Tag Archives: #AndyBeshear

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No, this isn’t about government controlling people at all!

Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY), about whom I have had to write far too frequently, ignores the evidence. His minions tweeted for him:[1]Tweets on that account which are written personally by the Governor are signed are signed ^AB

“”Double down on public health measures,” and “masking up,” huh?

Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) eliminated the mandatory mask order in the Lone Star State, effective on March 10th; on that date, Texas’ seven-day moving average of daily new cases stood at 4,909. As of April 5th, that number was down to 3,007. The New York Times noted that while the moving average was down by 19% over the past fourteen days, the number of daily tests had increased by 8%. More tests, yet far fewer cases; how about that. Hospitalizations were also down, by 18%, and COVID-19 fatalities were down 38%.

Empirical data do not show that mask mandates have reduced COVID-19

So, why does Governor Beshear want us to “double down” on restrictions on our lives, why does he want us to continue to wear face masks, when ditching the mask mandate — which doesn’t stop people from wearing masks; it just makes them optional — not only didn’t result in an increase of cases, but Texas has seen a 38.7% decline in average daily cases four weeks after the mask mandate ended?

In Andy Weir’s book, The Martian, the nerds on earth are discussing why the “Hab,” the living quarters for the astronauts on Mars, didn’t have redundant communications systems capable to contacting earth. The comm systems were instead mounted on the MAV, the Mars Ascent Vehicle, and one of the nerds says, “(It) Never occurred to us. We never thought someone would be on Mars without a MAV. I mean, what are the odds?”

To which another nerd replied, “One in three, based on empirical data. That’s pretty bad if you think about it.”

And so it is. Regardless of what the heavily politicized Centers for Disease Control tell us, the empirical data have shown that dropping the restrictions on people’s lives hasn’t led to the Chicken Little ‘The Sky is Falling’ scenario we’ve been being told. Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was dropping mask mandates last December, and while cases continued to increase into January, just like they did everywhere else, cases then started falling rapidly.

In the Bluegrass State, on March 10, the average seven day moving average was 790 new cases per day; on April 5, it was down to 574. That’s a 27.3% reduction, a smaller percentage reduction than was seen in Texas, despite Governor Beshear keeping the mask mandate in place.

And while the number of tests being performed in Texas have increased by 18% over the past 14 days, in Kentucky they have decreased by 9%, which means that more cases may have been missed.

If the empirical data do not show that the mask mandates have reduced COVID-19, then why do Democratic Governors like Mr Beshear keep imposing them? There’s really only one answer: they love authoritarian control!

References

References
↑1 Tweets on that account which are written personally by the Governor are signed are signed ^AB
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Once again, the government is targeting religion during Easter Government has turned attending church into an act of political defiance as well as one or religious faith

St Elizabeth’s Catholic Church, where I attend Mass

On March 19, 2020 Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) unconstitutionally ordered all churches closed in the Bluegrass State. That order covered the Easter holiday, the most important day in the Christian calendar. When a couple of churches ignored the Governor’s order, he sent the Kentucky State Police to record license plates and vehicle identification numbers on vehicles in church parking lots, on Easter Sunday!

Two federal judges ruled against the Governor, allowing churches to reopen, but they did not rule until May 8, 2020.

Then, on July 24, 2020, he asked church leaders to suspend services for two Sundays, which most declined to do, and again on November 19th made another request that churches close, for “three or four weeks,” a request that would have taken them through Thanksgiving. Fortunately, that request was denied as well.

Now comes the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and as Easter Sunday comes this weekend, the purportedly Catholic President Biden’s CDC wants us to miss Easter again:

Safer Ways to Observe Religious Holidays

Attending gatherings to observe religious and spiritual holidays increases your risk of getting and spreading COVID-19. The safest way to observe religious and spiritual holidays this year is to gather virtually, with people who live with you, or outside and at least 6 feet apart from others.

  • Enjoy traditional meals with those who live with you.
  • Practice religious holiday customs at home.
  • Prepare and deliver a meal to a neighbor.
  • Watch virtual religious and cultural performances.
  • Attend religious ceremonies virtually.

If you plan to celebrate with others, outdoors is safer than indoors.

With COVID-19 cases seeing a slight uptick again, I have to wonder if Governor Beshear will try similar stupidity.

Our country was founded in part on religious freedom; my earliest American ancestor, Richard Warren, risked death on stormy North Atlantic seas, to come to a savage and untamed continent on the Mayflower. The idea that the government can restrict our freedom of religion is wholly repugnant, but Governor Beshear got away with it for almost two months, and while his orders were invalidated, he incurred no punishment or penalty for it.

