Second lawmaker says Bevin asked him to switch parties [View all]

FRANKFORT -- A second Democratic state lawmaker now claims Republican Gov. Matt Bevin tried to persuade him to switch parties and that the governor’s chief of staff threatened to punish him politically when he refused.

Rep. Russ Meyer, D-Nicholasville, said Bevin and his chief of staff, Blake Brickman, lobbied him to switch parties last December shortly after Bevin took office and at a time Republicans hoped to flip enough Democrats to take control of the House of Representatives.

Meyer said he ultimately told Bevin he couldn’t switch parties but wanted to work with the new administration in a bipartisan manner to get things done.

Meyer said Bevin “was pretty nice about it” during their initial discussion and gave him a day to think it over.

But when Meyer called Brickman the next day to say he wouldn’t switch parties, Brickman “just went completely off the rails,” calling Meyer “an Obama-loving baby killer (who) picked (Democratic House Speaker Greg) Stumbo over Bevin.”

Read more: http://www.dailyindependent.com/news/second-lawmaker-says-bevin-asked-him-to-switch-parties/article_0855b572-6c7b-11e6-badb-fb5af6548b78.html