Bevin should learn from legal setback

From the Herald-Leader:

Gov. Matt Bevin’s power grabs keep backfiring. A judge last week dismantled Bevin’s rationale for upending the University of Louisville Board of Trustees, which should serve as a wake-up call: If Bevin hopes to accomplish his goals, he will have to stop undermining them by overreaching his authority.

...The judge noted that Bevin had “numerous management tools” at hand to address U of L’s problems, tools that earlier governors used effectively.

Indeed, Kentucky governors have far-reaching power without flouting the law. The administration said it will appeal. But if Bevin wants more than court battles and conflict, he instead should use the tools he already has.

Pension board right to take on Bevin

From the Herald-Leader:

After the session, with a stroke of his executive pen, Bevin abolished the (Kentucky Retirement Systems) board and reformed it to give himself control.

...“The governor has granted himself extraordinary new powers over a board that is supposed to be insulated from political interference,” Jim Carroll, a spokesman for the retirees’ watchdog group, Kentucky Government Retirees, said. The group urged the “legitimate board” to go to court to oppose Bevin’s action.

...Without doubt, it would be better if the $50,000 going to defend Elliott’s place on the board remained in the struggling trust fund to pay retirement benefits. But Bevin picked this fight, leaving KRS management few choices but to turn to the courts to determine who is in charge.

Bevin had no legal grounds for punishing Planned Parenthood

A good editorial from the Herald-Leader:

“Defies reason” is how a circuit judge described the Bevin administration’s claim that Planned Parenthood was illegally providing abortions in Louisville.

In throwing out Bevin’s attempt to punish Planned Parenthood with more than $500,000 in fines, Jefferson Circuit Judge Mitch Perry found that, contrary to the administration’s accusations, Planned Parenthood complied with all applicable laws and regulations. And, the judge said, so did the Cabinet for Health and Family Services when it gave the nonprofit the go-ahead late last year to to open its new abortion clinic.

Only after Republican Matt Bevin became governor did the cabinet withdraw its approval and cite Planned Parenthood for “willfully” violating licensing requirements.