FRANKFORT, Ky. – Republican Gov. Matt Bevin on Wednesday angrily denounced as “an absolute lie” the recently reported comments of Democratic state Rep. Kevin Sinnette who said Bevin tried to bully him into switching to the Republican Party last December.
But later Wednesday Sinnette stood firmly behind his comments during a meeting he said he had with Bevin at the Governor’s Mansion on Dec. 28.
At issue is a report by CNHI News on July 1 in which Sinnette, of Ashland, said Bevin threatened him politically and attacked him personally when he declined Bevin’s request that he switch parties as part of the GOP’s effort to take control of the Kentucky House of Representatives.
In that original CNHI report, Jessica Ditto, Bevin’s communications director, said the allegations were not true but declined to elaborate.
At a news conference in the Capitol on Wednesday, Bevin said of Sinnette’s comment, “It was an absolute lie” not corroborated by anyone in the story. “The reality is people lie about things. I absolutely, categorically, deny every bit of that drivel. It was partisan. It was pathetic,” Bevin said.
Sinnette, however, stood behind his comments to CNHI in a telephone interview later Wednesday with The Courier-Journal. He even said he would be willing to repeat his account of the meeting under oath.
“I absolutely stand behind my comments. And I’m very disappointed the governor’s resulted to name-calling,” Sinnette said.
Sinnette said he met with Bevin and others he declined to identify in the mansion basement at about 8 p.m. Dec. 28 – a time when the GOP had already seen two Democratic representatives – Denny Butler of Louisville and Jim Gooch of Providence – who switched to the Republican side.
Sinnette gave the same account to The Courier-Journal he previously gave to CNHI News. He said his conversation with Bevin began with some friendly small talk, but the governor then said his own election last November was a mandate for his Republican agenda. “He said the people had spoken, that I need to get on the change train and switch parties, and if I don’t, he would do everything in his power to take me down and get me beat …” Sinnette said. “I felt like I was being talked down to, like I was ignorant, hillbillyish.”