LEXINGTON, Ky. _ A defiant Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Tuesday said he will not bow to fear and intimidation after protesters hung an effigy of him from a tree Sunday at the end of a 2nd Amendment rally on the Capitol grounds in Frankfort.
"I will not be afraid, I will not be bullied and I will not back down," Beshear said.
At the beginning of his regular 5 p.m. news conference to update Kentuckians on COVID-19, Beshear took about 10 minutes to talk about the incident.
Facing the COVID recession, Beshear must cut $618 million in state spending by June 30
He put the blame on a group known as the 3 Percenters and politicians who attended previous rallies at the Capitol in protest of Beshear. He mentioned no specific names.
"You cannot fan the flames and then condemn the fire," said Beshear of the politicians who have rallied with others against him at the Capitol.
Pictures and videos taken during the protest showed an effigy of the Democratic governor that was hung in a tree along with a sign that read "Sic Semper Tyrannis."
That is a Latin phase that translates to, "thus always to tyrants." John Wilkes Booth wrote in his diary that he shouted the phrase after shooting President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, in part because of its association with the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC.
Kentucky first lady Britainy Beshear posted on her Facebook page appreciation to a group of people who showed support Monday in front of the Governor's Mansion for the governor and his family.
"Love always wins over hate," she said. "The Kentuckians who stood in front of our home today with signs of encouragement and positivity have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated."
Before his comments about the hanging incident Tuesday, Beshear had the sign language interpreter show how to express "love not hate" in sign language.
He then said he wanted to talk about "what went on Sunday." He said he had written the thoughts he wanted to convey.
He said he thought about when he won the governor's election last November and realized how his life and that of his wife and two young children were going to change.
Beshear said his wife and he decided to move from Louisville into the Governor's Mansion near the Capitol at the request of the community and in an attempt to unify Kentucky. It marked the first time a family has lived in the residence in 30 years.
The governor said he wondered how his children would react to the move but he never questioned their personal safety.
Then Sunday happened, said Beshear.
A right-wing militia called the 3 Percenters crossed barriers in front of the Governor's Mansion, stood on the home's front porch and "just a window pane away from where my kids play, the mob chanted and heckled." He said thankfully his children, 10 and 9, were not at home.
That's when the hanging incident occurred.
He said it was "a celebration of assassination on our Capitol grounds" and called it an action to create fear and terror.
"This small group, way less than 3 percent, is trying to bully everyone else in doing what they want us to do."
But the group "didn't get there alone. They had been embraced and emboldened by elected leaders that rallied with them weeks before." He noted that he had been called a non-Christian and a person who wanted babies murdered.
"Shouldn't they have known what was going to happen?" asked Beshear.
The 3 Percenters is a far-right militia movement and paramilitary group that advocates gun rights and resistance to the federal government's involvement in local affairs. It claims only 3% of American colonists took up arms against the British in the Revolutionary War.
The Kentucky Democratic Party on Tuesday called on Republican state Rep. Savannah Maddox of Dry Ridge to resign, claiming she is cozy with a white supremacy group that it said did the hanging.
If she does not resign on her own, said state Democratic Party chair Ben Self, House Speaker David Osborne and Senate President Robert Stivers should call on her to resign from the legislature.
Maddox said she condemns "all acts of hatred" and has no plans to resign.
"As a direct result of the Kentucky Democratic Party's reckless but deliberate attempt to vilify me and distract Kentuckians from their failed liberal agenda, I have received thousands of hateful messages, nasty phone calls, and a litany of vile comments targeting myself and my family," Maddox said in an email to the Herald-Leader. "I did not attend Sunday's protest, and am not involved or affiliated with the individuals who engaged in this malicious action toward Gov. Beshear. I condemn all acts of hatred that further polarize Kentucky's political environment, and look forward to working with House and Senate members during the Interim to get Kentucky back on track."
Beshear did not specifically name lawmakers, but along with Maddox, Rep. Stan Lee, R-Lexington; Rep. Kim King, R-Harrodsburg; Rep. David Hale, R-Wellington; and Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, all spoke at an earlier "Kentucky Freedom Rally" this month. Rep. Mark Hart, R-Falmouth, also attended the previous rally, which took place before businesses were allowed to reopen, but did not address the crowd.
The Kentucky State Police had little to say Tuesday about the protest.
"The Kentucky State Police does not comment on the level of security provided to protect the governor, nor any inquiries that we receive regarding these efforts," said Sgt. Josh Lawson, commander of the state police public affairs branch.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said Tuesday at a media availability at the University of Kentucky that the hanging "was completely outrageous and unacceptable. We all believe in freedom to speak in this country and the opportunity to demonstrate. But that episode, I believe on Sunday, was completely unacceptable, it's not what Kentucky is and I hope that we will not be seeing that again."
The effigy of Beshear garnered national attention and outrage _ and an outcry from the state Democratic Party against several Republicans.
In addition to criticizing Maddox, the party said some Republican leaders did "the right thing" in denouncing the hanging but others used "backhanded comments" about it or said nothing at all.
"This is not the time to air disagreements you may have with the governor," said Marisa McNee, a spokesperson for the state Democratic Party. "This needs to be condemned in plain clear language, anything less is inappropriate. It's clear that several in the Kentucky GOP are more focused on winning votes of a white supremacy movement than doing what's right."
The Democratic Party said Don Thrasher, a Republican candidate this year for state representative with the Nelson County Republican Party posted a "history lesson" about effigies and claimed no one could know the "full intentions" of those who hung the effigy.
It said U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican, is "eerily silent" on the hanging. Paul did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment.
The Kentucky Republican Party had no immediate response to the Kentucky Democratic Party's comments.
