Steve Beshear

From FreedomKentucky


Steve Beshear

Birthdate: September 21, 1944
Office: Governor
Assumed Office: December 11, 2007
Political Party: Democrat
Past Experience
Office: Lieutenant Governor (1988)
Occupation: Attorney
Contact Information
Location: Lexington, Ky
Email: n/a
Phone: (502) 564-2611

Steven Lynn Beshear is a Democrat who is the 61st governor of the state of Kentucky. Before serving as the state's governor he also served as a member of the state House of Representatives, as the state's Attorney General, and as lieutenant governor.

In 2009, Beshear received a salary of $124,498 for his services as governor ^[1]

1 Career History
2 Issues
- 2.1 The Second Amendment
3 Campaign Promises
4 Beshear on Gambling
5 Links
6 References

Career History

Steven Beshear attended the University of Kentucky where he earned a bachelors degree and also attended law school. ^[2] In 1974 he was elected in the the Kentucky House of Representatives where he served until 1979. After serving in the legislature, he was elected Kentucky's Attorney General in 1979. ^[3]

Beshear served the state as lieutenant governor beginning in 1983 under Martha Layne Collins.

His time as 2nd in command was followed by unsuccessful attempts to become the governor in 1987 and U.S senator in 1996.

In 2007 Beshear defeated incumbent candidate Ernie Fletcher in a landslide victory to become the state's 61st governor.

Issues

The Second Amendment

Beshear received an A rating from the NRA during the 2007 election cycle.

Campaign Promises

Policy Area: Accountability
Promise: An efficiency study would be conducted.
Status: Study has not been conducted. State employees were asked for suggestions about cost cutting measures however very few of those were taken into consideration. Read more about these suggestions here.
Timeline: No timeline has been established

Policy Area: Transparency
Promise: Beshear campaigned on the promise of promoting transparency in state government.
Status: A task force has been established to study the effects and feasibility of putting the governments expenditures online. This "E-Transparency task force is charged with producing a website called Kentucky's Open Door which is supposed to house all of the state expenditures that can be legally placed on the internet. Meetings regarding public expenditures were scheduled while the leader of the movement, Secretary of State Trey Grayson, was unable to attend.
Timeline: No time frame has been established at this time

Policy Area: Taxes
Promise: During his campaign, Beshear vowed not to raise taxes as a means for increasing state revenue. He instead proposed a plan to increase revenues through passing a series of gaming laws.^[4] He expressed with certainty they would be passed.
Status: Beshear is currently considering a significant tobacco tax increase after the attempt at passing gaming legislation failed.^[5]
Timeline: No time frame for success has been outlined.

Beshear on Gambling

In September 2008, Steve Beshear garnered national attention on actions he took regarding gambling. Beshear took action to seize over 140 internet gambling websites. Read more here...