I was a pretty regular attendee at Mass before the unconstitutional shutdowns, but ever since we were so graciously allowed to return to church, I haven’t missed a single Sunday. Our repugnant Governor has managed to turn attending church into an act of political defiance as well as a religious observance.[1]Sadly, while the Governor’s orders were declared unconstitutional on May 8, the Governor had already issued guidelines for churches to reopen on May 20, 2020, and John Stowe, Bishop of … Continue reading

That should not be a good thing, but it is: we can, and should, and must show our defiance to the Democrats in power by attending church. Not just this coming Sunday, not just Easter, but on every Sunday. Faith in God is the most important thing in life, but the resistance of tyranny is a close second.

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↑1 Sadly, while the Governor’s orders were declared unconstitutional on May 8, the Governor had already issued guidelines for churches to reopen on May 20, 2020, and John Stowe, Bishop of Lexington, went along with the Governor and did not allow the churches of his diocese to resume services until Sunday, May 24.
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Zeigen Sie uns Ihre Papiere!

We can see where Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) wants to go with this one! Our wannabe dictator tweeted:

The “^AB” at the end of the tweet indicates that it was written by the Governor himself, not one of his minions.

Note that the article from the Louisville Courier-Journal was entitled Kentucky Libertarian Party compares ‘vaccine passports’ to star IDs Jews wore in Holocaust. Vaccine passports, not the vaccine itself.

The Libertarian Party of Kentucky compared coronavirus “vaccine passports” to star-shaped identification badges people of Jewish descent were forced to wear during the Holocaust in a tweet this week, drawing outrage from across the nation.

The post, sent just after 5 p.m. Monday, compared “vaccine passports” – credentials that would show whether a person has received the coronavirus vaccine and would theoretically grant access to businesses and other spaces that will require proof of vaccination before entry – to “the stuff of totalitarian dictatorships” that the party considers a “complete and total violation of human liberty.”

“Are the vaccine passports going to be yellow, shaped like a star, and sewn on our clothes?” the party wrote on Twitter.

The tweet had been reposted more than 4,000 times as of Monday afternoon, with many reposts adding messages disavowing its message. Nearly 7,000 comments were left in response as well, including one from Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt that called the post an “ignorant and shameful comparison” and another from Jewish actor Seth Rogen, who (explicitly) suggested the party take its message elsewhere.

I had, of course, suggested something other than the sewn on yellow stars, something that couldn’t be mistakenly left at home.

Perhaps the Governor’s ideas would sound better in the original German: Zeigen Sie uns Ihre Papiere!

Governor Beshear’s tweet indicates what we might expect from him: he will probably try to issue executive orders mandating that people carry their vaccination records, and, with the General Assembly’s 2021 session ending on March 30th, and Democratic state judges willing to support his authoritarian dictates, Kentuckians will have little protection other than massive public resistance to this bovine feces.

Will you have to update your vaccine passport? The Washington Post noted on Monday that we do not know for how long the vaccine will be effective:

But based on clinical trials, experts do know that vaccine-induced protection should last a minimum of about three months. That does not mean protective immunity will expire after 90 days; that was simply the time frame participants were studied in the initial Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson trials. As researchers continue to study the vaccines, that shelf life is expected to grow.

In the real world, the protection should last quite a bit longer, though the length of time still needs to be determined with further studies, experts said. . . . .

Immunity could also depend on what happens with future variants. If a person were exposed to a variant capable of evading vaccine-induced antibodies, for instance, a vaccine might not be as effective as initially expected, said Lana Dbeibo, an infectious-disease expert at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Although researchers do not yet have all the answers, previous knowledge of other coronaviruses, as well as emerging research about the current strain, may provide clues.

Looking at studies on natural immunity from the coronavirus, experts hypothesize that protective immunity from the vaccines will last at least six to eight months. And if immunity from SARS-CoV-2 ends up being similar to other seasonal coronaviruses, such as “common colds,” it is even possible the vaccines could provide protection for up to a year or two before requiring a booster, the experts said.

So, what? Should we have to have our booster shot record on the passports as well? How often? Six to eight months? Maybe up to two years?

But, what the Hell, it’s only one more bit, one tiny little bit, of government control over our individual lives, right?

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Fighting Fascist Governors

Not content just to order Kentuckians to wear face masks everywhere, Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) wants to push other states to enforce such as well.

Governor to governor: Beshear will ask Holcomb not to lift Indiana’s mask mandate

As of now, Indiana’s mask mandate will expire in early April. Gov. Beshear says that’s concerning for Kentucky.

By Brian Planalp | March 29, 2021 at 5:59 PM EDT | Updated March 29 at 6:08 PM

FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX19) – Gov. Andy Beshear on Monday said he will personally ask Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb to reconsider dropping the state’s mask mandate.

Holcomb announced last week his state’s mask mandate will become a mask advisory on April 6. Each Indiana business will have discretion to require masks in their premises.

