The Frankfort LINK: Recent Episodes
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The Frankfort LINK gives you Northern Kentucky political news from Kentucky's capitol. You’ll hear from your state senators, representatives, and your governor about what they’re working on in Frankfort.
A national libertarian-leaning conservative group known for its connections to the Koch brothers and its “dark money” network is weighing in on the certificate of need debate expected to heat up in Kentucky over the ensuing months as some seek to repeal or reform the decades-long program.
Listen as politics and government reporter Mark Payne interviews Dean Clancy, the senior health policy fellow for Americans for Prosperity, and St. Elizabeth CEO Garren Colvin.
Business owner Kama Reed is still determining how much longer she'll own her business after a ban on skill games passed the Kentucky legislature in the spring and the law took effect on Thursday.
The manufacturer of the games, Pace-O-Matic sued the state over the ban, but the case is stuck in the court system with the next hearing in August. While the lawsuit plays out, businesses who have skill games have been forced to shutter the machines until there’s final word.
Reed, who owns BJ Novelty with her husband, Jeff, faces an unlikely future after the ban of the games — often seen in gas stations and bars — were banned.
Listen to hear how Reed's take on the new law and how business in NKY are effected.
Former Northern Kentucky Attorney Eric Deters said he's "99%" sure he'll run against Rep. Thomas Massie in the Republican primary for the 4th Congressional District in 2024.
Deters, fresh off running for the Republican nominee for Kentucky governor, sent out a Tweet and an email saying, "I will announce my decision to run against Thomas Massie at Patriot Freedom Fest September 9."
In the three-minute video release about the potential announcement, Deters said he'd make the announcement at Freedom Fest — Deters' annual political picnic, where he invites top Republican names from around the country, such as the Trump brothers.
Deters said he might choose to run because of two of Rep. Massie's recent votes.
Listen to hear more about why Deters said he's going to run against Massie.
At his first general election campaign event in Northern Kentucky as the GOP gubernatorial nominee, Daniel Cameron ran through a list of campaign talking points similar to what he provided on the primary campaign trail.
Cameron talked about his fight as attorney general against the opioid scourge in the Commonwealth, his battle against Gov. Andy Beshear over the COVID-19 shutdowns, and his concern that top Democrats in Washington and Kentucky are causing friction with the values of average Kentuckians.
Listen to hear an interview with a voter from Boone County on why he’s voting for Cameron, and how Cameron feels about the latest charges against former President Donald Trump and his connections to Sen. Mitch McConnell.
Northern Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie voted in favor of the debt limit bill that suspends the country’s borrowing limit until January 2025 and reduces the federal deficit but also showed support for spending cut provisions if Congress doesn’t pass mandatory appropriation bills.
Massie’s vote just days earlier in the House Rules Committee, however, proved crucial to the Fiscal Responsibility Act moving to a House floor vote, where it passed Wednesday night. It then passed the Senate on Thursday.
The 99-page bill suspends the $31.4 Trillion debt limit until January 2025. It cuts federal spending by $1.5 trillion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office, which includes $11 billion returned from COVID-19 pandemic funding.
The Rules Committee voted 7-6 on a rule that governed debate over the debt bill, which ensured the bill reached the House and would pass the lower chamber — Massie’s ‘yes’ vote gave the rule a narrow margin that allowed the bill to pass by the June 5 deadline to avoid default.
Listen to hear more on this week's episode.
In late June, the part of a bill that bans gender-affirming care for children will go into effect in Kentucky.
On Wednesday, the NKY Pride center held a town hall in Covington in opposition of the recently passed senate bill 150.
Bonnie Meyer co-chairs and helped open NKY Pride on Pike Street in 2021 after serving as the founding director of the northern Kentucky university’s office of LGBTQ programs and services.
She said it’s important for the community in NKY to have the conversation about the bill because northern Kentucky supports those in the LGBTQ+ community, and the bill doesn’t represent those in the region.
The town hall came amidst a busy week around politics and the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union Kentucky over the bill.
