In a local radio interview on Tuesday, Gov. Matt Bevin (R-KY) appeared to suggest that teachers in his state only launched protests against his administration so that they could get time off from work.
"The same bill came forward again this summer when nobody was in school, and nobody showed up," Bevin told right-wing talk radio host Brian Thomas. "When it's vacation time, people are a little less worked up it seems."
Teachers across Kentucky staged so-called "sickouts" in response to a Bevin-backed plan in the state legislature that would massively scale back teacher pensions — cuts that were ultimately ruled illegal by the Kentucky Supreme Court (in fact, the bill that was introduced this summer was not actually "the same bill," and was a much more modest change to state pensions).
At the time, Bevin scorned the protesting teachers, even suggesting that it's their fault if students get molested while no one is at school to watch them.
State Attorney General Andy Beshear, the Democrat challenging Bevin for the governor's mansion, fired off a scathing response to Bevin's insulting remarks:
Bevin, an ardent support of President Donald Trump, consistently polls as the least popular governor in America due to his unpopular public benefits proposals and his alienation of fellow Republicans with petty feuds. The election will take place this November.