Beshear has said he will re-up Kentucky’s mask mandate for another 30 days until the end of April.

So, just what action did Governor Holcomb take?

Eric Holcomb announced Tuesday a number of forthcoming changes, including a change in the mask mandate.

Indiana’s mask mandate will become a “state mask advisory” on April 6, the governor announced. Under the advisory, masks will be recommended.

Masks will still be required in schools through the end of the academic year, he added.

Face coverings will still be mandatory in all state buildings and facilities, and in all COVID-19 vaccination and testing sites though.

Also starting April 6, Gov. Holcomb said restaurants, bars, and nightclubs customers will not be required by the state to stay seated. Six feet of spacing between tables and non-household parties is still recommended, however.

“When I visit my favorite restaurant or conduct a public event, I will continue to wear a mask,” Gov. Holcomb said. “It is the right thing to do. Hoosiers who take these recommended precautions will help us get to what I hope is the tail end of this pandemic.”

Local governments and private businesses can choose to enforce stricter guidelines, the governor said.

In other words, Mr Holcomb will go from ordering everybody to wear a mask to asking people, recommending to people, that they wear masks in public contact situations. That’s what should have been done from the very beginning.

As we noted previously, Governor Beshear vetoed Senate Bill 1, which placed a maximum thirty day limit on the Governor’s executive orders, beyond which they could not be renewed without the consent of the General Assembly, our state legislature. The legislature, in which the Republicans hold ‘super’ majorities in both chambers, overrode Mr Beshear’s vetoes, at which point the Governor filed suit to declare the General Assembly’s actions unconstitutional.[1]Republican candidates campaigned against the Governor’s executive orders during the 2020 election campaigns, and the voters of the Commonwealth rewarded the GOP with a 75-25 majority in the … Continue reading

Sadly, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd, a long-time opponent of the previous Governor, Matt Bevin, a Republican, issued a temporary restraining order against the new laws. Judge Shepherd is elected only by the voters in Franklin County, where the state capital of Frankfort sits, and is much more Democratic in party organization than the Commonwealth as a whole. In effect, the voters of Franklin County have exercised an outsized influence over regulations for the entire state.

Judge Shepherd has yet to rule in the lawsuit, so, with the injunction in place, the laws passed by the General Assembly are being held in abeyance without any legal decision as to their constitutionality.

Once Judge Shepherd does rule, state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, will appeal the decision when it goes against the legislature — which we all know it will — to the state Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals is a friendlier venue for conservatives, but their decisions can then be appealed to the state Supreme Court, which is officially non-partisan but is, in practice, controlled by Democrats.

What will happen? The Democrats will drag out the legal battles for months, hoping that the epidemic is over by then, which means that the Governor will be exercising dictatorial power throughout it.

But while the Reichsstatthalter tries to exercise dictatorial power, the public are turning against it. I was in a store last Wednesday, one which I will decline to name to keep the Reichsstatthalter from sending the Geheime Staatspolizei to stomp down on the owner, in which there was no ‘mask required’ sign on the door, and in which none of the staff I observed were wearing masks. And this story from the Lexington Herald-Leader, included several photos of people working on the clean-up efforts in Beattyville and Lee County from the devastating floods earlier this month, and most of the people shown in group situations were not wearing masks. To paraphrase the old expression, the “people are voting with their feet,” in the Bluegrass State, the people are voting with their bare faces.

Personally? If I am entering a facility in which the private property owner is requiring a face mask, I wear a face mask. If the private property owner does not so require, I do not. If there is such a requirement, but it is being ignored by others, I don’t wear the mask. And I never wear one outside, but, to tell the truth, in my mostly rural setting, I am almost always well more than six feet away from other people.

It does make some sense to wear a mask, though perhaps not as much as the left claim. However, it also makes sense to fight tyranny, because our rights, once lost, are difficult to regain. If masks not being mandatory increases the risks of contracting the virus, then that is one of the costs of liberty and freedom.

I have said it many times before: if Governor Beshear had asked Kentuckians to wear masks, he would have gotten a lot more compliance and a lot less resistance. But when he goes in for dictatorial controls, ordering churches to close,[2]After we were so graciously allowed to return to church, I saw going to Mass as having become almost as much of a political act of resistance as a religious one. Though I was a very regular attendee … Continue reading and then sending state troopers to record the license numbers and vehicle identification numbers of cars in church parking lots, on Easter Sunday of all days, and deliberately excluding the legislature from his decision-taking process, he has to be resisted, he has to be fought.