Listen to hear more about the bill and the town hall in NKY.
On May 16, Republican voters will decide their nominee to face Democrat incumbent Governor Andy Beshear in the general election.
Twelve candidates threw their hat in the ring for the republican nomination.
Attorney General Daniel Cameron and United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft have emerged as the frontrunners, according to a poll from emerson college.
Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles is polling in third place, former Northern Kentucky attorney Eric Deters in fourth, with Somerset Mayor Alan Keck and State Auditor Mike Harmon rounding out the top six.
The race has got nasty in recent months with Cameron and Craft running attack ads on both tv and radio. According to medium buying, candidates in the Kentucky GOP primary race have spent more than 10 million on ads — with more than $4 million coming from the Craft campaign.
Now republican voters must decide who they want to face beshear in November. The incumbent has been deemed the most popular democratic governor in the country according to morning consult, with 6 in 10 Kentucky voters approving of him.
Joining us on this episode of the Frankfort LINK is y to talk about the republican race is Rick Robinson — an author, attorney, who also worked as the legislative director in the office of former Congressman Jim Bunning.
LINK nky, along with WCPO and the Kenton County Republican Party, hosted two Republican gubernatorial debates at the Lincoln Grant Scholar House in Covington on April 25 and 26. We will bring you those debates in podcast form in a two-part series.
Here is part two, which features candidates Eric Deters, Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, State Auditor Mike Harmon, and Somerset Mayor Alan Keck.
Listen to part one here.
LINK nky, along with WCPO, and the Kenton County Republican Party hosted two Republican gubernatorial debates at the Lincoln Grant Scholar House in Covington on April 25 and 26. We will bring you those debates in podcast form in a two part series.
Here is part one, which features candidates Bob Devore, Jacob Clark, and David Cooper.
Attorney General Daniel Cameron appeared in Northern Kentucky Thursday for a Meet and Greet to appeal to Republican voters why he should win the nomination and face Democratic incumbent Andy Beshear in the general election.
Cameron ran through numerous campaign talking points, such as his fight as attorney general against the opioid and fentanyl scourge in the Commonwealth, his fight against Gov. Beshear over the COVID-19 shutdowns, and concern that top Democrats in Washington and Kentucky are causing friction with the values of average Kentuckians.
The meet and greet was Hosted by Kenton County Prosecutor Rob Sanders, Northern Kentucky Attorney Chris Wiest, and former state House Rep. Addia Wuchner — now the Executive Director of Kentucky Right to Life — at Smoke Justis in Covington.
Cameron's visit comes roughly 10 days after his top challenger in the GOP primary, Kelly Craft, appeared in Newport. In the latest poll put out by Fox 56 and Emerson College, Craft gained on Cameron and now sits just six points behind him at 24% to Cameron's 30% ahead of the May 16 primary.
Both Republican visits highlight the region's significance in winning the governor's election, and it's something that former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin perhaps took for granted, according to Wiest.
Listen to hear more about Cameron's visit.
The big news in the governor’s race this week is Former United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft gained significant ground on Attorney General Daniel Cameron in the race for the Republican nominee in the Kentucky gubernatorial election, according to a poll conducted by Fox 56 and Emerson College.
The poll surveyed 900 “very likely” Republican voters.
Craft now sits just six points behind Cameron, who polled at 30%. In the last public poll conducted by Mason-Dixon, Cameron led the Republican pack at 39%, with Craft sitting second at 13%.
Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles also gained significant ground, moving from 8% in the Mason-Dixon Poll to 15% in the Fox 56/Emerson College poll.
Former Northern Kentucky attorney Eric Deters is sitting in fourth place at 6% — he polled under 2% in the Mason-Dixon poll. State Auditor Mike Harmon dropped from 5% in the Mason-Dixon poll to 1.7%.
Craft campaigned in Newport Monday morning, just five weeks before the May 16 primary and as the state grapples with a culture conflict due to recently passed legislation banning gender-affirming care for children.
