By Linda Waggener, assistant director of university communications
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Democratic candidate for governor Steve Beshear spoke to an audience of students, faculty, staff and interested citizens in the final gubernatorial candidate forum recently on the CU Campus.
Beshear told the audience that he is not satisfied with the status of Kentucky in comparison to other states. He plans to improve the main areas of need with money brought back into Kentucky through expanded gaming facilities rather than through raising taxes.
“Education will be put first in our administration,” he said, “including the state’s first scholarship forgivable loan program with the payback tied to an incentive to stay in Kentucky.”
In addition, he said he believes in early childhood development education.
“A lot of kids do not get advantages that mine got in terms of early childhood development and early childhood education. Kids who do not get help in the early years have much less chance of success,” Beshear said.
“If we don’t invest in early childhood education, and on up to the high school level, we end up spending a lot more money down the road on prisons,” he said. “Kentucky’s dropout rate is too high. I want to get together with citizen groups and figure out what we need to do to solve this problem.”
Beshear said that expanding business and jobs creation would also be a priority. “I know how to run a business and what it takes to make one survive,” he said, “and we don’t need to go out of state to recruit jobs to Kentucky. We need to work with our own small businesses and help them create more jobs right here at home.”
On the subject of health care improvement, he said, “I want to see every citizen have available and affordable health care insurance, starting with uninsured kids and a plan of action for seniors prescription medicine costs.”
The gubernatorial candidate series was sponsored by CU’s Kentucky Heartland Institute on Public Policy and Team Taylor County. Three local banks (Citizens Bank and Trust, Community Trust Bank and Taylor County Bank) provided financial support to help defray expenses associated with the series.
The overview was presented by John Chowning, vice president for church and external relations and executive assistant to the president; welcome by Dr. Mary Wilgus, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and history professor, and the invocation by the Rev. Dave Walters, CU vice president for admissions and student services and pastor of the Lowell Avenue Baptist Church.
Mark Johnson, president of Citizens Bank and Trust Company, one of three local banks helping with candidate forum sponsorship, gave the introduction of Beshear.
For information on this or any of the candidates’ presentations, contact John Chowning (270) 789-5520.
Campbellsville University, now celebrating her Centennial year, is a private, comprehensive institution located in South Central Kentucky. Founded in 1906, Campbellsville University is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and has an enrollment of 2,310 students who represent 100 Kentucky counties, 32 states and 28 foreign nations. Listed in U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” 14 consecutive years as one of the leading Southern master’s colleges and universities, Campbellsville University is located 82 miles southwest of Lexington, Ky., and 80 miles southeast of Louisville, Ky. Dr. Michael V. Carter is in his eighth year as president.