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↑1 Republican candidates campaigned against the Governor’s executive orders during the 2020 election campaigns, and the voters of the Commonwealth rewarded the GOP with a 75-25 majority in the state House of Representatives, an increase of 14 seats, and a 30-38 advantage in the state Senate, an increase of two seats in an election in which only 19 of the seats were up for election. Governor Beshear likes to claim that the polls show the public support his measures, but in the only poll that actually counts, the one on election day, the voters decisively rejected his actions.
↑2 After we were so graciously allowed to return to church, I saw going to Mass as having become almost as much of a political act of resistance as a religious one. Though I was a very regular attendee at Mass before, I have not missed a Sunday since then.
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When you tolerate tyranny, you will get more tyranny When you accept tyrants, you will get more tyrants.

Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY)

If Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) had asked Kentuckians to wear face masks to slow the spread of COVID-19, I would have willingly complied. Had Mr Beshear, seeing that the General Assembly passed new laws to rein in his claimed ’emergency’ executive authority, gone along with the new state laws, and asked the state legislature to approve extensions of his executive orders, I wouldn’t be writing this column. Had the Governor tried to work out his differences with the legislature, as Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd asked him to do, I wouldn’t be so upseet.

Instead, the Governor responded, “See you in court,” showing his utter contempt for democracy.

Am I upset? Hell, yes, I am, totally pissed off, actually shaking in rage.

Beshear: KY won’t repeal its mask mandate anytime soon. 28 new COVID-19 deaths.

By Alex Acquisto | March 4, 2021 | 4:42 PM EST | Updated: March 4, 2021 | 5:28 PM EST

Reiterating that Kentucky will not be repealing its mask mandate anytime soon, Gov. Andy Beshear announced 1,068 new cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky on Thursday, as well as 28 virus-related deaths.

Earlier this week, Republican governors in Texas and Mississippi lifted coronavirus restrictions, repealing their states’ mask mandates and reopening businesses to full capacity. Kentucky will not do that, Beshear said.

“We’re going to continue to lose people until we’re fully out of the woods and everybody is vaccinated,” he said in a live update. “That’s the reason we’re not going to do what Texas or Mississippi has done. Those decisions will increase casualties when we just have maybe even a matter of months to go.”

Well, f(ornicate) him!

The Governor claims that the public support him on this, and keeps producing polls which say so. But, in the only poll that counts, the one on election day, the Republicans who ran against his dictatorial decrees were rewarded with 14 additional seats in the state House of Representatives, and two additional seats, out of only 19 up for election, in the state Senate. At every step along the way, Governor Beshear has excluded the state legislature:

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.

Translation: the General Assembly might not do exactly what I want them to do, so I’ll just go around them!

And here I thought that it was supposed to be the evil reich-wing Donald Trump who was the fascist! From the Encyclopedia Britannica:

Although fascist parties and movements differed significantly from one another, they had many characteristics in common, including extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the rule of elites, and the desire to create a Volksgemeinschaft (German: “people’s community”), in which individual interests would be subordinated to the good of the nation.

A contempt for electoral democracy?  Yup, that’s there, showing utter contempt for the legislators elected by the people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Individual interests and rights subordinated to what the Governor defines as the good of the state?  Yup, that’s there, too.  He even makes his propagandistic appeals as his Twitter feed is full of things like #TogetherKy and #TeamKentucky.

Of course, our Governor’s motives are good ones, right? That’s what Judge Shepherd said, when he granted Mr Beshear’s motion for a temporary injunction and partially stayed the effectiveness of three new laws the legislature approved, overriding the Governor’s veto.

The judge said all parties in the case “are acting in good faith to address public policy challenges of the utmost importance” but “the governor has made a strong case that the legislation, in its current form, is likely to undermine or even cripple, the effectiveness of public health measures necessary to protect the lives and health of Kentuckians from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

So, dictatorship is just fine as long as it’s a benevolent dictatorship.

Rachel Kleinfeld, a senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote:

Viktor Yanukovych is the kind of dictator we love to hate. A kleptocrat who chose a bribe from Russia over his people’s future in the EU. A thug who sent other thugs to beat up protesters, until he was finally ousted by his own people. A man who left his country bankrupt while pictures of his palatial estate and private zoo are broadcast around the world. We vilify dictators like this. And, yet, there remains a dream, for far too many development experts, business people and others around the globe that a strong leader with authoritarian powers is needed to move poor countries into the developed world.

I am watching Ukraine implode from a West Africa nation where corruption is perceived to be growing, development is stalled and the economy is heading downhill. From high-level government appointees to members of civil society, I hear: “What we need is a benevolent dictator. … ” The sentiment is generally followed by praise for Paul Kagame, who has created a remarkably clean and efficient Rwanda after that country’s genocide, or Lee Kuan Yew, the “father of Singapore,” who corralled government corruption and thrust his nation into the first world.

