Matt Bevin is exactly who teachers have always said he was. He’s careless, disgusting, selfish, and hateful. When confronted with facts, he has clung to fantasy and half-truths. You are either completely in agreement with every word he says or you are against him. The Bevin years will go down as a dark time in Kentucky’s history. We thought the time had closed, but like the graceless monster that he is, he grasps for malevolent relevance.
The pardons have been jarring and incomprehensible. The sheer volume of pardons made for a slow trickle of information released about the killers and rapists released. A woman beheaded and stuffed in a barrel. A child sexually assaulted so brutally, he almost died from internal injuries. More than one pardon excused the crime of infanticide. As opposition to Andy Beshear maligned him as a “baby killer,” Bevin was forgiving actual baby killers. People with money and connections to Bevin have their heinous crimes erased as the common folk of Kentucky are left reeling.
During the 2018 sickouts, Bevin accused teachers of causing the sexual assault of children. Standing outside the Capitol, Bevin declared “I guarantee you somewhere in Kentucky today, a child was sexually assaulted that was left at home because there was nobody there to watch them.” He clung to the notion that we had caused harm to children in this disgusting, traumatizing way.
In an interview with Terry Meiners on WHAS840, Bevin stooped even lower. One pardon involved a man who repeatedly raped a young girl from ages 9 to 12. The survivor of his horrific crimes is now a 16 year old high school student. The criminal was supposed to serve a 23 year prison term and was instead released after 18 months. As her mother succinctly and tragically pointed out, he spent less time in prison than he spent raping her child.
In the WHAS interview, Meiners asked about the child rapist and Bevin had to ask which one. He then went on to state, in a grotesque and graphic manner, that the girl had made the entire ordeal up.
Matt Bevin has never hidden who he was. He has always been the brash, spiteful man some in our state are waking up to. His pardons in particular show a disdain and negligence for women and children. It is no wonder that he chose to aim at teachers, a profession dominated by women. He doesn’t think we are worthy of his time and he doesn’t care what happens to us.
We have a chance to move on and work together to create a brighter Kentucky. We have the opportunity to move past hateful rhetoric and work together to fix the mess Matt Bevin has made. Thousands of Kentuckians voted for Bevin in November. Thankfully more voted for Andy Beshear, a man who treats the women around him as equals and has put the children of Kentucky first every step of the way. It’s time for Bevin to step out of the spotlight and leave our commonwealth alone.
Voices of Teaching Equity 