Executive Branch Dirty Laundry

It’s no secret that Matt Bevin and Jenean Hampton do not have a warm and fuzzy relationship.  They never really have.

Even at this point in 2015, Bevin was (barely) privately complaining about his running mate and not letting her make campaign appearances of any significance.  Former staff have told us that Bevin’s language would not have qualified for PG-13 when he was watching Hampton debate Sannie Overly.

Much of this may stem from that Jenean, unbeknownst to her at the time, was not the first girl Bevin asked to the prom.  Through the years, sources have told us that there were at least six other women that Bevin approached about being his running mate first, including Katie Stine, Cathy Bailey, Addia Wuchner, Sara Beth Gregory, Alice Kerr and Cathy Flaig.  There may have been more.

With the filing deadline that day, Bevin relinquished and went with his safety school, which led to Lt. Governor Jenean Hampton.

Almost immediately, they had a disagreement.  According to Jenean, Bevin had promised she would lead a cabinet.  She was interested in the Cabinet for Economic Development, but that idea was nixed quickly, especially when Vivek Sarin expressed interest.  At that point, she became interested in Veterans Affairs, but Robert Stivers helped Norman Arflack (now U.S. Marshal) attain that position.  Jenean made inquiries about a couple of other positions, but it became increasingly apparent that Bevin and his inner circle were quite content if her only responsibility was to continue breathing.

Jenean surrounded herself with Steve Knipper and Adrienne Southworth, two veterans of the Tea Party movement.  That three person operation began to distance itself from the rest of the executive branch and do it’s own thing.  For the most part, they were merely an annoyance to the administration, but never a threat.  That was until 2018.

In 2018, Bevin began putting together a wish list for a slate to run with him.  ITC has it on good authority that he personally contacted three people, including one legislator, about running for Secretary of State.  Ultimately, none of the three filed to run, but the one that had the most interest did not want to run in a primary.  Knipper, the 2015 Republican nominee for Secretary of State, had always intended to run again in 2019.  However, Bevin believed that if he forced Knipper to choose between his job with Hampton and being a candidate, he would choose his job, thus clearing the field for his own choice.  It didn’t work.  What happened instead was Knipper chose to be a candidate and Hampton became incensed that she had lost 33% of her team for what she saw as no reason.

It also became even clearer to Hampton at that point that she was being forced off the ticket.  Other than the occasional pleasantries, she had not had a conversation with Bevin in over a year when she was informed by someone else the night before Bevin’s re-election announcement that she was being dumped and replaced with Ralph Alvarado.

Now essentially a two person team, Jenean and Adrienne embodied the adage of hell hath no fury like a woman, or in this case women, scorned.  Well entrenched with the Tea Party movement, they began sharing criticisms of Bevin and his circle to activists around the state.  They also began asking legal questions within Frankfort, primarily whether Bevin had the authority to give that ultimatum to Knipper, as he worked for the Lt. Governor.  Now more than an annoyance, Blake Brickman, Bevin’s chief of staff, sought to eliminate the problem and double down by firing Southworth.

Jenean went public with her now infamous “dark forces” tweet.  Quickly, many of the Tea Party activists who had been the base for Bevin’s 2015 primary began to distance themselves in support of Hampton, Southworth and Knipper, three people they had known much longer and trusted more than Bevin.

As more unfolded, Jenean decided to let a judge, and none other than Judge Phillip Shepherd who Bevin has repeatedly publicly criticized, decide the matter.  She went to Franklin Circuit Court to have the question of who has the authority to fire the Lt. Governor’s staff.

As the Herald-Leader has reported today, no settlement can be reached by the two parties and the case will now go to Shepherd.

While the legal arguments of this case are interesting, we at ITC believe the real story is all that led up to today.  Kentucky may have a history of governors not getting along with their running mates, but this one takes the cake.  We have a feeling the citizens of Kentucky will be hearing more from Jenean Hampton in the next six weeks.