The desire for benevolent dictatorship is not confined to developing nations. I hear it even more often from America’s business community and those working on international development – often accompanied by praise for China’s ability to “get things done.” The problem is that the entire 20th century seems to have produced at most one largely benevolent dictator and one efficient but increasingly repressive leader, both in tiny countries.

Meanwhile, we have seen scores of Yanukovych-like kleptocrats, Pinochet-style military dictatorships that torture dissenters in secret prisons and “disappear” those who disagree, and North Korean-style totalitarians whose gulags and concentration camps starve and murder hundreds of thousands or even millions of their countrymen.

Occasionally, dictators begin benevolently and grow worse. The world is littered with Kwame Nkrumahs, Fidel Castros and Robert Mugabes who rose to power with great popularity, built their nations, then turned their people’s hopes to ash through corruption, personality cults and violence. One Lee Kuan Yew and a Kagame teetering from benevolence toward repression, versus every other dictatorship of the 20th century? Those are not odds to bet your country on.

There is no doubt that Governor Beshear is personally popular in the Bluegrass State. He has been right out in front, on television almost every day, with his soothing words and handsome, non-threatening visage. The Governor wrote:

This is a war. We have lost more Kentuckians to COVID-19 than in battles during World War I, World War II and Vietnam combined.

That’s true enough, but there is one very stark difference: those Kentuckians who gave their lives on the battlefield were fighting, and dying, for democracy, for liberty, and not for dictatorship and despotism. Regardless of how benevolent Mr Beshear and his sycophants think he has been, irrespective of how necessary they have thought the Governor’s actions to be, they were, and are, still fundamentally and morally wrong, still an assault on our syste4m of government, far more than the 800 or so rioters in the Capitol kerfuffle, because the Governor has, so far, gotten away with his despotism.

Patriotic Kentuckians must do everything we can to fight Governor Beshear, we must do everything we can to frustrate his taking away of our rights. We must demonstrate, we must protest, we must obstruct his edicts, and we must never, ever accept anything less than liberty.

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Impeach Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd! He thinks the General Assembly doesn't matter

We knew that this bovine feces would happen!

Judge rules in Beshear’s favor, blocks laws limiting governor’s COVID-19 powers

By Jack Brammer | March 3, 2021 |3:31 PM EST

Franklin Circuit Judge and Authoritarian Enabler Phillip Shepherd. Photo: Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts.

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd temporarily blocked Thursday three new laws that limit the governor’s powers to deal with emergencies like the coronavirus pandemic.

In a 23-page order that is a legal victory for Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and a defeat for the Kentucky General Assembly, the judge granted Beshear’s motion for a temporary injunction and partially stayed the effectiveness of the three new laws the legislature approved earlier this year.

Besherar spokeswoman Crystal Staley said, “We appreciate the order. The ability to act and react quickly is necessary in our war against the ever-changing and mutating virus.

Apparently, according to Judge Shepherd, ‘need’ defines the Governor’s powers, not the General Assembly. What powers wouldn’t the Governor have, if he declares a state of emergency, under this kind of standard?

Shepherd said the court “is mindful that the challenged legislation seeks to address a legitimate problem of effective legislative oversight of the governor’s emergency powers in this extraordinary public health crisis” but “is also mindful that the governor and the secretary (Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander) are faced with the enormous challenge of effectively responding to a world-wide pandemic that has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Kentuckians and over 500,000 people in the United States.”

Republicans campaigned against the authoritarian use of power by Governor Beshear in last November’s elections, and the voters rewarded the GOP with 14 additional seats in the state House of Representatives, bringing their majority to 75-25, and 2 additional seats in the state Senate, bringing their majority to 30-8.[1]Only 19 of the 38 seats were up for election in the state Senate.

The judge said all parties in the case “are acting in good faith to address public policy challenges of the utmost importance” but “the governor has made a strong case that the legislation, in its current form, is likely to undermine or even cripple, the effectiveness of public health measures necessary to protect the lives and health of Kentuckians from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Oh, so as long as the Governor is “acting in good faith,” he is exempt from legislative oversight?

The Judge stated that the Governor has been ‘adjusting’ his executive orders to be less restrictive as time passes, as current conditions warrant and public health concerns decrease, but that “the court believes those decisions should be made based on medical and scientific evidence, not on arbitrary deadlines imposed by statutes irrespective of the spread of the virus.” Since when does a judge have the authority to decide what motivates the legislature or whether the legislators have taken their decisions based on the right things?

The governor’s general counsel, Amy Cubbage, recently noted that the current executive orders dealing with COVID-19 would expire March 4 unless the legislature extends them or the court rules in Beshear’s favor.

Did the Governor ask the General Assembly to extend them? The Governor filed suit as soon as the General Assembly overrode his vetoes, but if he attempted to work with the legislature, as Judge Shepherd had “strongly urged” him to do, I found no story in the Lexington Herald-Leader telling us about it. All I could find was an article entitled “‘See you in court,’ Beshear tells legislative leaders on taking up his vetoes this week.”

