We noted yesterday Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) order that all employees and visitors to state buildings must wear face masks, even if they are fully vaccinated.

But Mr Beshear and his Lieutenant Governor, Jacqueline Coleman, are the only Democrats who serve in statewide elective offices, and that creates problems for enforcement of the Governor’s orders.

Several KY state agencies run by Republicans won’t enforce Beshear’s new mask rules

By Daniel Desrochers | July 29, 2021 10:56 AM | Updated: 12:06 PM EDT

Several state agencies headed by Republicans say they will not enforce Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s mandate for all state workers to resume wearing masks while working inside, a potential sign of how contentious new orders to limit the spread of COVID-19 may become.

Leaders of the Department of Agriculture, Office of the State Treasurer and Legislative Research Commission all said Thursday they will not enforce the new mask mandate, which comes as COVID-19 cases have surged over the past five weeks.

In an email sent to the staff of the Department of Agriculture shortly after Beshear announced the new rule Wednesday, Keith Rogers, the chief of staff for Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, told employees the department would leave it up to staff members to decide if they want to wear a mask.

There’s more at the original.

Several state departments noted that the majority of their employees are already vaccinated, and will leave mask wearing optional. while the Legislative Research Commission, which is supervised by the General Assembly, not the Governor, will adhere to its May 23^rd policy, which states that vaccinated employees need not wear masks.

We have previously mentioned Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) dictatorial orders, and his refusal to involve the General Assembly.

Beshear was asked at Friday’s (July 10, 2020 — Editor) news conference on COVID-19 why he has not included the legislature in coming up with his orders. He said many state lawmakers refuse to wear masks and noted that 26 legislators in Mississippi have tested positive for the virus.

His unwillingness to even try to work with the General Assembly was stated much more recently, on June 10^th, following the state Supreme Court’s oral arguments on his suits to invalidate several bills passed by the state legislature earlier this year:

You look back at different things that this legislature has tried to do in the midst of this pandemic and they would have not had the courage to step up and mandate masks, which we know from the experts is absolutely necessary.

Which raises the obvious question: did the Governor, before issuing his order, do something really radical like call the heads of the various state agencies and get their input, or ask them to put in place such rules for the agencies they ran? It’s not that the agency heads had no clue that such an order could come; I have been noting for weeks now that the Governor was looking for an excuse to reimpose the mask mandate, and, despite my obvious brilliance, I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one.

Governor Beshear hates Republicans, and, in the Bluegrass State, a whole lot of Republicans hate Mr Beshear, and protestors over his lockout policies hanged the Governor in effigy last year. Yeah, that makes it difficult for them to work together. But the state agency heads aren’t rowdy protesters, and many are elected officials in their own rights, people not under the Governor’s authority, and people whom he cannot simply fire. Even if the Governor did not think he would get much of a positive response, he would have at least have had a chance of compliance if he had had the courtesy to call them in advance and ask for their cooperation, or even to issue the instructions for their agencies under their own authority.

But, if the Governor made such calls, it was not so reported in the Herald-Leader article. Personally, I doubt that he did, simply because he believes he can just issue his decrees.

So, if the agency officials refuse to go along, what can the Governor do? He has only two options:

1. He can plead and cajole with them; or
2. He can send in the Kentucky State Police to do, what, arrest those not wearing masks?

He did, after all, send the State Police to record license plate and vehicle identification numbers on cars in church parking lots on Easter Sunday of 2020!

Still, I doubt that even our Governor would be so boneheadedly stupid as to do that. At least, I hope so!
______________________________
Update! Well, what do you know?

Beshear not considering reinstating statewide mask mandate despite COVID case surge

By Alex Acquisto | July 29, 2021 01:53 PM

As the threat of COVID-19 continues to worsen in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday said he is not at the point of considering a statewide vaccine mandate or reconsidering a mask mandate.

“I am not currently considering reinstating the mask mandate,” he said in the state Capitol during a news conference. But reinstating it isn’t out of the question: “It’s on the table if needed.”

Likewise, with a statewide vaccine mandate, “Right now, I don’t think a mandate from me would necessarily get those that have been unwilling to get vaccinated, vaccinated,” he said.

I’m pretty sure that he’s right about that! Of course, the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 8, which expands the exemptions allowable to refuse mandatory vaccination orders, and it became law without the Governor’s signature on March 23, 2021.

So, the mask mandate remains on the table, if not issued again. But I wonder: what would happen if the Governor would simply ask Kentuckians to wear masks, rather than ordering them to do so?