The conflict is something that some are saying is explicitly used for political gain in a gubernatorial election year, with 12 Republicans vying to unseat Democrat Andy Beshear.
Listen to hear more about the poll and Craft's campaign.
On Wednesday, the legislature convenes for the last two days of the 2023 legislatures session.
They adjourned on March 16 for the 10 day veto period, where the governor vetoed multiple bills including the controversial Senate BIll 150, which will ban gender-affirming care for children.
The legislature will spend its last two days overriding any of the governor’s vetoes, and potentially could pass sports betting or medical cannabis legislation.
On this week’s episode we talked with Ryan Salzman, a political science professor at Northern Kentucky University and Bellevue City Councilman.
The Kentucky legislature passed a bill last week that will place a sweeping ban on gender-affirming care for kids in Kentucky after the legislature snuck in language to another bill and then quickly passed it in an unannounced meeting before moving it through both chambers.
The legislation — which has switched to multiple bill numbers and took a dizzying number of different forms in its final 24 hours — ended up jammed into Senate Bill 150, a bill that originally gave teachers the option to call a student by their chosen pronoun.
The move to pass Senate Bill 150 started in the House when a surprise House Education meeting was called during lunch. The meeting contained HB150 as the sole agend item, but with newly added language similar to a law in South Dakota that bans puberty blockers, gender-affirming surgery, and cross-sex hormones.
The bill was then rushed to the House floor, where a vote quickly took place, but not before Democrats spent nearly two hours trying to stall the bill.
House Minority Whip Rachel Roberts (D-Newport) used a procedural tactic to get the bill off the floor by citing the constitution that a bill can’t contain more than one piece of subject matter.
House Speaker David Osborne struck down similar amendments to fellow Republicans on similar grounds the night before regarding additional amendments to a book bill.
After meeting with the House Counsel and Floor leadership, Osborne said he wouldn’t carry the motion to split the bill.
Roberts also spoke out about the bill on the floor.
In the Senate, the bill passed quickly despite some Senators speaking out against the bill.
A NKY senator was at the center of the strategy to push through an amendment that mirrored what is being called “The South Dakota Law” — a law passed in South Dakota and signed into law by Gov. Kristi Noem in February that bans puberty blockers, gender-affirming surgery, and cross-sex hormones.
The “South Dakota” law idea was introduced Wednesday night in the Senate by Northern Kentucky Sen. Gex Williams (R-Verona) when he filed two amendments to House Bill 470 — the original legislation seeking to ban the use of hormones and surgery to be used for transgender services.
On the Senate floor after voting yes on the passage of SB150, Williams said the bill was about love and concern from rising suicide rates over what he deemed to be issues with transgender people taking drugs to change their biological sex.
The bill passed both chambers and now sits on the governor’s desk. If he vetoes, the legislature can override his veto when they return from the veto period on March 29.
Welcome back to another episode of the Frankfort LINK. I am Mark Payne, the politics and government reporter for LINK nky.
I am coming to you from Frankfort, Kentucky where I am covering the 2023 Kentucky General Assembly Legislative Session and bringing you the political news that matters most to Northern Kentucky.
On today’s episode, we’re going to talk about the first Republican gubernatorial debate held on March 7 at the Henry Clay in Louisville.
Four Republican candidates took to the debate stage: Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, State Auditor Mike Harmon, and Somerset Mayor Alan Keck.
Former U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft declined to participate. Former NKY Attorney Eric Deters said he wasn’t invited. The rest of the field also didn’t participate: David Cooper, Dennis Ray Ormerod, Bob DeVore, Jacob Clark, Johnny Ray Rice, and Robbie Smith.
The candidates debated one floor up from the general audience, which watched from a ballroom with two screens.
Spectrum 1 News’ Mario Anderson modered the event and he asked the candidates the big topics being discussed in state government right now: income tax reduction, teacher shortage, government oversight in the classroom, exceptions to the abortion ban, gender-affirming care in youth, medical marijuana, gun violence, whether the GOP should move on from Donald Trump, and the definition of wokeness.
