A week ago, Governor Andy Beshear criticized the GOP in the General Assembly for their failure to enact their own mask mandate, saying that they "asked to go in at quarterback, and what did they do? They punted on first down."
Today (9/17), Senate President Robert Stivers (he of the "seven-zero!" shout) responded. But not only did he call out Beshear on his handling of the pandemic, he also attacked a number of other persons and departments across the executive branch.
Stivers began his press conference by encouraging people to get vaccinated. (Which was good.) He then proceeded to say that instead of the lege punting, the gov tried to run out the clock by taking the matter to court. (Lots of football analogies.)
Stivers also claimed that vaccinations are up in his home county of Clay, and that Joe Gerth doesn't know how to read or write when he makes fun of the initiative.
As reported by Joe Sonka on Twitter:
Stivers basically said the Beshear administration has been a failure from top to bottom, from unemployment insurance to the Department of Public Health.
— Joe Sonka 😐 (@joesonka) September 17, 2021
Stivers said the fact that more than 90% of school districts have chosen to keep their own mask mandates shows that Beshear was wrong not to trust them to make their own policies
— Joe Sonka 😐 (@joesonka) September 17, 2021
Stivers says Rocky Adkins promised on last day of session last week that governor's office would get back with them this week on appropriating more money to recruit and retain health care workers, but they've heard nothing from them. Says it could be done in another 1-day session
— Joe Sonka 😐 (@joesonka) September 17, 2021
KDP response
In a short press statement by chair Colmon Eldridge, the KY Democratic Party responded to Stivers's comments:
“Today, Robert Stivers did his best Matt Bevin impression, attacking the governor, judges, reporters, science, state employees, the hard working public health officials who have saved lives, and just about anyone who dares question his failed leadership.
“Just a few weeks after telling us he was going to get all Kentuckians vaccinated by offering them all free pizza bread, Stivers is claiming his plan has worked. It hasn’t. With at least 33 Kentucky public school employees dying of Covid so far and 62 total deaths in Kentucky just yesterday, our fight with Covid is far from over. The Republican Super Majority owns this pandemic now and they are failing the people of Kentucky.”
A few other selected responses
Fairly certain Beshear tired to get them to engage. But that can be difficult when the opposition is only interested in generating soundbites to use against you later in order to generate campaign cash from the cult.
— 𝐏𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐨𝐯 🖤 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐪𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 (@TheDarqeness) September 17, 2021
I'm curious as to what, exactly, would be considered working with the KYGOP. A specific checklist of what they want. Pretty sure it's "no Democrat success".
— Marylou Emerine🇺🇸 (@MarylouEmerine) September 17, 2021
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