FRANKFORT, Ky. (WHAS11) -- Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin called the Beshear family "corrupt" Monday and insisted he's the one fighting for teachers and education.
The comments at the Governor's Mansion followed the release of a new ad by Andy Beshear's campaign accusing Governor Bevin of trying to close schools and bully teachers.
Education and teachers were already hot button issues in this campaign, but the issue was ratcheted up by both sides with Bevin taking issue with those who accuse him of trying to hurt teachers.
On the steps of the mansion, Governor Bevin unveiled a two-and-a-half-minute video looking to dispel what he described as lies told about him in his nearly four years in office.
The Beshear-Coleman campaign also launched an ad claiming Bevin education cuts would turn the lights out on schools.
Just last week Attorney General Andy Beshear described the governor's actions as "bullying" as he promised to give raises to public school teachers. At the time he did not give specifics as to from where all of the money would come.
"This funding is going to be included in our very first budget that we will offer in January,” Beshear said.
"The reality is he’s doing what his father did--he's lying to people,” Bevin said in response to Beshear’s plan. “He's giving the impression that he's advocating on their behalf when he's not and there's no way he can even begin to deliver on that without taking the money from somewhere else.”
The Beshear-Coleman campaign manager released a statement saying, "Matt Bevin can't run and hide from his disastrous record of bullying teachers, tearing down public education and trying to illegally cut pensions."
Bevin argues that his administration is the first to fully fund pensions, guarantee lottery money is used for education and the pension fights are to save a system that won't live up to promises if not fixed.
And he had this to say about the teacher's union:
"It's about them having control of the union dues associated with their organization. It's a really good question--why would they be funding somebody who's undermining their own self-interest? Because the people that are making the decisions at the KEA don't give a rip about their membership. They don't care about the average teacher, they care about their money, they care about their dues, the KEA doesn't care about the teachers or their retirement, they won’t be around.”
The Beshear-Coleman ad is playing now, the new Bevin video was launched online--too long to be a typical political ad.