The cartoon shows a caricature of Bevin hiding underneath a desk. An aide is holding a framed picture, saying "Sir, they're not terrorists -- they're your own adopted kids!"
Bevin has nine children, including four who were adopted from Ethiopia, and said cartoonist Joel Pett used them as props.
Pett told radio station WHAS, "I would say the way I used those kids in the cartoon, basically as props, was very similar to the way Governor Bevin used them in his campaign as a prop. It's gonna be a long four years if he reacts every time somebody nips at his heels."
Pett says the cartoon was meant to be a defense of Syrian refugee children that he says Bevin and others are "demagoguing."
Here is the complete statement from Bevin regarding the cartoon:
"They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Indeed, today, the Lexington Herald-Leader chose to articulate with great clarity the deplorably racist ideology of "cartoonist", Joel Pett. Shame on Mr. Pett for his deplorable attack on my children and shame on the editorial controls that approved this overt racism.
Let me be crystal clear, the tone of racial intolerance being struck by the Herald-Leader has no place in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and will not be tolerated by our administration."
On the Net:
Lexington Herald-Leader website - Editorial Cartoon
