Yesterday, the Kentucky Democratic Party called on two state legislators to resign, while another was also accused of sexual assault. We at ITC are not ignoring these stories, but rather have a policy of not talking about allegations of sexual harassment or assault without concrete proof.

We are under no impression that Frankfort is immune to these type of activities, but at the same time we do not feel that accusations are always accurate. Rather than pile on in situations that could destroy the careers, marriages and lives of people based on “he said, she said,” we will reserve comments until there are admissions of guilt or indisputable evidence.

We are fine with exposing the truth of Frankfort, however we want to make sure it really is true before we do so in such serious situations.

The Bowling Green Daily News scored what they billed as an exclusive interview with Lt. Governor Jenean Hampton. (We’re not sure how difficult it is for a newspaper to get an “exclusive” with someone that most aren’t interested in talking with, but we digress.)

In the interview, Hampton made it imperatively clear that she does want to run for Lt. Governor on a ticket with Matt Bevin again.

Since the day he won in 2015, it has been speculated that Bevin would seek to replace her on the ticket. He tried to get her appointed to positions in D.C. He tried to get her selected as president of Kentucky State University. He tried to get her private sector positions. At this point, we suspect he’s trying a voodoo doll. All to no avail.

There has been countless rumors through the years of who Bevin would select as his next running mate. Ralph Alvarado, Damon Thayer, Hal Heiner, Derrick Ramsey, Kelly Craft . . . but Jenean just keeps hanging around.

So what will it be? Will Bevin begrudgingly keep her on the ticket? Or will he select someone else and risk alienating the Tea Party? Time will tell.

Andy Beshear and Jacqueline Coleman made their candidacy for Governor and Lt. Governor official today. Many people would say that really isn’t news, since the announcement was made weeks ago. Evidently the mainstream media agrees.

Despite the papers being filed at approximately 10:30 this morning, the only media outlet the ITC team can find that reported on the story at all was WYMT out of Hazard. The campaign’s Facebook account didn’t even announce it until close to 2:30 pm.

Evidently, Beshear called on all of his primary opponents to release their tax returns. Really? We’re not saying it’s a bad thing to do, but we expected something a bit more fiery on the first official day of the campaign.

We’re reminded of the Barenaked Ladies lyrics from Pinch Me. “You try to scream but it comes out as a yawn.”

Republican leaders in the 31st Senate District have selected their candidate. Charles Phillip Wheeler, Jr., a 40 year old Pikeville attorney will be seeking to replace Ray Jones in the Senate, following Jones’ election as the new Pike County Judge-Executive.

Little seems to be known about Wheeler. He is an attorney with the Kirk Law Firm, where he works with newly elected State Representative Ashley Tackett-Laferty, the Democrat who now holds Greg Stumbo’s old seat. He also touts his grandfather’s service in the General Assembly and that he holds a degree in German, spending time teaching in Germany. (We suspect there will be a forthcoming campaign contribution from Matth Toebben.)

Most interesting is his connection to T.J. Litafik, who our Pike County sources tell us orchestrated the nomination. You might have heard Litafik’s name recently as he is the spokesman for the gubernatorial campaign of Robert Goforth.

Who exactly is Litafik? He’s been on the periphery of Republican politics for sometime now, but it’s not where his roots lie. Litafik, a Pikeville native as well, began his political activism within the now-defunct Reform Party, as an acolyte of Pat Buchanan. Following the Buchanan campaign, he served as campaign manager for Gatewood Galbraith’s campaign for Congress as a member of the Reform Party. (Although, we suspect no one could have ever “managed” Gatewood.)

After that, Litafik jumped all over the map politically, having worked for Wayne T. Rutherford, the long-serving Democrat Judge-Executive of Pike County, and running a lackluster campaign for Pikeville mayor himself. He worked in a variety of offices in the Bevin Administration, including as special assistant to Boards and Commissions. He was abruptly, and inexplicably, let go by Bevin, but sources tell us it may have been a case of him adding to the #MeToo movement in Frankfort.

We at ITC are curious as to whether Robert Stivers and the Senate caucus have been, or will be, working with Litafik in this election. We are pretty sure Matt Bevin will not be involved, considering the connection to the Goforth campaign. Will there be a rift in GOP politics in the East?

There are times when we wonder if Governor Matt Bevin is actively trying to reduce his favorability in the polls. One such time came late last week when he spoke with the Kentucky Enquirer regarding the Brent Spence Bridge.

