Beshear recaps his first 18 months at Eddyville dinner

Above, Gov. Steve Beshear speaks with Eddyville Public Works Supervisor, John Choat center, and Lyon Judge-Executive Jimmy Campbell. –Bobbie Foust/ The Herald Ledger

Gov. Steve Beshear shook hands, backslapped and then outlined accomplishments of his first 18 months in office at a dinner in Eddyville on Monday night.
“We’ve had a wind storm, the worst ice storm in history, floods ... and we’ve ended up with the worst recession since the Great Depresssion,” Beshear said of issues he has faced since his inauguration in December 2007.
“We’ve balanced four budgets in less than two years,” he said, noting that he has cut $600 million from the budget.
But despite the budget crisis Beshear said he hasn’t cut one dime from the SEEK formula for education. “We knew that was an investment we couldn’t afford not to make,” he said.
SEEK (Support Education Excellence in Kentucky) is the program that provides major funding for public schools.
He also said his administration hasn’t cut higher education nor Medicaid.
After taking office, Beshear said he set two goals:
 Helping people get through the financial crisis and get on their feet.
 Making long-term investments in the future.
The dinner — sponsored by the Lyon County Democratic Executive Committee and the Democratic Women’s Club — attracted more than 200 western Kentucky politicians, state cabinet members and party supporters.
In an interview before the dinner, Beshear told the Herald Ledger he had come home to western Kentucky because he always enjoys it. And he was scheduled to address the state Labor-Management Conference at a noon luncheon Tuesday at Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park.
Beshear said he not only planned to speak but also to attend several receptions and talk with members of both labor and management.
“It’s a great conference; it’s been going on for a number of years and it’s helped bring management and labor together in Kentucky,” he said. “They have a much more cooperative working relationship now.”
Labor Secretary J.R. Gray, a Lyon County native, was instrumental in starting the conference in 1977 during Julian Carroll’s administration.
“I was very proud to appoint J.R. Gray as my labor secretary; No. 1, I know him well, No 2, he’s from western Kentucky, which was important to me, and No. 3, he’s a card-carrying member of the machinists union (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers). And I wanted to have somebody who had worked in the labor movement as the secretary of labor.”
Beshear also elevated the Labor Department back to cabinet status after the former governor had downgraded it.
“I think the cabinet whose job is to protect our workers and the safety of our workers across the state deserves to have a direct line to the governor’s office,” Beshear said. “And J.R. does.”
On another issue, Beshear said if a prefiled bill deleting the dueling language from the oath public officials take passes the General Assembly, then it will be on the ballot and the people will decide. State Rep. Darryl Owens, D-Louisville, prefiled the bill on Aug. 25.
“The Constitution has had that oath in it since 1891, and it’s got a lot of history behind it,” Beshear said. “I understand some people’s feelings that it’s obviously outdated, but I think it’s a little bit quaint, and I like it in a sense. I don’t know that the legislature will pass it and put it on the ballot, but if they do, the people will get to vote on it and decide what they want to do.”