Most of the candidates agreed on most topics, but there were scarce moments when they didn’t.
Joining me this week to give some analysis on the Frankfort LINK is Shane Noem, the Kenton County Republican Party Chair.
With tears in her eyes, northern Kentucky Rep. Kim Banta (R-Ft. Mitchell) said that she’s worked so hard to prevent conversion therapy in the LGBTQ community.
Just moments after the House Judiciary Committee passed House Bill 470 — which would ban transition services for youth under 18 — Banta said she felt upset.
“I’m really upset for families right now. I’m upset because I feel like we denigrated the medical profession. I feel like we’re making people feel less than and I don’t like that.”
Banta cast one of seven no votes on the committee, with two other NKY legislators — Rep. Kim Moser (R-Taylor Mill) and Rep. Stephanie Dietz (R-Edgewood) also casting no votes.
Moser, the chair of the Health Services, ripped into the bill.
“I understand the desire to keep our kids safe from predatory actions, but I don’t think that’s what’s happening,” Moser said. “I think this is, unfortunately, short-sighted and discriminatory. It sets Kentucky back decades.”
On this episode of the Frankfort LINK, we dig into House Bill 470 and what advocates and proponents of the bill say the bill means for them.
Sports betting is alive in Kentucky’s statehouse after a legislator filed a bill on the final day for House bills to be introduced during the 2023 legislative session.
Rep. Michael Meredith (R-Oakland) filed the bill,which he said is different from last year’s legislation.
The new bill removes online poker, fantasy sports, and instead it focuses solely on sports wagering.
Last year, House Bill 606 died in the Kentucky Senate despite last-minute maneuvering from former NKY Rep. Adam Koenig (R-Erlanger) — the bill’s sponsor. After Koenig lost his primary last May, many wondered who would carry the torch of sports betting in the Kentucky legislature.
Meredith picked up up the baton. In House Bill 551, it clarifies the Horse Racing Commission’s Regulatory Authority and Structure, allowing the tracks to be the main licensees but also allowing them to contract with three sports wagering companies instead of it being just one like in previous bills.
Tax rates will also be the same — 9.75% on in-person bets and 14.25% on mobile and online bets, which were included in last year’s House Bill 606.
The way the new bill is written, for the first 12 months, users will need to register their account at a track, but then users will be able to wage their bets remotely.
While the bill died in the Senate last year, the makeup of the Senate has changed, and Meredith believes they might have some additional support, though he wouldn’t comment on potential votes.
We also talked with former Rep. Adam Koenig — who now as the first-ever executive director of the Kentucky Quarter Horse Racing Association.
A bill that would make Kentucky a Second Amendment sanctuary passed the House Veterans, Military, and Public Protection Committee.
It isn’t the only pro-Second Amendment bill filed so far during the 2023 Kentucky General Assembly legislative session.
Filed by Rep. Josh Bray (R-Mount Vernon), House Bill 153 is a duplicate bill filed last year that would essentially prevent a federal ban on firearms — were it to happen — from applying in Kentucky.
The bill died in the Senate last year, but Bray thinks it’s a matter of timing. He said the bill’s chances are strong this year, as it didn’t pass the House until Day 45 of 60 in a 2022 hectic budget year.
Rep. Savannah Maddox (R-Dry Ridge) supported the bill last year and supports year. She said that the bill’s passing will depend on the Senate.
In Kentucky, 115 out of 120 counties already have Second Amendment sanctuaries in place
While the Rockcastle County legislator thinks HB153’s chances to pass are more likely, this isn’t the only gun bill potentially moving through the Kentucky legislature this year.
Maddox filed two bills this session — one will lower the concealed carry age from 21 to 18 (HB118) and another that will get rid of gun-free zones (HB138)
Maddox also filed the bills last year, and she thinks both bills have more relevance in light of the Feb. 13 shooting at the Michigan State University, where she said law-abiding were unable to defend themselves
There are, however, a couple of bills filed that seek to regulate firearms — both filed by Democrats.
