Bevin filed for re-election last week with State Senator Ralph Alvarado as his running mate. While he praised current Lt. Governor Jenean Hampton for her work, Bevin chose to go another direction for his upcoming re-election campaign.
Bevin told the Greg Dunker Show there are things to be done in the next four years that are different from the previous four years. Since he and Hampton were political outsiders and business people who never held office before, they sent a message that the same "good old boy," way of doing things is over.
But in the next four years, Bevin plans to take on challenges like implementation of the waiver that will require some able-bodied Medicaid recipients to work, fighting the opioid crisis, and other statewide health concerns like diabetes, hypertension, lung disease and cardiovascular disease. He said Alvarado is uniquely qualified to help.
Bevin said, "To have somebody as my running mate who is a medical doctor, who is a state legislator, who understands what it takes to move legislation through, especially as it would relate to healthcare, to have the connections to the health care community, is very, very critical."
Bevin said Alvarado's story is the American dream, since his parents are immigrants and English wasn't his first language. Yet he is now a doctor and a state senator who has a good reputation for working hard for solutions in the legislature.
On a somewhat lighter note, Bevin responded to comments by NBC's Al Roker, who called him a, "nitwit," for suggesting school districts were, "getting soft" for cancelling classes due to extreme cold temperatures last week. Bevin admitted in an interview with WHAS that he was "being only slightly facetious," and Roker added on the Today Show, "I'm glad you're not a teacher!"
When asked about Roker's televised comments, Bevin said he didn't even realize Al Roker was still alive.
Bevin said, "I don't watch TV so I'm happy to see that he still has a life. If this is what has given him a sense of purpose, then God bless him. And for him and so many people to get upset about my commenting that America is getting soft just proves my point. It really does. All the soft people seem very upset about the fact."
He added that many people conveniently left out the portion of his statement where he advised erring on the side of being safe for the sake of children, and the omission changed the tone of what he said. But without full context, Bevin said many folks were easily triggered by what he said and made condemning comments.
Bevin said, "Again, it just proves my point - we've become very soft in America on many levels, including people being so easily triggered by something that they disagree with."
On the Net:
Listen to Gov. Bevin on the Greg Dunker Show
