Tom Loftus

@TomLoftus_CJ

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Gov. Matt Bevin's "bloodshed" comments last weekend provoked calls for an apology – and even Bevin's impeachment – on Tuesday from Democratic candidates who say the governor was inciting domestic violence.

"I'm here today to call for the impeachment of Gov. Matt Bevin. I believe his call to shed the blood of fellow Americans is unconstitutional and a violation of his sworn oath to uphold the laws of the commonwealth," said Nancy Jo Kemper, the Democratic nominee for Congress in Kentucky's 6th District, at a news conference in the Capitol Rotunda.

And Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, the Democratic Party candidate for the U.S. Senate, called on Bevin to admit he was wrong and apologize to the people of Kentucky. "Using religion as a tool of violence and frightening people has no place in politics. Frightened people do dangerous things, and encouraging fear and violence is absolutely wrong," Gray said in a statement.

During his speech at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C., Bevin said he was asked recently whether he thinks it is possible to recover as a nation if Democrat Hillary Clinton is elected president.

"And while there are people who have stood on this stage and said we would not, I would beg to differ. But I will tell you this: I do think it would be possible, but at what price?" Bevin said. "The roots of the tree of liberty are watered by what? The blood. Of who? The tyrants, to be sure, but who else? The patriots."

Bevin's office said on Monday that he was simply quoting Thomas Jefferson and was speaking of military action. Bevin's staff did not respond late Tuesday to phone calls and an email seeking a response to Kemper and Gray.

Kemper said Bevin's remarks were not about the bloodshed of possible military action. "He was very clearly remarking about domestic politics. It's in the context of discussing our presidential elections that he made those remarks. All the political references that he cites are to domestic bloodshed ..." Kemper said. "And the two choices he presented are to either elect Donald Trump to the presidency or to shed blood, even if it costs patriots' lives, even if it costs his own children's lives."

Kemper said, "My friends, we can disagree about whether or not gay couples should be allowed to marry or who uses the bathroom without shedding blood."

She said she did not believe she was being extreme in calling for Bevin's impeachment.

"I believe that lawmakers of both parties have an obligation to consider impeachment on the grounds that calling for the taking of innocent lives is a violation of the governor's binding legal responsibility to uphold the laws of our commonwealth, which clearly prohibit murder," she said. "... Words matter. Words can be used to incite violence. Words can incite an insurrection. This is a call to insurrection."

Any impeachment process would begin in the Kentucky House of Representatives. The office of House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, had no immediate response to Kemper's call for impeachment.

Gray is running against incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul in the November election, and Kemper is facing incumbent Republican Congressman Andy Barr.

Later Tuesday, Tres Watson, spokesman for the Republican Party of Kentucky called Kemper's remarks, "nothing more than a desperate act by a desperate candidate who trails badly in the polls."

Reporter Tom Loftus can be reached at (502) 875-5136 or tloftus@courier-journal.com.