Sponsored by Rep. Lisa Willner (D-Louisville), House Bill 79 would allow the “Kentucky State Police to establish the Kentucky Voluntary Do Not Sell Firearms List to prohibit the possession, sale, or transfer of firearms to individuals who voluntarily request to be added to the list.”
This bill applies more to those trying to prevent self-harm.
Another bill —Senate Bill 84 — would “Create a new section of KRS Chapter 65 to allow urban-county governments and consolidated local governments to regulate firearms and ammunition to reduce gun violence except when state or federal law preempts local governance.”
That bill is sponsored by Sen. Reginald Thomas (D-Lexington).
Last session, a bipartisan piece of legislation called C.A.R.R. — Crisis Aversion and Rights Retention — failed to get a committee hearing.
Sponsored by former Sens. Morgan McGarvey (D-Louisville) and Sen. Paul Hornback (R-Shelbyville), C.A.R.R. would have allowed firearm owners to voluntarily give their firearms over to law enforcement during a crisis. The guns would then be returned.
Opponents, including Maddox, call these types of laws “red flag” laws.
Listen, to hear more on this week's episode.
The Kentucky legislature reconvened for the second part of the 30-day legislative session, and they wasted no time tackling priority legislation for income tax reduction and education.
The Senate passed legislation to further reduce the income tax from 4.5 to 4%, and the bill will now head to the governor’s desk.
House Bill 1 codifies the income tax cuts outlined in House Bill 8 — a bill passed during the 2022 legislative session that seeks to eliminate the income tax over ten years by half percent increments.
Opponents of the bill argue it will blow a hole in the state’s budget due to the roughly $1.2 billion a year in lost revenue.
Gov. Andy Beshear said he would carefully consider the bill when it hits his desk — as he’ll weigh the short and long term consequences of the bill.
Northern Kentucky Senator and Chair of the Senate Approriations and Revenue Committee Chris McDaniel (R-Ryland Heights) said the bill is good policy.
Intending to eliminate the income tax over 10 years, McDaniel also said he sees a path to get down into the three percent range soon.
While the income tax is a piece of priority legislation for the Republican dominated legislature, a bill that seeks to combat ‘wokeness’ in Kentucky schools garnered a lot of passion throughout the state capitol.
Giving an impassioned speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday, Sen. Max Wise (R-Campbellsville) said that “wokeness” is real and is happening in Kentucky schools.
Wise railed against the Kentucky Department of Education and its Commissioner Jason Glass for launching a website in 2022 that he said: “posted resources normalizing and promoting a variety of lifestyles more than creating a positive school culture.”
Specifically, Wise said that the KDE listed on their website information referring to pronouns and preferred pronouns that if a student chooses to go by one name, the teacher doesn’t have to notify the parent.
In response, Wise filed Senate Bill 150 — a bill that gives more broad authority to parents over their student’s education, according to Wise. Parental rights are something that he said shouldn’t be in the hands of the Kentucky Department of Education or the Kentucky Board of Education.
One key part of the bill that Wise refers to as first amendment rights for staff and students would allow teachers to call students the pronouns based on their biological sex and not preferred pronouns.
Miles Joyner, a transgender man and social worker from Louisville, said he regularly works with transgender children and the bill would devastate trans children navigating life in the classroom.
Gov. Andy Beshear visited Northern Kentucky last week to talk to the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s Government forum.
Speaking after the forum, Beshear wouldn’t say if he would veto House Bill 1, the income tax bill set to be taken up by the Senate this week when the Kentucky legislature reconvenes in Frankfort for the second part of the 30-day legislative session.
Beshear said he would look closely at the bill to further reduce the income tax from 4.5 to 4% on Jan. 1, 2024.
Instead, Beshear diverted attention to the sales tax — which increases in certain areas under House Bill 1 to compensate for lost revenue from reducing the income tax.
