Committee asks Kentucky governor to respond to impeachment charges

(The Center Square) – A special committee created to review an impeachment petition against Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has given him until Jan. 22 to respond in writing to the claims against him. Meanwhile, the committee has also received a similar petition against a state lawmaker.

Committee Chairman state Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, sent the formal invitation to Amy Cubbage, Beshear’s general counsel, in a letter dated Thursday.

“Your participation will assist the committee with its task of evaluating the merits of the petitioners’ allegations,” he wrote.

The seven-member state House panel met for the first time Wednesday evening after the General Assembly adjourned until February. The committee will meet, however, during that recess.

After the committee gets Beshear’s response, Nemes said petitioners will get a chance to review that and respond themselves in writing by Jan. 26.

The committee will then hold its next meeting Jan. 27.

Neither Beshear’s response nor the petitioners’ will be made public until the committee reviews the documents, Nemes said at Wednesday’s meeting.

The committee will make the determination if the impeachment proceedings should advance to the full House.

Four individuals submitted a 58-page petition to House Speaker David Osborne last Friday. The document charges Beshear with eight violations of the Kentucky and U.S. Constitutions with orders he implemented as part of the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beshear, the petition claims, is “acting as a one-man legislature” and declined to bring the General Assembly back into session to enact laws. Some of those laws violated Kentuckians’ civil rights, they said. They also claim changes in voting procedures to expand absentee voting were unconstitutional.

Under Kentucky law, if the committee recommends not to proceed and the House does not override that decision, the petitioners will bear the costs of the committee.

Also on Wednesday, the House referred another impeachment petition to the committee, this one against a sitting representative.

Eight individuals charge state Rep. Robert Goforth, R-East Bernstadt, with a breach of public trust in connection to his arrest on domestic abuse charges last April. At that time, he was accused of trying to strangle his wife. They also claim he sent out a letter supposedly written by his wife to voters across his southeastern Kentucky district and influence the case.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported Thursday that police have lost a copy of their interview with Goforth’s wife.

Goforth, who made a surprising challenge against then Gov. Matt Bevin in the 2019 GOP primary and then won re-election last November, in a statement to The Louisville Courier-Journal called the petition frivolous and added he expects similar petitions to be made against members of both parties “considering the amped up political climate we are currently in.”

It’s uncertain when the committee may take up that petition.

“No decisions have been made concerning that petition,” Nemes told The Center Square via text Thursday.

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