Beshear announced two of his eleven cabinet secretaries on Monday: former Lexington Mayor Jim Gray will serve as Transportation Cabinet secretary and Lt. Gov.-elect Jacqueline Coleman will be the next secretary of the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet.
The leader of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet would instead be selected by members of influential lobbying groups — the Kentucky Association of Counties, the Kentucky League of Cities and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.
Bevin also issued pardons to 15 other people, including three women who were victims of domestic violence and who were convicted in the deaths of their abusers.
Tilley, a Democrat, was instrumental in getting syringe-exchange programs in a big anti-heroin bill when he was chair of the state House Judiciary Committee. Late in the year, Republican Gov. Matt Bevin named him justice secretary. He has often been mentioned as a possible holdover with Democratic Gov.-elect Andy Beshear.
The unofficial results of last week’s election showed Beshear defeating Bevin by 5,189 votes, but Bevin has not conceded the race and has not backed up claims that thousands of absentee ballots were improperly counted.
The governor has made unsubstantiated claims that there were deeper problems with the election, laying the groundwork for an election contest. That would mean the race would be decided by the Republican-led legislature.
