Bevin takes the high road, doesn’t return political barbs at Fancy Farm picnic

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Sunday, Aug. 2, 2015, 2 a.m. — The annual Fancy Farm Picnic — dubbed the “Superbowl of Kentucky politics” — has a long history of politicians with one-liners, zingers and puns directed at the opposing candidates and/or their party.

And nearly every candidate who spoke at Saturday’s picnic followed that tradition save one — Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Bevin.

The crowd listens as Matt Bevin leads them in the Pledge of Allegiance during his comments at the Fancy Farm picnic Saturday afternoon.

Bevin — whose comments followed a blistering five-minute speech by Jack Conway, his Democratic opponent in the governor’s race — chided the crowd for “celebrating the worst elements of politics.”

“We are celebrating our divisions, and we are doing it in a childish way that frankly does not resolve any of the issues that we face,” he said.

In a move that surprised many in the audience, before going further into his speech, Bevin stopped to ask the crowd to join him in the “Pledge of Allegiance.”

In a very un-Fancy Farm manner, Bevin continued his remarks: He did not return the one-liners, quips and barbs aimed at him earlier on the state by Conway and Gov. Steve Beshear, but called on cooperation rather than partisanship.

Citing the state motto, “United We Stand, Divided We Fall,” Bevin called on setting partisan difference aside to find solutions to the state’s problems.

“We can be united,” he told the crowd. “You can boo all you want but it won’t fix the problems that face us.”

Issues like economic prosperity, affordable healthcare and education aren’t a Democrat or Republican thing, he said.

“This race is about all of us because we are Kentucky, despite our divisions, we are Kentucky,” he said. “Its more than just electing a Republican or a Democrat.”

As he neared the end of his remarks, Bevin told the crowd that — as pointed out by Beshear and Conway — he was not a Kentucky native, but he was a Kentuckian today by choice.

After Bevin left the state, event emcee Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio quipped that Bevin had guts to come to Fancy Farm and then say he didn’t like Fancy Farm.

“It’s like me going to Rupp Arena and saying Rick Pitino is a better coach than Calipari,” he told the crowd.

CONWAY ON THE ATTACK. Democratic nomine for governor Attorney General Jack Conway spoke first, and in traditional Fancy Farm “take no prisoners” style, he blasted Bevin with many of the same claims Sen. Mitch McConnell used in his win over Bevin in the 2014 Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

Conway said Bevin accepted bailouts of one of his businesses, failed to pay his taxes and blasted him for not releasing his tax returns.

Conway claimed Bevin is lying to Kentuckians, calling him “an East Coast con man,” and implied Bevin’s status as a “brought-in” to Kentucky made his politics suspect. “I am from Kentucky and I have delivered for Kentucky,” Conway told the crowd.

Conway listed a list of accomplishments during his eight years as Attorney General, adding that his priority as governor would be “jobs, jobs and more good paying jobs.”
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Near the end of his five-minute speech, as Conway spoke more about his and plans as governor, the crowd began to chant “Boring! Boring!”

LT. GOVERNOR CANDIDATES. Saturday’s Fancy Farm had one historic first — it was the first time a woman of color was on the agenda to speak. When Jenean Hampton, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor was introduced, she received a standing ovation from members of both parties.

On taking the podium, she admitted to Democrats in the audience she was unique as a candidate.

“I know for some of you I’m an anomaly, you’ve never seen a black conservative,” she told the crowd. “You’ll just have to judge me on the content of my character, my experience and my qualifications.”

Hampton’s comments echoed the non-partisan theme of Bevin’s speech, and avoided one-liners aimed at other candidates. .

“We’re better than his Kentucky, but we’ve got to elect the right people,” she said. “We want businesses to come here, stay here, grow here. We want our kids to find opportunity here rather than go outside our borders.”

Conway’s running mate, Sannie Overly, followed Conway’s lead with additional barbs directed at Matt Bevin.

She noted that the Republican primary for governor had “three qualified Kentucky candidates with long histories in their communities — and they went with Matt Bevin.”

Overly compared Bevin winning the race for governor to putting “the fox in the henhouse, a someone whose own party has called a pathological liar. In Bourbon County, we say he lies like a dog on the porch.”

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