{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"The News Journal","provider_url":"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net","title":"Conservatives need balanced perspective on election &ndash; The News Journal","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"JeR5XiA9fs\"><a href=\"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net\/conservatives-need-balanced-perspective-on-election\/\">Conservatives need balanced perspective on election<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net\/conservatives-need-balanced-perspective-on-election\/embed\/#?secret=JeR5XiA9fs\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;Conservatives need balanced perspective on election&#8221; &#8212; The News Journal\" data-secret=\"JeR5XiA9fs\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/* ]]> *\/\n<\/script>\n","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Jim-Waters-beacon.jpg","thumbnail_width":234,"thumbnail_height":84,"description":"Former University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino once complained about Wildcat fans who were \u201cconsumed by (the University of) Louisville,\u201d meaning a loss to their rivals in November leaves a permanent asterisk next to an entirely otherwise successful 30-win season culminating in a championship in March. It\u2019s not that the UK-U of L matchup doesn\u2019t count, but so do the other 29 wins. Conservatives should transfer that perspective from the basketball hardwood to the political arena when assessing what happened on election night in the races for Kentucky\u2019s six statewide constitutional offices. Republican incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin\u2019s loss \u2013 barring resurrection-by-recount \u2013 to Democrat Andy Beshear matters, but should be tempered with the realization that this is no big sweep for the political left. It was, in fact, the equivalent of a hugely successful season for center-right candidates who ran largely as happy conservative warriors and won big \u2013 and often \u2013 on championship night. Daniel Cameron beat former Attorney General Greg Stumbo by 16 points to become the first conservative to hold the commonwealth\u2019s chief law enforcement position since World War Two. Incumbents Allison Ball, Mike Harmon and Ryan Quarles all won reelection to the offices of state treasurer, auditor and agriculture commissioner, respectively, with large majorities. Plus, on a night when the newest version of the UK basketball gods brought down top-ranked Michigan State, election-law attorney Michael Adams was beating former Miss America Heather French Henry to become Kentucky\u2019s next secretary of state. These important GOP victories mean Gov.-elect Beshear will not have the same partisan advantages enjoyed by his father. Old-line Democrats like Stumbo and Bowling Green\u2019s Jody Richards \u2013 both of whom served tenures as House Speaker and spent a combined 72 years in the legislature \u2013 are no longer around to play backup for a left-leaning governor. Beshear also might soon be stepping on constitutionally ensconced separation of powers. He spoke during the campaign of replacing state Board of Education members \u201con day one\u201d who would then be expected to \u201cselect a new commissioner on day two.\u201d This may just seem like political mumbo jumbo designed to pander to teachers\u2019 unions, which adamantly oppose the school choice and accountability measures endorsed by the current board and its commissioner, Wayne Lewis, Ph.D.. After all, I thought, these board members are appointed for four-year terms and no one can come in and force his ideological views on an established board. But could Beshear skirt the rules with executive orders to undo Bevin\u2019s policies and reconfigure the state education board? Beshear wants to push out Lewis, the first black education commissioner in Kentucky\u2019s history, primarily because the governor-elect\u2019s union-masters\u2019 ideology clashes with the commissioner\u2019s support for giving parents more school choice options. The possibility of (mis)using executive-order power to expand gambling and legalize \u2013 and tax \u2013 medical marijuana seems to energize Beshear much more than, say, dealing with the tough issues Lewis has taken on, including closing Kentucky\u2019s education-achievement gaps and strengthening graduation standards so that high-school graduates don\u2019t find out too late that their diplomas aren\u2019t worth the paper on which they\u2019re printed. Beshear\u2019s default answer for these tough problems is to tritely characterize them in terms of inadequate funding. Yet despite the fact that $10 billion of the current General Fund budget\u2019s $23.4 billion will get spent on K-12 education alone, fewer than one in three of Kentucky\u2019s high-school students who qualify for free-and-reduced cost lunches read proficiently. If Beshear does get rid of the state board and Lewis, will the new governor\u2019s playbook contain a viable plan for getting our students reading proficiently and graduating with meaningful diplomas? Doing so would mean Beshear has, indeed, found something worth releasing at least by \u201cday two\u201d that will be worth the paper on which it\u2019s printed. Jim Waters is president and CEO of the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions, Kentucky\u2019s free-market think tank. Read previous columns at www.bipps.org. He can be reached at jwaters@freedomkentucky.com and @bipps on Twitter."}