left behind.

While Gov. Matt Bevin has made progress, particularly in job creation, the transformative change that Kentucky needs requires a leader who will prioritize education and economic diversification above all else. We believe Attorney General Andy Beshear is that leader. He has a holistic vision for helping Kentucky’s families and for advancing the commonwealth.

For these reasons, he earns The Courier Journal editorial board’s endorsement for governor.

This decision was not made lightly. Nor was it made based on partisan politics. This endorsement was based on months of study, an examination of platforms and positions and watching debates and TV spots.

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We also have had a front-row seat these past four years of Bevin’s term in Frankfort, and our decision was not made based on the verbal blunders, dull-witted retorts and mean-spirited insults and attacks that have defined his tenure in the governor’s office.

No, this endorsement is about what’s best for Kentucky.

The editorial board reviewed both candidates' visions on the most pressing issues facing the commonwealth. We also invited them to meet in person with The Courier Journal editorial board. Beshear accepted the invitation. Bevin declined. The governor also declined to share his views on such issues as the pension crisis, reproductive health and the minimum wage for The Courier Journal’s online voter guide at courierjournal.com.

“Gov. Bevin does not seek The Courier Journal’s endorsement,” we were told by a campaign official. That’s fine, Gov. Bevin. But your reticence also signals a brand of arrogance, preferring to dodge legitimate questions asked not exclusively by The Courier Journal, but thousands of Kentucky voters. We had three community roundtables, and these are issues dozens of attendees wanted you to address.

Nevertheless, we studied Bevin’s platform and viewpoints on the issues and concluded his vision for Kentucky is far too narrow. His focus, too often, is on social issues — like abortion, gun rights and immigration.

Yes, red-meat rhetoric on those issues rally his conservative base, but they do nothing, absolutely nothing, to move the commonwealth forward at a time of global competition, climate change and a repressive, generations-old economic cycle that still shackles far too many Kentucky families.

Embracing with both arms a pontifical president whose love of self literally trumps a more holistic vision for America at a time of dramatic division does little to reassure us that Gov. Bevin truly understands the needs of commonwealth taxpayers and residents.

It’s easy to claim you want to “Make Kentucky Great Again” and to appear on TV commercials and at rallies and photo-ops with President Trump. But moving Kentucky forward — to truly lift a commonwealth that has stagnated too long in too many economic, personal income and health categories — requires bold leadership that is lacking from Kentucky’s current governor.

It’s time for a change.

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Beshear, on the other hand, says education will be his top priority if elected governor. He calls for fully funding every public school by increasing per-pupil spending. He plans to reduce class sizes, increase the number of school nurses and mental health professionals, improve facilities and supplies and expand career and technical education.

He also promises to include a $2,000 pay raise for teachers in his first budget. He says higher pay, student loan forgiveness and money for continuing education will help address Kentucky’s teacher shortage. And he’s pledging to lower the cost of attending college in the commonwealth, an important move to make higher education more accessible to Kentuckians.

By contrast, Bevin’s biggest plan to improve education is opening publicly funded charter schools, which he says would give students choice and create competition that could help public schools. But according to many public school advocates, charter schools would siphon money from public schools, not improve them. The Kentucky Association of School Superintendents has come out against charter schools and scholarship tax credits, which would give Kentuckians tax breaks in exchange for donations to private school scholarship funds.

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They prefer Beshear’s proposal: More efforts to attract and retain teachers and more funding for public education. Funding for education made up 52% of the state's budget in 1996-97. Now it's at 43%. Kentucky’s public schools need more resources if they are to be successful.

While Bevin has made sure that all lottery funds go to education and has increased K-12 per-pupil funding, we’re concerned that he shifted millions in costs to public school districts, took away money for instructional materials and support programs and made cuts in higher education.

That’s not giving education the priority it needs in one of the least-educated states in the nation.

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Beshear says he will pay for his education plan using existing dollars. Presumably, he will cut elsewhere in the budget to make it work. Budgeting is about priorities, and Beshear is right to put education at the top of the list.

Better-educated kids point to a brighter future for Kentucky.

Beshear also wants to generate new revenue, which could be used for education, by closing tax loopholes on luxury items. For example, he says there shouldn’t be a tax break for people buying yachts. We agree. He also would rescind Bevin’s proposed Medicaid work requirement, which would cost $271.6 million to launch, according to a federal report.

Beshear also wants to approve and tax expanded gaming and medical marijuana to give the commonwealth more money to meet the state’s pension obligations. Bevin opposes gaming and is instead pushing pension costs onto cities, health departments and other agencies that are struggling to survive under the weight of the cuts.

States surrounding Kentucky are generating millions from expanded gaming — and luring Kentuckians to their casinos. What is maddening is that off-track sports betting is already exploding in the commonwealth. It is hypocritical to ignore expanded gaming options and the revenue boost it could provide when forms of it already have been approved by the General Assembly.

Beshear also envisions Kentucky taking the lead in fast-growing industries, such as agritech and advanced manufacturing. Given agriculture’s role in Kentucky’s economy — it contributes $45.6 billion each year — it makes sense to be on the cutting edge of technological innovations that can make farming easier and more profitable and create new jobs.

Beshear wants to start partnerships with Kentucky colleges and agritech leaders to encourage startups, especially in rural Kentucky. His plans for advanced manufacturing also are worth the investment. The state has 4,500 manufacturing-related facilities, and more than 250,000 Kentuckians work in that industry, according to the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development. Beshear would create tax incentives for companies in these two industries, which would also help small businesses create good-paying jobs for Kentucky workers.

Few want to acknowledge it — especially Republicans in Washington and Frankfort — but Kentucky’s coal industry is slipping into an economic abyss. In yet another sign of its retreat, Ohio-based Murray Energy, the largest underground coal mining company in the country, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday morning. It operates several mines in Western Kentucky.

Beshear says he continues to support the state’s energy economy, particularly its dwindling number of miners. But he also understands Kentucky only can move forward with a more diversified, risk-taking economy and a vastly improved educational system that offers opportunity to people across the state.

Bevin’s vision is for Kentucky to be “the undisputed center of engineering and manufacturing excellence in America,” but that doesn’t happen if you don’t prioritize education. Bevin has succeeded in bringing jobs to the commonwealth — more than 57,000 of them, he claims — and that’s commendable.

But many families are not reaping the benefits of the jobs that have been created. They are living in poverty. They are not experiencing the prosperity that Bevin is preaching.

Beshear’s plan is ambitious, and he will have to be creative to pay for it. Undoubtedly, we — and taxpayers around the commonwealth — will be watching closely how he finances his priorities. But that’s what Kentucky needs to pull its residents out of poverty and lift the commonwealth onto the national playing field, where it can compete economically in a global marketplace.

Beshear’s vision is right for families. It’s right for our commonwealth.

He earns The Courier Journal’s endorsement.

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