Date: 04-13-2018
Gov. Matt Bevin: Jeff Hoover is to blame for ‘chaos’ in Kentucky House
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin on Friday blamed former House Speaker Jeff Hoover for the “chaos” in the chamber, saying his sexual harassment scandal “stopped everything.”
The comment came as teachers crowded the Capitol to call for the legislature to override Bevin’s vetoes of the tax reform and budget bills.
With teachers chanting outside, Hoover rose to speak during the House’s debate over whether to override the tax reform veto. He criticized some of the governor’s recent comments, including some made on Twitter on Friday calling for a special session on the budget.
Hoover pointed out that the governor promised “for months upon months upon months” last year that he would hold a special session to tackle pension and tax reform but never did.
Bevin responded online, stating that “The only reason we did not have a special session last year is because Jeff Hoover, a married man, was sexually involved with a very young, single member of his staff and was paying hush money to hide his actions … The result was chaos in the KY House that stopped everything.”
Hoover was the subject of a sexual harassment scandal after signing a secret settlement with a legislative employee. On Tuesday, he reached another settlement behind closed doors to settle an ethics complaint against him. He was instructed to pay a $1,000 fine, admit to the transgression and receive a public reprimand.
Hoover and the woman in the ethics complaint have both denied there was any sexual relationship.
“I will say that definitively, I’ve said that before. She has admitted that as well. Absolutely, 100 percent, nothing more than text messages,” Hoover said Tuesday.
At the Capitol on Friday, Hoover added that Bevin had been making those “untrue statements” for months, calling them “absolutely false.”
“But this is coming from a guy who can only get three or four Republicans … to support his veto,” Hoover said. “He needs to be focused on what’s important.”
Bevin announced Tuesday morning that he would veto the tax reform and biennial budget bills that Kentucky’s Republican-controlled legislature passed, criticizing many legislators for a lack of good understanding of the state’s tax and pension issues.
“They don’t understand finance,” Bevin said. “They don’t understand pensions, and yet they are the ones that are going to have to make decisions.”
On the floor Friday, Hoover reprimanded the governor’s comments and said that it was incumbent upon legislators to take action and not count on a special session to address the fiscal issues before them.
Hoover – who accused Bevin of telling “lies from the deepest pits of hell” about him when he resigned as House Speaker in January amid the sexual harassment allegations – said it disturbed him that the governor would say the state’s lawmakers don’t understand fiscal policy and the budget process.
“I think we understand that you can’t cut $600 million from public education, as the governor did, and expect our young people to not be adversely affected,” Hoover said. “Maybe the governor doesn’t understand that the General Assembly is a separate and equal branch of government.”
By Justin Sayers
Louisville Courier Journal
