Joe Gerth: Bevin employs scorched-earth policy in classless exit from role as governor

Joseph Gerth | Courier Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Matt Bevin won't contest election loss to Andy Beshear "I truly wish the attorney general well as the next governor of this state as he assumes these responsibilities," Bevin said.

If there's anything to make out of Gov. Matt Bevin's Wednesday round of interviews on conservative radio stations, it's that 12:01 a.m. Tuesday can't come fast enough.

That's when Andy Beshear will be sworn in, effectively ending four years of a time in Kentucky's history in which we laid waste to political conventions of honesty, decency and civility.

On Wednesday, Bevin took to talk radio to imply, yet again, that some form of voter fraud had cost him a second term. He went on to say the election of Andy Beshear would somehow lead to abortion clinics "popping up all over" Kentucky.

None of this is true.

It's all poppycock. And it's classless.

On one Western Kentucky station, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported Bevin accused Beshear of having sold one gubernatorial appointment for a campaign contribution. Though he didn't say who the alleged appointee is.

More allegations. Nothing to back it up.

As was his wont throughout his term, Bevin made these ludicrous statements on conservative talk radio stations because he knew the interviewers would sheepishly nod along with him and wouldn't pipe up.

Background: Bevin says liberals are 'good at harvesting' urban votes

"Hey, Governor. Do you have any proof of any of that?"

It's a question he doesn't want to answer. It's a question he can't answer.

His claims about Beshear selling appointments and about abortion clinics are troubling because of the ease at which he tosses around accusations.

The abortion clinic claim is silly because the most abortion clinics to operate at any one time in Kentucky over the last 25 years was three — two in Louisville and one in Lexington.

And why should anyone trust his accusation of Beshear selling an appointment when he can't or won't provide specifics?

Remember, this is the same guy who signed a million dollars worth of contracts with a law firm to investigate Beshear's father and came away with only a couple of minor ethics violations. No felonies. Not even a misdemeanor.

But the most troubling thing is his continued willingness to tear down an important institution — the ballot box — to benefit himself.

As long as you believe — as long as he believes — there was skulduggery afoot, Bevin doesn't have to come to grips with the fact that the voters rejected him because they didn't like him.

That's why he refused to concede for more than a week after the election.

That's why he claimed there were voting irregularities. That's why he touted the press conference called by a group of his supporters who suggested the election was stolen from him.

He has spent the last month in denial.

Experts: Bevin's 'harvesting votes' remarks were veiled reference to minorities

And that's why he was back on the radio this week using the dog whistle of ballot "harvesting" in "urban" areas to suggest that the people in the big cities, that African Americans in the big cities, that the African Americans in "public housing projects" had conspired to strip him of the office that was rightfully his.

Vote harvesting or ballot harvesting is when someone collects paper absentee ballots and turns them into their local clerk's office to be counted for the voters. It's been used in some places, including by Republicans in a North Carolina congressional race last year, to steal votes.

While Kentucky doesn't expressly prohibit ballot harvesting, it has a series of checks and balances in place, including multiple signatures on the ballot's envelope, in an effort to make sure people aren't using the absentee ballots to cheat.

But none of that matters to Bevin, who is intent on not going away gracefully.

While he accuses the Democrats of "harvesting" votes, Bevin is busy doing just the opposite. He's setting fire to the fields and he's burning down the institutions that have protected our democracy for more than 200 years.

It's time he goes back to his bargain-basement $2 million mansion in Anchorage he bought for $1.6 million from a political appointee. Back to the mansion where he can spout his nonsense to the trees on his 10-acre lot, to the walls in his 7,775-foot home, and his 1,152-square-foot barn, and his four-car garage with attached workshop and any of the other buildings on his property.

We've all heard enough from him.

Related: Outgoing Gov. Bevin fires off order aimed at curbing Adkins' pension

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.