One hopes that the legislature and Attorney General Daniel Cameron immediately appeal the decision to the state Court of Appeals, which has been friendlier to restraining our authoritarian Governor, but we can count on the Governor then taking it to the state Supreme Court which, though officially non-partisan is in practice controlled by Democrats.

It may be time for a little revolution!

References

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↑1 Only 19 of the 38 seats were up for election in the state Senate.
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The General Assembly overrides Governor Beshear’s vetoes, so he goes to court to try to override the legislature

In mid-January, I submitted an OpEd to the Lexington Herald-Leader, one which the editors chose not to print suggesting that Governor Andy Beshear ought to sign Senate Bill 1, which the General Assembly passed, and which the Governor threatened to veto. In it, I wrote:

In the political dispute between Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) and the Republican majority in the General Assembly, the legislature has taken up, and approved, bills to restrict the emergency powers of the Governor under KRS 39A. The Governor’s declaration of an emergency, and the executive orders which followed, were initially generally approved, as the extent and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic was both worrisome, and unknown.

However, the public were told, and sold on, the notion that this was a problem that could be greatly reduced by fourteen days of action. Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, writing in The New York Times, said:

Health experts have not been overreacting. Models from Imperial College London and others suggest that up to 2.2 million Americans could die within a year without sufficient efforts to “flatten the curve.”

At the same time, it is right to worry about how Covid-19 will wreck the economy. Projections already suggest that the American economy could contract by more than 15 percent in the second quarter and that the unemployment rate could surpass 20 percent.

But the economy cannot be fixed without solving the pandemic. Only after the virus is contained can we reopen restaurants, bars, gyms and stores; allow people to travel, attend conferences and visit museums; and persuade them to buy cars and houses.

The window to win this war is about seven to 14 days.

If the United States intervenes immediately on the scale that China did, our death toll could be under 100,000. Within three to four months we might be able to begin a return to more normal lives.

Published on March 23, 2020, three to four months would have been late June to late July. Despite actions taken by the vast majority of our nation’s governors, including Governor Beshear, Dr. Emanuel’s now-seemingly-rosy prediction fell flat on its face.

Kentucky State Police put notices on and recorded license plates of unoccupied cars at Maryville Baptist Church on Easter morning. April 12, 2020. Photo by
Scott Utterback, The Louisville Courier- Journal.

Governor Beshear’s actions became controversial fairly quickly. While the Governor first recommended that schools and churches close, of their own volition, on March 19th he made it an order. This included April 12th, which was Easter Sunday. When a few churches refused to be closed to in-person services on the holiest day of the Christian calendar, Kentucky State Police troopers recorded license plates and VIN numbers of worshipers in two church parking lots, an ugly scene which attracted nationwide attention.

Resistance started mounting in the Bluegrass State, and leaders of the General Assembly began asking the Governor to be included in his decision-taking, but Mr. Beshear declined. The Herald-Leader reported:

Beshear was asked at Friday’s (July 10, 2020) 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.

Under the state constitution, the Governor has the power to call the state legislature into a special session, but the General Assembly does not have the ability to call itself back into session. When the Kentucky Supreme Court prohibited all state lower courts from acting on suits to stop the Governor’s orders, in July, then finally ruled in November that his executive orders were legal, Republican leaders knew that it was only legislative action which could get them involved.

Republicans significantly increased their already large majorities in both chambers of the legislature, and several bills were pre-filed to limit the Governor’s power. Mr. Beshear promised to veto the bills even before they were passed, but the General Assembly passed them anyway, by large margins. The Governor has promised to challenge the bills’ legality in court if his vetoes are overridden.

Senate Bill 1 does not prevent the Governor from taking action during an emergency; what it does do is limit his executive orders to thirty days unless an extension is approved by the General Assembly. It further specifies that no emergency orders can suspend rights under the United States Constitution.

There is no reason the legislature cannot be consulted; the Governor simply chose not to do so, thus drawing lines in the sand and angering legislators. There may not be much that he can do to repair that fractured relationship, but signing Senate Bill 1, and agreeing to work with the General Assembly might be the best he could do.

If he vetoes it, his veto will be overridden anyway. The sensible thing to do is sign it.

Of course, the Governor did not sign Senate Bill 1, or any of the other legislation the General Assembly sent him, vetoing six bills, and allowing a seventh to become law without his signature. And, as predicted, the General Assembly overrode his vetoes:

GOP swiftly overrides Beshear vetoes. He immediately challenges COVID laws in court.