During his speech, the governor touted the state’s economic accomplishments along with funding for the Brent Spence Bridge companion bridge. He also pitched medical marijuana and teacher raises.
I spoke with LINK nky business reporter Kenton Hornbeck about Beshear’s key points on the economy.
Welcome back to another episode of the Frankfort LINK. I am Mark Payne, the politics and government reporter for LINK nky.
This week I am coming to you from Covington, Kentucky, home of LINK nky headquarters.
When I talked on the first episode of the new Frankfort LINK, I mentioned that some changes were afoot. One of those changes mentioned is that we won’t just talk about Frankfort — we will talk about politics in Northern Kentucky.
That means sometimes we will be keeping an eye on our U.S. Senators — Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell — and NKY’s Representative Thomas Massie.
This week we take a look at our nation’s capital and the new Congress, specifically Massie’s new committee roles in the House.
Known for his “no” votes on legislation, Thomas Massie, who represents the fourth congressional district that includes Northern Kentucky, has recently been named to two powerful committees in the new Republican majority U.S. House.
After Republicans gained control of the House in the 2022 midterms, they spent the early part of the year negotiating for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as the new Speaker of the House.
Rep. McCarthy named Massie to the powerful Rules Committee and the new Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
The Weaponization Committee is a move by Republicans to examine whether government entities and social media companies have led an effort to silence Republicans at all levels of government.
But, the Rules committee is where Rep. Massie could hold significant sway. Every bill that comes out of committee goes through the Rules committee before it heads to the House floor for a vote. The committee determines the rules of debate, the timing of the vote, and whether amendments will be allowed and which ones.
On this episode, Massie talks about his new roles and his goals while serving on the committees.
Kentuckian David Royce lost his son to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, that’s killing Americans an alarming rate.
Speaking to the House and Senate’s Health Services Committee last week, Royce said that Kentuckians don’t have to keep dieing and he challenged to continue to fight the epidemic.
As Kentucky continues to fight the opioid epidemic, the state is is set to get $842 million in settlement from the opioid abatement settlement program.
While that settlement is substantial, it’s just a drop in the bucket of what is needed compared to the overall scope of the problem, according to Bryan Hubbard, chair and executive director of the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission.
Presenting the latest information on the settlement to a joint meeting of the House and Senate’s Health Services Committee, Hubbard outlined the details of the settlement said he hoped to see improvements in treatment programs coming from the money.
Chair of the House Health Services Committee Rep. Kim Moser (R-Taylor Mill) said that she is happy with the progress the state is making, but there’s more work to be done. She also talked about the fight against opioids in northern Kentucky.
This week, the Kentucky Supreme Court held its investiture services for its new justices and chief justice.
On Monday, new Chief Justice Laurence B. VanMeter was sworn in by former Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr., who held the position for 14 years. Gov. Andy Beshear, Senate President Robert Stivers, and Speaker of the House David W. Osborne spoke at the ceremony.
Elsewhere in the capitol, Gov. Andy Beshear weighed in on a lawsuit filed over charter schools.
On Jan. 6, the Council for Better Education and two boards of education filed a lawsuit in Franklin County Circuit Court against the Department of Education over House Bill 9 — the charter school bill passed by the legislature last year.
The Dayton Independent Board of Education and Jefferson County Board of Education joined the lawsuit, which seeks to block the implementation of House Bill 9 — the bill that created a funding mechanism for charter schools and the state's pilot charter school program.
As part of the pilot school program, Northern Kentucky and Jefferson County are required to approve a charter school.
Educators and the Department of Education have questioned the law's constitutionality since its passage last spring.
On this episode of the Frankfort LINK, Politics and Government reporter Mark Payne talks about Gov. Andy Beshear's State of the Commonwealth Address and the Republican response to the address.
He interviews Sen. John Schickel (R-Union) and Rep. Stephanie Dietz (R-Edgewood) about President Joe Biden's visit to talk about $1.6 billion in funding for the new Brent Spence Bridge.