By Jack Brammer
NKyTribune reporter
SHELBYVILLE – Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear said Friday he will participate in a debate on Kentucky Educational Television for this year’s candidates for governor and would consider participating in others before the Nov. 7 general election.
Sean Southard, with the campaign of Beshear’s Republican challenger, Attorney General Daniel Cameron, said the Cameron campaign does not have any scheduling updates at this time about debates but Cameron “can’t wait for the opportunity” to ask Beshear certain questions.
Southard mentioned why Beshear vetoed income tax cuts in the last legislative session during 40-year-high inflation, locked down schools during the COVID-19 pandemic while unlocking jails and stood with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an activist drag troupe known for its anti-Catholic sentiments.
In his veto statement of the income tax bill, Beshear said the new measure “imposes new taxes that weaken public safety, harm vital industries, undermine economic development incentives and threaten Kentucky’s future economic security.”
Beshear has said his actions during the COVID-19 pandemic were designed to save lives and that the photo of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence was taken when he made history in 2020 when he became the first governor in the state to appear at a rally for the Louisville-based Fairness Campaign, upholding a campaign promise to support LGBTQ rights.
Beshear and Cameron are to appear on stage together at the Aug. 5 Fancy Farm political picnic in Graves County but so far no debates have been scheduled.
For years, the Kentucky Educational Television network has hosted a forum featuring candidates for governor. In recent years, it has been held in conjunction with the network’s “Kentucky Tonight” program on Mondays with host Renee Shaw.
Shaw said Friday the network will be sending out letters soon to candidates about their appearances on “Kentucky Tonight.”
“We have not officially talked with the campaign staffers of constitutional offices yet about these appearances,” she said.
Shaw also said KET will have certain criteria for candidates to be eligible on the show. They include having a publicly accessible website by Sept.12 and monetary contributions of at least $100,000 or reported expenditures of at least $100,000 for the current election as documented on the “60 Day Pre-General Report” filed with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.
Here’s a link to the candidate criteria for eligibility.
Beshear was asked about debates after a 13-minute speech to an overflow crowd at the Sixth and Main Coffeehouse in downtown Shelbyville. He was to make other campaign stops Friday in Bardstown and Bowling Green.
In his speech in Shelbyville, Beshear touted economic records during his administration. He later held a brief news conference.
“I am certainly willing to participate in debates. We haven’t received any dates, or I haven’t yet, from KET. It certainly is something that I have done in every other campaign,” said Beshear at the news conference.
“But listen. A debate is when you have to talk about what you are for, not who you are against. We have run this campaign on a record, a record of creating jobs, a record of expanding infrastructure, a record that includes four-laning the Mountain Parkway, moving forward on the I-69 project and building the Brent Spence Bridge without tolls, all at the same time.
“So I have got plenty of positive things to talk about. It would be nice to hear from the other side as well.”
He noted that he has appeared in multiple debates in the past.
Beshear also was asked if he were surprised that Cameron has not yet named his running mate. Cameron has until Aug. 8 to announce his choice for lieutenant governor.
Beshear said, “I know who mine is – Jacqueline Coleman, the first active educator since (former) Gov. Martha Layne Collins and I know I have got the better lieutenant governor candidate regardless of who is chosen.”
Cameron had on his campaign schedule Friday a benefit for him in Jeffersontown with several Republican legislators and city council members from Jefferson County.