Everyone in the tri-state area knows the Brent Spence Bridge needs renovation at best, replacement at worst. The aging structure carries double the amount of traffic it was built for and is consistently rated low on all relevant studies.

When Northern Kentuckians cannot seem to agree about anything else, they typically come together on two points: The bridge is in desperate need of work and they do not want to pay tolls to cross into Cincinnati.

That is why it came as a surprise that Bevin, who owes Northern Kentucky for his 2015 victory and has filled his administration with many from the region, came out in support of tolls. When speaking to a reporter, he said, ”
There’s a good likelihood that tolling will be part of that solution. (It) has to be.”

Bevin did not stop there though. He also went on to give his support to the proposed “Eastern Bypass” that would go through all three Northern Kentucky counties and on into Ohio. This support makes a bit more sense, as it has been pushed almost exclusively by Matth Toebben and Bob Hawksley. Toebben, a German immigrant, has for years spearheaded Tea Party efforts in Northern Kentucky. He is one of the largest contributors to Bevin’s campaigns and, rumor has it, owner of several properties along the proposed route of the “Eastern Bypass.”

So while it may seem odd that Bevin would upset the majority of voters in Northern Kentucky with his support of tolling, it does seem that he may be trying to help the folks that put money in his campaign coffers. He may be a relative newcomer to politics, but he’s learned the art of the greasy palm quite well.

On Friday, Senate and House leaders announced the formation of a new working group on public pensions. (By the way, is there a difference in a working group, task force, and blue ribbon panel?)

Frankly, this was not that particularly interesting, as the new political mantra across the state is that pensions need to be saved. It’s much like the past decade of people saying the tax system needs to be restructured. Sounds good in a stump speech, but no one ever has any concrete details.

But then we saw the membership list of this working group. The Senate appointed, among others, Robert Stivers, Damon Thayer, Chris McDaniel, Morgan McGarvey and Jimmy Higdon. These are all current or former members of leadership and the current A&R chairman. The House, on the other hand, appointed, among others, Travis Brenda, Scott Lewis and Buddy Wheatley, three freshman members who are the most closely affiliated with the KEA and other public employee unions. The only member of leadership from the House side is Derrick Graham, who has unofficially served as the KEA spokesperson for years.

Do these appointments signal anything to observers? Was this the House’s way of thumbing their nose to Governor Bevin? Is it a way to kill any ideas of pension reform for this session? Or is it an attempt to have these members learn more about the issue and try to woo their support for reforms?

We at ITC have our own opinions, but we’ll keep those to ourselves right now. What we will do instead is cite Speaker David Osborne’s comments from the Kentucky Chamber dinner last week: “I don’t believe that a quick solution will be found. Quite frankly, I think there is a possibility we will exit this session without a solution.”

Week 1 of the 2019 General Assembly is officially in the books. It’s time to examine who saw their stars rise and fall. After polling the team at ITC, we see it this way.

Winners:

• Congressman James Comer – Despite not even being in town, Comer stole the Frankfort show this week. Will he? Won’t he? No one is sure. But the possibility of a gubernatorial candidacy is titillating, that is for sure.

• Senator Morgan McGarvey – When you lead a caucus of single digits, what do you do to gain attention? Delivering a self-deprecating and witty speech at the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s annual dinner seems to be successful. McGarvey kept it light-hearted and proved that politics does not have to be mean-spirited.

• Senator Max Wise – Finding a topic that nearly everyone can agree upon is no simple task. Wise has done that with filing and promoting his school safety improvement bill.

• Representative Charles Booker – In a day of festivities, no one was happier to be a new member of the General Assembly than Booker, and it showed. We have a feeling he has a personality that will quickly make him friends on both sides of the aisle.

Losers:

• Governor Matt Bevin – In four days he restricted access to the Capitol, offended the Frankfort press corps, called members of legislative leadership liars, and gave a 40 minute speech that put 1500 people to asleep. The man accomplishes a lot, to accomplish so little.

• Representative Rocky Adkins – Rocky’s rendition of kumbaya this week, praising every Republican with the exception of Bevin, is an interesting strategy. We understand that he is trying to woo voters, but does that really woo Democratic primary voters?

• Senator Dan Seum – “Misdemeanor Malano” may have stepped into a legal hornet’s nest when he declared that he had smoked the devil’s lettuce on occasion, while promoting a bill for which his son lobbies. Will Dan get reacquainted with some of his former colleagues who now serve on the Legislative Ethics Commission?

