Our View: Veto overrides show backbone of lawmakers
Published 8:10 am Friday, March 31, 2017
When the Kentucky General Assembly voted earlier this week to override four of Gov. Matt Bevin’s vetoes it may have seemed to some as just another tiny blip on the political radar.
Make no mistake, this was in fact a resounding confirmation our state constitution is working as intended.
“Bevin had vetoed a provision in a bill that redirects funding to charter schools from a legal settlement with Volkswagen. He also vetoed bills that would allow the mentally ill to avoid involuntary commitment to treatment facilities, that would allow local governments to impose restrictions on where drones can fly, and that would rename more than 50 bridges and roads across the state” according to reports from our partners at Kentucky Today.
We can see both sides of the argument for these four pieces of legislation and certainly do not have any great concerns now that they have passed.
The important element we hope doesn’t get lost in all this is that even with one-party rule in the House, Senate and governor’s mansion, lawmakers voted their conscience and did what they felt was right.
The overrides came from both sides of the aisle and became a bipartisan effort.
Since this is the first time Republicans have controlled all three branches of government in nearly 100 years, we simply didn’t know what we would get with this legislative session.
Although we feel our lawmakers certainly focused on conservative issues as a key part of their agenda, it is difficult to argue they didn’t represent their constituents.
Our democracy — at a local, state and national level — only works when our elected leaders are truly “for the people” they represent and do not let political factions and ideological divides erode any hope of common ground and compromise.
We still have a long way to go to make this happen in Washington, D.C. but it is certainly encouraging to see our government system working well here in the Commonwealth.