In what has been widely reported all over Kentucky in every form of media, Governor Matt Bevin made a fool of himself yesterday afternoon. In discussing the imminent, record setting cold temperatures across Kentucky and the fact that schools were closing because of the below zero temps, Bevin, appearing on the Terry Meiners show on 84WHAS radio, said Kentuckians were being “soft”. He said “come on…there is no snow, no ice”. Bevin was questioning, at best, and being critical, at worst, those school administrators who would make the decision to cancel classes or close school districts.

For his comments, Bevin was immediately and strongly criticized all across the state, and rightfully so. From print media to social media, everywhere, Bevin was lambasted for his insensitive, ill informed, and just plain stupid comment. Everywhere, except…Republican leaders in the legislature. From them, nothing but crickets…total silence.

Have our Republican leaders in the legislature totally caved to Bevin? What are they afraid of? Are they just going to continue to be his lap dogs, regardless of how stupid or arrogant his comments may be? Some of them have family in education, but yet nothing.

What about our other elected Republicans? Mike Harmon, Ryan Quarles, Allison Ball….where art thou? Each of them are seeking re-election and you would think Bevin’s statement would be a great opportunity to speak out and create some distance from a guy who is the most unpopular Governor in the nation! But so far….Crickets from them as well.

We have the cardinal as the state bird. The goldenrod is the state flower. Maybe one of these legislators will file legislation to name the state’s insect….the cricket. Seems appropriate.

Brrrr. It’s so cold that New England bell factory owners are considering burning down buildings just for the warmth, not the insurance money.

Filing deadline must have put an extra bounce in Matt Bevin’s step. With potential A-list Republicans (folks like James Comer, Kelly Craft, and Brett Guthrie) all deciding to pass on the primary, Bevin decided today would be a good time to stick his foot in his mouth once again.

Appearing on Terry Meiners’ radio show on WHAS, the governor decided to take another swipe at the decisions of school administrators, while upping the ante a bit and criticizing the kids of Kentucky as well. Commenting on schools closing tomorrow for the bitter cold, Bevin said, “There’s no ice going with it or any snow. I mean, what happens to America? We’re getting soft, Terry. We’re getting soft.”

Given the chance to back the comments up a bit, Bevin, of course, decided to double down. “It does concern me a little bit that in America, on this and many other fronts, we’re sending messages to our young people that if life is hard you can curl up in the fetal position somewhere in a warm place and just wait until it stops being hard, and that just isn’t reality. It isn’t.”

According to the National Weather Service, the entirety of Kentucky is in a wind chill advisory. In the hours of normal school bus routes, it is predicted that much of Kentucky will have a wind chill of -20 degrees.

Maybe that is par for the course in New Hampshire, but in Kentucky, many children do not have the winter weather gear to combat that. For a man who was so concerned with the potential abuse of a child when schools dismissed for a day last year, we find it a bit ironic that he has no problems with the potential of frostbite or worse!

Yesterday, the Herald-Leader and ProPublica released the first part of what promises to be a scathing report of Alison Lundergan Grimes. Among the accusations were that Grimes, and particularly her staff, have been looking at voter data on potential political rivals.

We’re not really sure how this data could help Grimes politically, but we do know that it could be a stalker’s handbook. Think about when you fill out your voter registration card. Not only is your full name on there, but you have to provide your address, phone number, date of birth and Social Security number. Armed with that information, a person with ill-intent could have a field day. Perhaps Grimes passed over running for office this year because she really aspires to be a Nigerian prince with an active e-mail account.

An interesting tidbit in the article was that Lindsay Thornton was one of the people Grimes had researching voter information. Thornton recently left the Secretary of State’s office when she was elected as a District Judge in Fayette County. Is this conduct unbecoming of a judge? Will the Judicial Conduct Commission have an opinion on that?

Lastly, if you remember, ProPublica is the organization that Matt Bevin through an online hissy fit about last month when he found out they would be working with the Courier-Journal. The video made national news as some thought his words could be viewed as anti-semitic. Ironically, now that ProPublica has set it’s sights on someone who is a former darling of the left and was seen as a nationally rising star in the Democratic Party only five years ago, we hear nothing but silence from Bevin. Convenient.

The 2019 candidate filing day is rapidly approaching. With that on the horizon, here are our winners and losers of the week.

Winners:

• Thomas Massie – When the entire world was going bananas over the initial footage of the Covington Catholic kids in DC, Massie came out in support of them. What looked like an insensitive stance at the time proved to be the appropriate reaction the next day when new video emerged. Might be luck, might be foresight, but Massie looked like their hero quickly.

