page_title: Steve Beshear
section_title: Other matters of 2008
hierarchical_section_title: Steve Beshear / Governorship / Other matters of 2008
caption_attribution_description: A "Zap" Concept at the Chicago Auto Show, 2007, held in the McCormick Place convention center.
context_page_description: Steven Lynn Beshear is an American attorney and politician who served as the 61st governor of Kentucky from 2007 to 2015. He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1974 to 1980, was the state's 44th attorney general from 1980 to 1983, and was the 49th lieutenant governor from 1983 to 1987.
  After graduating from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1968, Beshear briefly practiced law in New York before returning to Kentucky and being elected to the state legislature, where he gained a reputation as a consumer advocate. He parlayed that reputation into a term as attorney general, serving under Governor John Y. Brown Jr. As attorney general, Beshear issued an opinion that copies of the Ten Commandments must be removed from the walls of the state's classrooms in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Stone v. Graham. He also clashed with first lady Phyllis George Brown when he opposed the practice of charging an admission fee for visitors to view the renovated governor's mansion. In 1983, Beshear was elected lieutenant governor in the administration of Governor Martha Layne Collins.
context_section_description: Following the legislative session, Beshear began to address his agenda related to energy production. In April 2008, he announced that he would divide the state's Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet to form a new Energy and Environmental Cabinet. The move essentially reversed the consolidation of Environmental, Public Protection, and Labor Cabinets effected under Beshear's predecessor, Ernie Fletcher. Later in the year, Beshear released what he called the state's first-ever comprehensive energy plan. The plan called for expansion of solar, wind, and biomass energy generation, as well as more speculative ventures such as coal gasification and carbon capture and sequestration. Although the plan called for an exploration of the use of nuclear power, Beshear stopped short of advocating an end to the state's ban on the construction of nuclear reactors.
  Hoping to attract a proposed ZAP electric vehicle manufacturing plant to the city of Franklin, Kentucky, Beshear issued an executive order permitting low-speed vehicles on many Kentucky roads in August 2008. The state also offered the company $48 million in tax incentives, contingent upon its delivering a promised 4,000 jobs. Construction of the proposed plant stalled, however, when GE Capital, a primary investor, pulled out of the project. ZAP officials maintained their intention to build the plant, but said they would also consider other states' proposals if they could not replace the $125 million commitment from GE.
  Beshear clashed with the state Council on Postsecondary Education over its hiring of Brad Cowgill as its president. Beshear said state law required that the Council conduct a national search for its president and that they hire someone with experience and an established reputation in higher education; he claimed that Cowgill, a Lexington lawyer and state budget director for former Governor Fletcher, was not qualified for the position and that the council hired him without a national search. Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway issued a non-binding opinion that the hiring was illegal under state law, and Cowgill resigned rather than wage a legal battle with Beshear. Beshear, who had considered asking all of the council members to resign or abolishing the council altogether in favor of a new one, praised Cowgill's decision. Democratic House Budget Committee Chairman Harry Moberly said Cowgill "had the council headed in the right direction" and added "I would have been satisfied if Brad had the permanent position, but I do not criticize the governor for the role he had played [in Cowgill's resignation]." Senate President David Williams called Beshear's interference in the matter "unfortunate".
  In September 2008, Beshear's administration attempted to seize control of 141 gambling-related domain names in an attempt to block Kentucky residents from accessing those websites. Beshear claimed the sites were conducting illegal, unregulated gambling operations in the state and providing untaxed competition to the state's horse racing industry. Later that year, a Franklin County judge ruled that Beshear had the authority to seize the domain names, but the Kentucky Court of Appeals overturned that ruling on appeal. Beshear appealed to the Kentucky Supreme Court, partially on grounds that the web site owners were being represented by gambling associations and players groups who Beshear said had no legal standing in the case. In 2010, the Kentucky Supreme Court agreed with Beshear and ordered the web site owners themselves to appear before the court. On December 23, 2015, Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate ruled in favor of the state and awarded it $870 million in damages. The other party to the case, Amaya Gaming, announced they would appeal the decision.
caption: ZAP cars like this one would have been manufactured in Kentucky before the proposed factory lost its funding
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