EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is reprinted from the Bevin/Hampton campaign website. It will probably be taken down from that site in the coming months; it’s here as a placeholder. If you haven’t read this, it’s worth the minute. He responds to the lies in full.
Independent news sources have debunked the Matt Bevin lies, distortions and character assassination. Here’s what these fact checkers have said:
PolitiFact called one of the attack ads FALSE and said that the “facts paint a very different picture” than the ad.
FactCheck.org printed a scathing analysis of the one of the false ads.
The Washington Post gave one ad three Pinocchios, which means it has “significant factual error and/or obvious contradictions,”and called it “especially misleading.”
Washington Post: “This ad especially reminds us of the Obama campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s business record at Bain Capital, in which a sliver of truth often was taken out of context.”
The Truth on Taxes
Business Tax Liens:
MATT BEVIN PAID LIENS INCURRED BY OTHERS AND SAVED JOBS. In 2008, at the request of his uncle, Matt Bevin stepped in and began providing financial assistance to help the struggling, family owned, Bevin Brother’s Manufacturing Company. This company was the last one in North America dedicated exclusively to making bells. It was founded in 1832 and is located in a town (East Hampton, CT) that is known as “Belltown, USA.”
As a successful businessman who understood the need for the modernization of outdated business practices, Matt knew that the company must change or face financial ruin. The company was bankrupt and a lack of immediate action would have resulted in many lost jobs.
Matt put his management experience and personal financial resources to work to save those blue collar jobs, paying off the tax liens that were placed against the company before his involvement.
Matt Bevin, a proven business leader committed to the principle of fiscal responsibility, turned the financially strapped bell company into a successful business where jobs were saved, back taxes were paid in full, and the pride of “Made in America” was restored.
Michael Maniscalco, the Town Manager of East Hampton, CT, wrote:
“Since 2008, Matt Bevin has been working with the Town to get delinquent taxes at the Bell factory paid in full. These delinquent taxes were prior to Mr. Bevin having an ownership interest in the company. It is our understanding that Mr. Bevin took ownership of Bevin Bell in August 2011. At that time, the company owed the Town in excess of $180,000 in back taxes. By April 2012, delinquent taxes for the Grand Lists of 2005-2010 were paid in full. Having the taxes paid in full has always been a priority of Mr. Bevin.”
Vacation Home Taxes:
The claim that Matt did not pay taxes on his vacation home is misleading at best. A mix-up with a new mortgage company caused the taxes to be paid late after the company failed to get in touch with Matt.
According to the city’s Tax Collector Kimberly Sparks, “A lot of times we see that when there’s a change in escrow agents property taxes don’t get paid. That’s a common occurrence.” In a letter Ms. Sparks noted that the tax bill sent to Matt “was returned from the Post Office as unclaimed.” Wrote Sparks:
“I remember Mr. Bevin contacting the office in January of 2009 inquiring about the status of his taxes as he was concerned that his accounts were paid by his new mortgage company. He was surprised to learn of the two tax liens and said he would contact his escrow agent to get them paid. By February of 2009, both liens were paid by National City Mortgage and were discharged by the Town. Mr. Bevin has always paid his taxes on time with this one exception with a new mortgage company.”
The Truth on MIT Education
Matt Bevin is self-employed and has not had a resume since 1993. The claim that Matt has ever had a resume stating that he attended or graduated from MIT is an outright lie.
From 2006 to 2008, Matt attended the MIT Entrepreneurial Masters Program (formerly known as “Birthing of Giants”), an executive education program that seeks to “identify and bring together the next generation of entrepreneurial giants.” The full description of this program has been listed in Matt’s LinkedIn profile since he completed it in 2008.
Attending this program is the only link to any understanding of where this lie originated.
The Truth on Cockfighting
Matt Bevin has never supported cockfighting and has never attended a cockfight. Anything suggesting otherwise is a lie. Matt Bevin has never endorsed, condoned, or supported cruelty or violence to animals in any way.
The Truth on Health Care
Matt Bevin plans to use the open enrollment period in 2016 to transition people from the state-level exchange to the federal exchange. Thirty-four states have never offered a state level exchange and Kentucky should join that majority. This will ensure continued access to health care coverage, while saving Kentucky taxpayers millions in state tax dollars.
There is no financial advantage to keeping a duplicative state-level exchange (Kynect) when the same needs are met at the federal level without the extra cost to Kentucky taxpayers.
The Truth on Early Childhood Education
As a father of nine children (ages 5-16), Matt Bevin is a strong supporter of early childhood education and always has been. Jack Conway’s comments to the contrary are intentionally untrue and are meant to scare and distract voters.
Matt feels strongly that money spent on outdated and ineffective programs should be moved to programs proven to provide better outcomes. Anything less is a waste of precious financial resources needed for ensuring a quality education for young people of every age.
The Truth on Public-Private Partnerships
Matt Bevin believes that government at every level needs to be more efficient and to seek ways to operate within its budget. This is no different than how we as taxpayers must operate our own homes and businesses. Here is what Matt had to say about “P3” legislation in an August 2015 interview:
“I’m not opposed to P3s across the board. I’m very opposed to the idea of spending money today that we can’t afford to spend, especially on critical infrastructure projects. When it first came up and – when people took what I said and ran with it – it was very specific to the Brent Spence Bridge project in Northern Kentucky.
“I’m not a proponent of using P3s for that because that will come back on the taxpayer as a toll on those roads. The middle ‘P’ in ‘Public-Private Partnership’ expects a fourth ‘P,’ and that is a profit. And I don’t blame them. They should be looking for a profit.
“If private investors want to invest in student housing, for example, by all means. That’s frankly a brilliant solution because there, you’re going to get things built in a timely manner and the ROI on that is almost obvious from the moment you start breaking ground. That’s where it should be used, not on critical infrastructure projects that involve interstate commerce.”
During the campaign I had told people that if the truth were revealed, Conway’s accusations would probably prove to be false. Thank you for this article, and I’ll share it.
I only wish I’d printed it earlier. Thanks!
I think a better title for this would be Exposing The Lies That Were Told About Matt Bevin.
Kentucky’s governor Beshear showed us all how much damage a governor can do by ignoring the constitutional limits on executive power when the corrupt and self serving legislature allows this abuse of power to go unchecked. I’m anxiously looking forward to a new day in Kentucky when Matt fixes the past abuses and starts making executive decisions that are fiscally conservative and liberty oriented.
We can be certain that the corrupt career politicians in Frankfort IN BOTH PARTIES will not want Matt and Jenean providing examples of how our government should be run, and they will conspire, along with their complicit big corrupt government endorsing media, to produce some bogus scandal. Matt and Jenean had better watch their backs. It’s dangerous to be right when your government is wrong, and I think that applies even when you’re the governor.
Hear, hear!