By Daniel Desrochers and Jack Brammer | February 2, 2021 | 5:56 PM EST | Updated February 2, 2021 | 6:50 PM

Kentucky Republicans asserted their control in Frankfort Tuesday, overwhelmingly voting to override vetoes issued by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear of bills that limit his powers during the coronavirus pandemic and other emergencies.

The action by lawmakers upon returning to the Capitol after a three-week break set the stage for a court battle, which Beshear initiated immediately.

In announcing his lawsuit against House Bill 1, Senate Bill 1 and Senate Bill 2, Beshear accused lawmakers of surrendering to COVID-19.

“Today, the General Assembly attempted to surrender to COVID-19 and accept the casualties. As your governor, I cannot let this happen,” Beshear said. “I have filed this action to continue to fight for the protection of all Kentuckians.”

The action fulfilled a promise he made Monday to fight the laws in court, setting up another battle in which the judicial branch will determine whether Beshear has the power to place restrictions on gatherings and businesses to limit the spread of COVID-19.

The Governor’s lawsuit was filed in Franklin County Circuit Court; Franklin is the county in which the state capital of Frankfort is located. The Governor asked for:

a temporary restraining order, a temporary injunction and a permanent injunction against the Defendants, Robert W. Osborne, Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives, Bertram Robert Stivers, II, President of the Kentucky Senate, and Daniel J. Cameron, the Kentucky Attorney General.

The Governor is trying to run out the clock on COVID-19. Had he included the legislature in 2020, it might not have come down to this.

Regardless of the outcome of this filing, the loser will appeal to the state Court of Appeals, and then to the state Supreme Court. That isn’t a very good history:

On July 17th, the Kentucky Supreme Court halted all lower state court efforts to enjoin Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) executive orders to fight COVID-19. Then, three weeks later, the Court set September 17th to hear oral arguments on those cases, which meant that Mr Beshear’s executive orders would continue in force, without any recourse to the state courts to challenge them, for two months before the state Supreme Court would even allow arguments against them.

Those oral arguments were heard, but it wasn’t until November 12th that the state Supreme Court issued its ruling. That’s 118 days, or 3½ months, that the state Supreme Court left the Governor’s orders in force without any actual legal ruling.

Sadly, when that court did rule, it ruled in favor of the Governor.

Under Senate Bill 1, Governor Beshear can still issue executive orders for up to thirty days, without the approval of the General Assembly to extend them, so the Governor’s latest executive order, extending the mandatory mask order until March 1st. The Governor cannot extend that order now, under Senate Bill 1, without the approval of the legislature. But if he gets his way on an injunction, he could extend the order, and, if we get the same 118 days from the state Supreme Court, that would take until June 27th before there was a ruling by the officially non-partisan but practically Democrat controlled state Supreme Court.

All of this could have been avoided if the Governor had included the General Assembly in his decisions, if he had not acted unilaterally and specifically chosen to ignore the legislature.

Translation: Governor Beshear believed that the legislature would not go along with his draconian decrees.

I will admit it: I have little faith that the state Supreme Court will uphold the legislature and the rights of Kentuckians.

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Governor Beshear vetoes bills limiting his power The General Assembly will override those vetoes on February 2nd

Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) had promised all along that he was going to veto the bills limiting his ’emergency’ authority under KRS 39A; I wonder why it took him so long. Perhaps he thought that with the inauguration tomorrow dominating the news, people wouldn’t notice his vetoes?

Beshear vetoes five bills limiting his power. Republicans likely to override him.

By Daniel Desrochers | January 19, 2021 | 5:42 PM EST | Updated: 5:57 PM EST

Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed five pieces of legislation Tuesday that attempted to limit his executive powers, saying they would “significantly hamper the important steps” he has taken to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Beshear vetoed House Bill 1, Senate Bill 1, Senate Bill 2 and House Bill 5, all of which would shift power from the executive branch to the legislative branch when dealing with emergencies, such as the coronavirus pandemic. He also vetoed House Bill 2, which would give the Attorney General authority over enforcement of abortion laws.

“Issuing a veto is my constitutional obligation as governor,” Beshear said. “And it’s my job to issue those vetoes with veto statements when I don’t think something is constitutional, when I think something will harm Kentuckians.

Citing a poll conducted by a consortium of universities and medical schools, Beshear claimed an overwhelming majority of Kentuckians supported his previous orders calling on people to stay home and avoid gathering in groups, limiting restaurants to takeout and shutting down K-12 schools to in-person classes.

Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY)

Of course, in the only poll which matters, the one taken on election day, Kentuckians increased the Republicans’ majority in the state House of Representatives from 61-39 to 75-25, and in the state Senate from 28-10 to 30-8. Republican candidates had been campaigning on, among other things, reining in an out-of-control governor, and voters in the Bluegrass State bought that message.

