The protestors protest when they're being protested

How many ways are there to express this concept? "They can dish it out, but they can't take it." "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

Far too often, people can't stand the same scrutiny they want to put others under. Why do Antifa activists wear hoods or masks?  They're afraid of what would happen should their identities become known.

And when many activists or protestors do voice their opinions openly, they're not real happy when they're challenged. And their followers get defensive when it happens.

During the recent battles over pension reform and education funding and policy in the Kentucky General Assembly, a number of high-profile protests took place. Several were organized by formal entities such as the Kentucky Education Association and Jefferson County Teachers Association, but others were promoted by independent activist groups.

The most prominent group that came out of the protests calls itself KY 120 United. They're responsible for any #KY120United hashtags you may have seen on social media. They claim to speak for educators and public employees, but I have always made it plain that as a state employee, they in no way speak for me or advocate for me.  In fact, I oppose most of the initiatives they support. I'm in favor of reforms that will preserve and protect pensions for teachers and public workers, but they've opposed the efforts. I want education at all levels improved across this state; they seem interested in maintaining the status quo and rejecting any move to change things for the better and ensure a better education for every student.

One of the founders of KY 120 United is a Fayette County Board of Education employee named Wynema Brewer-Candy. She's more commonly known as Nema Brewer. She's been identified in several news stories for her role, but only some stories have made note of the fact that she's not a classroom teacher.

Late in the gubernatorial campaign, as she and her group were leading the charge for Andy Beshear's candidacy, her salary and job title were brought up by conservative interest groups and individual activists as a matter of discussion. She is listed as a communications specialist with an annual salary of $88,369.01.

Think about that for a minute. Here is someone in a non-academic role, working for a public school system, making that much money, yet they complain about pay and funding in education.

"Wonder how teachers feel about their fearless leader making $90,000 a year just to tweet," was the way the Kentucky Freedom Coalition phrased its discussion of the matter.

While it's generally true that most private sector jobs pay more than their public sector equivalents, that doesn't appear to be the case for non-academic school system positions. Ms. Brewer's salary is around twice what state government pays its career communications professionals, and is about $30,000 more than a similar private sector position with a similar title.

I would say "title and duties," but hang on a minute.

When this became an issue in the gubernatorial race, I shared it on social media. It didn't take long for me to get a couple of angry responses from people who know and work with her, or have worked with her in the past. One's a college classmate, and the other is a friend from my area who's relocated to the Bluegrass. Both assured me that I was very out of line for bringing this up, and that Nema Brewer is a very hard worker who earns and deserves every penny that she makes.

Funny thing is, despite these assurances that she works hard and is deserving of her paycheck, they couldn't (or wouldn't) tell me exactly what she does.

I'd never heard of Nema Brewer until KY 120 United came along. She's not the spokesperson for Fayette County Schools. She's never quoted in the paper on education-related issues and her name isn't listed as the contact person for any press releases I've ever seen come from the school district there. The communications director who does all that gets a six-figure salary. That's a whole lot more than the communications directors earn at just about every state agency I can think of. In fact, Gov. Matt Bevin's communications director only makes three-fourths of that, and his press secretary gets about half Brewer's salary. And their names are front and center in just about any communications from the governor's office or statements to the media.

Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems funny that teachers upset about education funding and their pay aren't picketing at their local superintendent's office, asking why a non-certified administrator is making so much more than they are. (Or why they voted for the son of the governor who chronically underfunded their pensions, but that's already been noted.)

Administrative salary bloat is a real thing in just about every school district in the state. Even in some of the poorer, smaller counties, superintendents can pull down salaries in excess of $100,000. The number of six-figure administrators in Fayette County was the subject of a recent television news investigative report. And who knows what that figure is in Jefferson County, consistently home to Kentucky's worst schools and those who most resist changes in how children are educated or schools are funded?

After Brewer's salary and job became an issue, she made social media statements saying she would not be intimidated into silence. News flash: No one's trying to intimidate or silence her. They're just pointing out the irony of a non-educator making twice as much as many teachers goading them into illegal sickouts, when the teachers ought to be asking hard questions of their local school boards instead of protesting in Frankfort.

I'm not sure why Brewer or any of her fan club would be surprised that she's gotten scrutiny. Anyone who ever steps out into the public arena dons a figurative target. How many conservative activists have had their lives exposed over the years? In Kentucky, one outspoken Matt Bevin supporter has seen it happen -- in part because she helped spread the word about Nema Brewer. It's the same thing that happened when teachers protested at a business that was formerly owned by former state Sen. Joe Bowen.

When two Bevin supporters recently spoke out about election integrity, the press and the opposition made it a point to dig into their backgrounds. They expected that. Why should the founders of KY 120 United expect anything different than what the founders of Citizens for Election Integrity-Kentucky received?

Nema Brewer got her wish, for now anyway. Beshear 2.0 will take office next week. And she'll still be making her huge salary while teachers find out there's not enough Andy Candy in the dish to give each educator in the state a $2,000 raise. The same wave that finally flipped the House of Representatives will be rolling over Kentucky again next year, when President Trump's on the re-election ballot. That means that the next "Remember in November" campaign is likely to end as badly as the first one did. While the philosophies at the Labor Cabinet and Department of Education may be changing, there will also be a change in the attorney general's office, and Daniel Cameron will probably find it prudent to prosecute any teachers who illegally take sick days to protest in Frankfort during the upcoming legislative session.