Not 24 hours into his term as Kentucky's new governor, Andy Beshear found himself on the end of a lawsuit. Looks like turnabout is fair play for the man who spent the majority of his term as attorney general suing the man he replaced as governor.
Beshear had promised to take steps to remake the state Board of Education with members more to his liking, with their mission being first and foremost to dismiss Commissioner Wayne Lewis for the sin of actually wanting to improve education in Kentucky in a way that might upset the status quo and the balance of power for the Kentucky Education Association and Jefferson County Teachers Association.
Even before his public swearing-in ceremony on Inauguration Day, he signed an executive order dissolving the existing board, establishing a new one, and appointing a host of political cronies and contributors to it.
Along the way, he established on the first day of his term that he's a hypocrite.
Given the nature of Beshear's campaign promises, the board members saw it coming. It didn't take them long to choose a spokesman and announce that they were filing suit to stop the new governor's actions. All but one of the members have joined in the suit.
Governors abolishing and restructuring boards is nothing new. It was probably most famously done when Ernie Fletcher got rid of the old Kentucky Racing Commission and established the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority. But when outgoing Gov. Matt Bevin took similar actions with other boards, Beshear went to court, arguing that the move was improper and illegal. Beshear lost that battle, but if he thought it was an improper action then, why has he suddenly reversed course and thinks it's OK now? Around here, we call that being hypocritical, if one professes to have values or beliefs, but abandons them for personal gain.
The ousted board members argue, however, that the circumstances are different in this instance. They say that the appointment and structuring of the state school board is specifically addressed in the provisions of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990, and the governor is not following applicable law in this instance.
Political observers will recognize a few familiar names on the list of Beshear's appointees. Democrats David Karem and Mike Bowling, former legislators, jump out. (And don't forget that Bowling is a former law partner of Greg Stumbo; that certainly doesn't bode well for the new board's ability to act in the best interests of the state.)
(To the media's credit, some stories indicated that a number of the new board members were contributors to Beshear's campaign; some reporters went ballistic last week when Bevin said one high-level appointee had to make a campaign contribution to get their jobs and failed to research the contributions of those who had been announced.)
This promises to be messy. The replaced board members have vowed to take the dispute all the way to the state Supreme Court. The new board is going to look into firing Lewis without cause on Thursday morning (Dec. 12), and he's stated he will not resign and will require the 90-day notice of dismissal that's included in his contract. Word has it that there's a steep financial penalty the state will have to pay if they fire him without cause prior to the expiration of his contract. And it's highly possible the Senate will not go along with Beshear's appointments or restructuring, as is required for them to take effect. And, will incoming Attorney General Daniel Cameron get involved in the suit? He is taking office next week to fill out Beshear's unexpired term until he's sworn in next month for his own term.
In his inauguration speech, Beshear promised a spirit of cooperation and a new day in Kentucky politics. But even before he stepped up on that stage and started speaking, his actions showed that his words were hollow. He didn't even bother having a conversation with the education commissioner, whose position is supposed to be insulated from politics, before putting the wheels in motion to have him fired. Lewis' predecessor left on his own after Bevin appointed members to fill expired terms. He could have chosen to stay.
But there's great irony in the new governor getting a taste of his own medicine before the sun had set on his first day in office. Some of us are probably enjoying it a little more than we should.
