LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - About this time last year, Matt Bevin had a campaign rally where no one showed up.
The Louisville businessman was running against U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell in the Republican primary, where he raised millions of dollars but was undone by a series of missteps that included speaking at a pro-cockfighting rally. At a campaign stop in Frankfort just four days before the primary, the only people he could find who would listen to him was a group of elementary school children touring the Capitol.
But Thursday, Bevin had no trouble attracting a crowd of about 50 people on a workday afternoon at Shillito Park in Lexington now that he is among the front-runners for the Republican nomination for governor. It’s a remarkable turnaround for someone who has never held public office and whose political life was left for dead.
“I’m like a zombie to some people,” Bevin said. “When I show up, there is a look of terror like, ’My gosh, was $20 million not enough to destroy that guy?’”
Bevin failed in a one-on-one race with an experienced opponent, allowing McConnell to focus on Bevin without other distractions. But Bevin has thrived in a four-way primary that has been consumed with sniping between the top two contenders. James Comer has blamed Hal Heiner’s campaign for pushing a story that Comer physically and emotionally abused his college girlfriend, allegations that Comer denies. Heiner apologized to Comer’s campaign after the Lexington Herald-Leader published emails between KC Crosbie, Heiner’s running mate, and her husband with a blogger that has been pushing the story on social media for months.
Last year, Bevin attacked McConnell wherever he went, building a reputation as a Tea Party contrarian and making enemies among the state’s Republican establishment. This year, Bevin has harshly criticized Heiner in public forums. But his breezy TV ads have portrayed him as a smiling conservative businessman. He has a TV ad with actors portraying Comer and Heiner sitting at a children’s table throwing food at each other while Bevin shakes his head and smiles while offering himself as an alternative.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Ruling that a fraternity house should be considered a private residence, Kentucky’s Supreme Court on Thursday set aside a college student’s drug conviction after police entered without a search warrant and were pointed to his room, where they found marijuana.
In its unanimous ruling, the state’s high court held that a fraternity house is a private residence for purposes of Fourth Amendment protections against warrantless searches and seizures. The justices ruled the trial court erred in refusing to suppress evidence found in the student’s bedroom.
The state Court of Appeals had upheld the trial court’s denial of the suppression motion.
The student, David Milam, won his appeal to the Supreme Court. It vacated his conditional guilty plea to a charge of trafficking in a controlled substance and sent the case back to Fayette County Circuit Court in Lexington for further proceedings.
Milam had been sentenced to a year in prison, probated for three years.
He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity at the University of Kentucky when three police officers went to the house for a “knock and talk” investigation in 2010. They were responding to a tip that Milam was selling marijuana at the fraternity house.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Police officers don’t have to follow a specific order when asking suspected drunken drivers to submit to breath or blood testing to determine their blood-alcohol concentration, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The decision stems from a 2007 Webster County case that wound its way through several courts. Defendant Christopher Duncan claimed his DUI charge should be dismissed because the arresting officer in Providence first asked if he would submit to a blood test and then denied him a Breathalyzer test.
The high court ruled the officer didn’t run astray of the state’s Implied Consent law in how he tried to check Duncan’s blood-alcohol concentration.
State law does not set out a specific testing order to follow, nor does it single out a breath test as the preferred method, said Justice Bill Cunningham in writing for the court. Officers may utilize a breath, blood or urine test, or a combination, to determine a driver’s blood-alcohol level, he said.
“We can find no explicit or implicit directive from the General Assembly requiring law enforcement to administer a Breathalyzer test first, prior to proceeding with blood testing,” Cunningham wrote.
“Furthermore, this statute in no way bestows power upon the driver to dictate to law enforcement which test to administer first.”
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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - One of every 10 of Kentucky’s 3.1 million registered voters is expected to vote in Tuesday’s primary elections.
Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes said the low turnout forecast is based on about 5,100 absentee votes cast and results from previous elections.
Attorney General Jack Conway is likely to win the Democratic primary for governor. Republicans Matt Bevin, James Comer, Hal Heiner and Will T. Scott are all vying for the Republican nomination. Incumbent Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear cannot seek re-election because of term limits.
Tuesday’s elections feature contested primaries among both political parties for statewide offices, including treasurer, attorney general and agricultural commissioner. But the governor’s race is usually the key driver of voter turnout.
The last time Kentucky had an open seat for governor was 2003, when 17 percent of registered voters participated in the primary. But that race featured four-way contests in both of the state’s major political parties. This year, Conway appears to be cruising to an easy primary victory against little known and little funded candidate Geoff Young.
Democrats make up 53 percent of the state’s registered voters while Republicans account for nearly 39 percent. Kentucky has closed primaries, meaning only registered voters for that party can participate.
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