by Phillip M. Bailey, Louisville Courier Journal –
This story is developing and will be updated.
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin is again siding against the Republican Party, but this time it involves a former prep school classmate who is running for Congress in Maine and supports abortion rights.
Independent state Rep. Marty Grohman is in a three-way contest for Maine’s 1st Congressional District seat against Democratic incumbent Chellie Pingree and Republican Mark Holbrook.
Bevin and Grohman attended the Gould Academy, a private boarding school in Maine.
Grohman, who left the state Democratic Party in September 2017, supports abortion rights and has twice earned a 100 percent rating from the Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund since being elected to the state’s Legislature in 2014, according to Vote Smart, which collects information on candidates.
Bevin, a social conservative, has fought to restrict access to abortion in Kentucky. He has regularly aired his views on cultural issues, including his opposition to abortion.
“It is an honor to be governor of a state that so overwhelmingly values the sanctity of life,” Bevin said in a tweet last year.
Yet Bevin donated $1,000 to Grohman’s congressional campaign in May, according to federal campaign finance records. It is the first and only gift the governor has given to an individual candidate since being elected in November 2015.
Federal Election Commission records show in December 2017 Bevin gave roughly $20,600 to the Republican Party of Kentucky.
Bevin is also mentioned on Grohman’s website as one of two Republican governors — along with Maine Gov. Paul LePage — supporting the campaign.
Bevin’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. Grohman did not immediately respond to a request left on his cell phone and at his campaign office seeking comment Monday.
Teresa Tumidajski, executive director of Maine Right to Life, told the Courier Journal on Monday that Grohman’s legislative record is considered supportive of abortion rights by her organization.
“I don’t understand why they’re backing him rather than the pro-life candidate,” she said. “Being pro-life, we consider that the most important right and fight — protecting the unborn.”
Bevin is often mentioned as a presidential contender, and has caught the attention of national commentators. On Sunday, radio show host Mark Levin teased a Fox News interview with the Kentucky Republican by asking, “Future president?”
As governor, Bevin has tried to eliminate abortions by using a state law that required clinics to have written agreements with an ambulance service and hospital for emergencies.
A federal judge ruled last Friday, however, that the Bevin administration misused the regulation to try to close EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville, which is the state’s last operating abortion clinic. The decision struck down the law as unconstitutional, ruling that the agreements are unnecessary and pose a barrier to women seeking legal abortions.
A Bevin spokeswoman has said the administration plans to appeal to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Bevin’s involvement in the Maine race isn’t the first time he has been at odds with his own party.
In Kentucky, he headlined a September fundraiser for Stacie Earl, an independent running against Republican nominee C. Ed Massey for a state House seat in Boone County. The state GOP is looking to hold onto its majority in the chamber, which it snatched from Democrats for the first time in nearly a century in 2016.
Bevin’s support for Earl drew the ire of some top Republican legislators, including former House Speaker Jeff Hoover of Jamestown, who sent a group text message to House GOP leaders asking them to speak out against the governor.
House Speaker Pro Tem David Osborne, of Prospect, said he expressed his displeasure with the governor’s office. He told the Courier Journal last month that if the state GOP wants to continue its policy momentum, it needs to elect Republicans.
“We don’t elect Democrats, we don’t elect independents, we elect Republicans,” Osborne said.
But Bevin and Grohman have personal ties dating to their adolescence when the two graduated from the Gould Academy in 1985. In the school’s yearbook, a copy of which is on Classmates.com, Bevin wrote a goodbye personally addressed to Grohman and seven other classmates.
The two men also appear to have had a business relationship leading up to their respective political careers.
After graduating from Gould Academy, Grohman worked as a chemical engineer until he founded a decking material company called CorrectDeck in 1999, according to his campaign website.
An April 2012 article in Merchant Magazine said Bevin had been president and chairman of CorrectDeck.
Bevin ran for U.S. Senate against then-Minority Leader Mitch McConnell two years later. His Senate disclosure records said he was the majority owner of Integrity Composites, which is what CorrectDeck became, with a stake between $250,001 and $500,000.
Reporter Phillip M. Bailey can be reached at 502-582-4475 or [email protected]. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/philb.