As we’ve previously noted, Republicans hold not only veto proof majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly, but those margins are so substantial that the GOP could lose several Republican votes and still override the Governor’s vetoes.

Mr Beshear has said that, if his vetoes are overridden, he will challenge the laws in court. Authoritarians don’t like their authority challenged!

Beshear also vetoed Senate Bill 1, which, among other things, would call the legislature into session to approve emergency orders that last beyond 30 days. Had such a rule been in effect during (2020), Beshear said lawmakers would have been called into special session at least 10 times at a cost to taxpayers of more than $3 million.

Uhhh, no. What it would mean is that the legislature would have had the option of granting extensions for longer than thirty days at a pop. What the Governor really meant is that the legislature would not have approved all of his orders.

The General Assembly reconvenes on February 2nd, at which time the override votes are expected.

Perhaps, just perhaps, if the Governor had cooperated with the legislature last year, as they asked him to do, the General Assembly wouldn’t have passed the bills limiting his power now.

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Governor Beshear keeps playing politics with COVID-19

The minions of Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) tweet stuff like this every day:[1]Only those tweets signed ^AB are from Mr Beshear personally.

As we’ve previously noted, the Governor has held off on issuing more executive orders while the General Assembly has been in session. My guess is that he is trying to make nice to the legislators, in the hope that they will not override his promised vetoes on legislation to curb his emergency authority under KRS 39A, but I’m not a mind reader.

The Governor announced 4,084 new cases of the virus, and 51 more COVID-19-related deaths, the third highest daily death total since the pandemic began.

We are suffering more casualties than in most wars we’ve ever fought. Let’s treat it like it.

Yet the Governor is not treating the virus as strongly as he did before the legislature began its session on January 5th. I wonder why (he says, sarcastically.)

Through its partnership with the state, Kroger will set up a series of “high-volume drive-thru vaccination centers” across different regions of Kentucky that, once they open the week of February 1st, will be accessible to anyone in the top three priority groups, including essential workers, anyone age 60 and older, and anyone over the age of 16 with certain health issues.

Beshear said he expects the partnership to radically expand the state’s ability to get doses of the vaccine out to residents quickly, especially as hundreds of thousands more people become eligible for their first dose in the coming weeks.

Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY)

For a Governor who used his power to shut down schools, ban large gatherings and even force churches to close, he won’t take that kind of action now. There are still two weeks before the Kroger “high-volume drive-thru vaccination centers” open, and while tier 1a and tier 1b vaccinations have begun, the vast majority of Kentuckians have not yet has their opportunities, and are not yet eligible. Yet most private and public schools are open for in-person instruction, and their sports teams are playing, with unmasked athletes very much not engaged in ‘social distancing.[2]Fayette County, which includes Lexington, the Commonwealth’s second largest system, is not yet open for in-person instruction, and will not until at least February 1st, but the Fayette County … Continue reading

As we previously noted, even when the Governor’s executive order closing all schools to in-person instruction was in force, because it was too dangerous to allow in classroom instruction despite plexiglass barriers, desks set further apart and mandatory mask-wearing, the Governor allowed the high school football playoffs to continue.

Under Senate Bill 1, which was passed and sent to the Governor, he retains his ’emergency’ power to do most of the things he has done; that power is simply limited to thirty days without the General Assembly approving an extension. That bill isn’t law yet, as the Governor has neither signed nor vetoed it yet, and he has six days, until January 21st, before he must take action or allow the bill to become law without his signature. If he vetoes it, the legislature would hold its veto override session on February 2nd, which means he could still issue an executive order which would extend until March 2nd before it either expired, or the legislature approved an extension.[3]If the bills are passed over his veto, the Governor has promised to challenge them in court.

What Governor Beshear has previously said and done, which he said was absolutely vital for the safety and well-being of Kentuckians, he isn’t doing anymore,[4]He did renew his mandatory mask order for thirty days, beginning on January 2nd, before the legislature opened its session. He could renew it before the legislature meets for a veto override vote. … Continue reading despite several recent records in test positivity and deaths. Has he decided that those so vital that they cost thousands upon thousands of people their jobs, and drove thousands of businesses out of business weren’t really that vital, or is he just playing politics with COVID-19?

References

References
↑1 Only those tweets signed ^AB are from Mr Beshear personally.
↑2 Fayette County, which includes Lexington, the Commonwealth’s second largest system, is not yet open for in-person instruction, and will not until at least February 1st, but the Fayette County schools athletic teams are playing.
↑3 If the bills are passed over his veto, the Governor has promised to challenge them in court.
↑4 He did renew his mandatory mask order for thirty days, beginning on January 2nd, before the legislature opened its session. He could renew it before the legislature meets for a veto override vote. And while it is not guaranteed, the mandatory mask order is the one which the legislature would be most likely to approve for an extension.