Beshear: No One Snubbed During Obama Fort Campbell Visit

by Stu Johnson, Kentucky Public RadioKentucky Governor Steve Behsear confirmed he did not receive a formal invitation to participate when President Barack Obama visited Fort Campbell just before Derby Day earlier this year.At the time, Beshear did not talk about not receiving an invitation. But the governor said Thursday it was not an attempt to mislead the public for political gain. "Our work to try and get there and the fact that we couldn’t get there had nothing to do with politics as far as I’m concerned. The president didn’t snub me. I didn’t snub the president. It simply was a quick visit that the president planned," said Beshear. Beshear reiterated during a news conference at the capital, he and his staff scrambled to rework his schedule, but it couldn’t be changed. The governor says he’s not aware of any invitations going out for the Fort Campbell event. Plus, he says security was also an issue. "I think that was probably one of the reasons why there weren’t a lot of invitations or invitation sent because I think there was some security surrounding those guys as well. But, No it was simply a matter of it happened quickly. We tried to juggle things around to be there if we could and we just couldn’t work it out," he said. On his campaign website, Republican gubernatorial candidate David Williams accuses the governor of lying. The state Senate president is quoted as saying tBeshear has been ‘caught lying in a cynical effort to gain favor with Kentucky voters of don’t approve of Barack Obama.’