• Greg Stumbo – Whether it’s the withering bench of Democrat candidates or the fear of Morgan & Morgan money, whatever the case, Greg Stumbo remains the only Democrat in the Attorney General’s race. If he escapes without a primary, it will give him plenty of time to build up a war chest as well as moderate his message enough to appeal to some centrist voters.

• Jenean Hampton – Yes, she was publicly dumped off the ticket by Matt Bevin. That may not be the worst thing ever though. Do you know what Milton Hershey (founder of Hershey’s chocolate) and Waylon Jennings have in common? Hershey was supposed to be on the Titanic and Jennings was supposed to be on the plane that killed Buddy Holly. The comparisons to Hampton somehow seem appropriate.

Losers:

• Whitney Westerfield – When the going gets tough . . . the tough cry on a phone call and withdraw from a race they’ve been in for three years? Daniel Cameron’s candidacy caused Westerfield to go running for the hills with the worst excuse we’ve ever seen. Legislative business? Wouldn’t that affect people like Rocky Adkins, Ralph Alvarado and Wil Schroder also, all who hold chairmanships or leadership positions and are running statewide?

• Steve Henry – After 8 years with a strained relationship as Paul Patton’s Lt. Governor, badly failed races for U.S. Senate and Governor, and a host of legal issues over false billing records, we really thought that Henry would be a sad footnote in our political history. With his wife, Heather, filing for Secretary of State this week, we expect every bit of his glorious past to be political fodder once again.

• Wil Schroder – Schroder is a bright young Senator from Northern Kentucky. He comes from a political family, with his father having served on the Kentucky Supreme Court. He was recently given the helms of the prestigious State and Local Government committee and the world looked to be his oyster. That may have all changed with one fell swoop as his entry into the Attorney General’s race will no doubt bring about the wrath of Senator McConnell. It’s rare for those on the Senate Leader’s naughty list to go on to find much success.

So Matt Bevin has decided to break off his relationship with Jenean Hampton. Really, this comes as no great surprise. The worst kept secret was that he was trying to dump her since Inauguration Day in 2015.

So what is next for Jenean? Does she go to D.C. finally? Does she campaign for Bevin-Alvarado in exchange for some sort of appointment? Does she file for another office? Or does she ride off in the sunset? Honestly, we don’t know. But we do know . . .

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

What can we say? Our sources are good.

In 2015, Senator Whitney Westerfield came within spitting distance of being Kentucky’s Attorney General. He immediately said he would be running again and has been an unofficial candidate for the past three years. That is all coming to a crashing halt.

ITC has learned that Westerfield intends to withdraw as a candidate, possibly as early as Friday. It seems that Daniel Cameron’s entry into the race has caused Westerfield to have second thoughts. Sources tell us that he has lost key supporters to Cameron rapidly in the past two weeks. After what was described to us as a “tearful” conversation with one of Senator McConnell’s political generals, it seems Westerfield knows the die has been cast.

Weep not, anti-McConnell Republicans. It appears you will indeed still have a choice in the GOP primary. Sources tell us that there is a Northern Kentucky legislator about to enter the fray. With the only attorneys being Senator Wil Schroder, Rep. Joe Fischer and Rep. Ed Massey, the field is limited. We don’t see Massey being ready to make that jump after less than one month in office, so that leaves it to the two Campbell countians. Our best guess is that it will be Schroder, given that Fischer recently lost his position as House Judiciary chairman. We could be wrong about that though.

A new candidate seems to be about to emerge as a Democratic candidate for Secretary of State.

According to his website, Geoff Sebesta is a Lexington resident who works as a freelance artist and cartoonist. He also claims to be an “honorary Frenchman,” although we’re not exactly sure what that means.

Our favorite part of his candidacy though is the photo he has on his website. In all of our years of observing Kentucky politics, this is the first time we’ve actually seen a candidate embrace the stereotype and go barefoot! And he’s not even from a rural area.

(Geoff, if you’re reading this, please take our helpful advice to go see a podiatrist ASAP!)

Man, poor Jenean Hampton just can’t catch a break. With less than a week to go before the filing deadline, Matt Bevin is still looming for a better date for prom.

But to add insult to injury, now one of her fellow Republicans thinks her job shouldn’t even exist.

Senator Steve Meredith, father of Bevin’s Deputy General Counsel Chad Meredith, has filed Senate Bill 75 which proposes a constitutional amendment to eliminate the office of Lt. Governor.

Of course, if approved, it would not take effect until the 2023 election. But the Tea Party folks have to wonder if this is another arrow being shot at their darling Jenean.