Gerth: In a final show of pettiness, Bevin keeps Beshear out of mansion until last minute

Joseph Gerth | Courier Journal

In a move that should surprise absolutely no one, former Gov. Matthew Griswold Bevin, who never even lived in the Governor’s Mansion, waited until the last minute to turn the stately old building over to his successor.

New Gov. Andy Beshear wasn’t given access to the mansion until 10 p.m. Monday, giving him and his staff just two hours to prepare for his official, private swearing in at midnight, and a reception, before hitting the sack in advance of a long day of festivities.

Paul Patton said when he was sworn in in 1995, Brereton Jones moved out of the Governor’s Mansion the weekend before and turned the building over to him two days before he would take the oath of office.

And when Patton left office eight years later, he said he vacated the mansion and turned it over to then Gov.-Elect Ernie Fletcher on Friday, four days before his inauguration.

Four years ago, Steve Beshear turned the mansion over to incoming-Gov. Bevin perhaps as much as two weeks before Bevin took the oath of office, Beshear’s former spokesman said.

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While there is no set rule as to when the governor-elect gets to bring his family, a couple of suitcases of clothes and a toothbrush to his new home, it’s customary to give the new governor time to move in and, at the very least, have a family dinner in the mansion the night before the inauguration.

“We’ll be having dinner with our kids,” Beshear said Monday afternoon, declining to say when Bevin was clearing out. “Wherever our kids are, that’s where we’ll have dinner.”

Beshear’s wife was more blunt. When I asked whether Bevin was giving the Beshears the mansion in time to have a celebratory meal, first lady Britainy Beshear gave a bit of an eye roll and said, “No.”

“You owe your successor that much respect to give them whatever time they need,” said Patton, who knew all about the slight on Monday, after attending a dinner in Frankfort that included a number of former governors and their descendants.

To keep the new governor and his family locked out until just before the swearing in, well, said Patton, “That’s real narrow-minded. Anybody who has the opportunity to serve as governor of Kentucky certainly ought to provide the incoming governor with whatever time he needs to get settled.”

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Kenny Bishop, who managed both Bevin’s and Andy Beshear’s inaugurations and who came to Frankfort as an aide to former Gov. Fletcher, has been critical of Bevin and what he has called his “vindictiveness” and “vitriol” in a piece he wrote last month for Medium.

Also: Beating Matt Bevin was the easy part. Now new Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear must govern

In a text message, Bishop said Bevin didn’t follow the usual norms.

“There really isn't a tradition or protocol related to turning over the mansion to the incoming administration,” he said. “It's more a matter of courtesy. Most outgoing governors try to give the incoming (governor) at least a couple of days to turn things over and get it ready. That wasn't the case this time.”

I haven’t heard yet whether Bevin and his family have followed the traditions that have been handed down from one governor to the next over the years — a letter from one governor to another left in the governor’s desk drawer, and a white cake, a key and a note left by the outgoing first lady for the incoming first lady.

Beshear has been pretty tight-lipped about his dealing with Bevin and, in fact, hasn’t even said if Bevin invited him and his wife to the mansion for dinner at some point between the election and the inauguration — another tradition.

I hope they have, but I’m not holding my breath.

The pettiness of Matt Bevin knows no bounds.

And if the Bevins didn’t follow those customs, let's hope that in four years or in eight, whenever Andy Beshear leaves office, he and his wife bring them back.

See also: Who is Kentucky's new first lady? What to know about Britainy Beshear

Customs like that show continuity in our system of government, and they show that in the end, when all the politicking is done, that we can find something that brings us back together — even if it’s just long enough to have dinner, or read a note, or enjoy a delicious slice of white cake.

When we think back on the Bevin administration and what it has done to Kentucky, let’s hope his legacy isn’t that he took from us our ability to get along or the ability of our leaders to treat one another with respect as we transition from one leader to another.

Let’s hope his legacy is that he was the outlier who couldn’t abide by the conventions followed by governors who came before and after he did.

Joseph Gerth can be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email at jgerth@courierjournal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/josephg.