Speculation continues to swirl regarding Matt Bevin and whether he will actually file and seek re-election for Governor. Bevin did state today, yet again, that he will run. But, other than saying he is running, Bevin has done very little, if anything, to show signs he will be a candidate. He now has just under three weeks to file.

While there are several different scenarios being discussed, ITC has learned of one that has real merit and is not just pure speculation…Bevin seeks re-election as Governor, dumps his current Lt. Governor Jenean Hampton and selects as his running mate…Kelly Knight Craft.

The Governor and Ms. Craft, who is officially known as the United States Ambassador to Canada and more personally known as the wife of coal magnate/businessman Joe Craft, are sitting together at the annual Legislative Day dinner this evening in Lexington. Congressman James Comer tweeted a photo of Kelly Craft earlier today and said she would be an excellent candidate for Governor. Joe Craft and Kelly Knight supported James Comer in the 2015 Republican primary for Governor against Bevin. Then, when Bevin won over Comer by 83 votes, Kelly Knight was the chairperson of the Bevin inaugural and helped raise tons of money for Bevin. ITC has just received word that Senate President Robert Stivers, speaking at the Chamber event tonight, also noted that Craft would make a good statewide candidate.

So, what’s up? Sources say the Bevin-Craft ticket is very possible. The Crafts could easily fund a Bevin-Craft ticket and never blink an eye. Also, it is no secret that Matthew Bevin has always wanted, at the top of his personal ambitions, to be United States Senator. The Crafts could help Bevin get re-elected Governor in November, 2019, and set him up financially then to run for U. S. Senate against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2020. If he were to be successful against McConnell, then Kelly Knight Craft becomes Governor! Also figuring in to the equation, Kelly Craft has to know and understand the chances of Donald Trump getting re-elected in 2020 and her staying as Ambassador to Canada are minimal. Thus, the Bevin-Craft ticket becomes a win-win for all involved!!

Stay tuned. Developing story daily. One thing for sure, we will all have an answer on January 29th at 4:00 p.m., at the latest.

UPDATE:  ITC has learned that Tea Party folks are furious today.   The small group of self-proclaimed leaders of the Kentucky Tea Party met with Bevin several weeks ago at the Capitol.   As reported in several media outlets, the Tea Party folks made it clear during the meeting their insistence that Bevin retain Jenean Hampton as his Lt. Governor candidate in 2019.   According to reports, Bevin did not commit.   This may explain his hesitancy to go ahead and file…he is trying to find a running mate other than Hampton who will be acceptable to his faithful zealots in the Tea Party.    The speculation yesterday that Kelly Knight Craft is a real possibility as running mate has apparently thrown the Tea Party folks in a frenzy, a couple of whom are members of Bevin’s staff. 

This afternoon, Governor Matt Bevin decided it would be a pleasant thing to do to invite members of the media into his office for a “round table” interview. Well, sort of.

Press from the outer provinces were invited, but the Frankfort Press Corps was told they were not welcome. Reporters from such outlets as the Courier-Journal, Herald-Leader, Associated Press and Kentucky Public Radio were neither allowed in, nor allowed to call in, an option offered to others.

This probably shouldn’t come as a surprise, as this is the same man who one month ago released a social media diatribe against the Courier-Journal, which accused the newspaper of “[pretending] that it’s an actual news organization or a publication.” Yes, that’s the same 10-time Pulitzer Prize winning Courier-Journal that is the largest newspaper in the state with a daily circulation of almost 90,000. We’re sure it’s not as reputable as a weekly publication in Podunk Holler though.

The third day of the 2019 General Assembly is upon us, beginning with the annual sexual harassment seminar for legislators. Given recent history, it is confusing as to whether the lecturers are teaching against the practice or just giving pro-tips.

Will this morning’s training feature an issue expert? Or will there just be a panel comprised of Julian Carroll, Jeff Hoover, Michael Meredith and Brandon Smith? (Come on, he married his intern. Would other allegations really shock anyone?)

We’ll have flies in the room reporting back to us on what all is said. But, for once, we expect even those that love to hear the sound of their own voices to keep quiet. For, in Frankfort, if there is one issue that is truly bipartisan, it’s sexual harassment. Just ask Julian. He knows all about being bi . . . partisan.