I support ‘Bentley for U.S Senate’
Today Baron Coleman* made a case that former Gov. Robert Bentley should be considered for U.S. Senate. There haven’t been any columns I’ve written to date that have included the phrase”LOL,” but seriously, I’m tempted to here. That is absurd. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. The only Bentley anyone should consider for holding public office is Ms. Dianne Bentley — a woman of class, a woman of substance, a woman with a heart for the people of Alabama. Her work on domestic violence issues showed compassion and strength. Her silence in the face of the devastatingly public behavior of her now ex-husband shows she has backbone. Even the way she left him showed a strength those in Montgomery and D.C. seem to be lacking at the moment. I would support her for our next U.S. Senator hands down. That said, let’s talk more about more realistic candidates for the U.S. Senate, and where I stand on them. First on, former-Gov. Robert Bentley in no way shape or form should be considered a viable candidate for any public office. Mainly because he sold out the people of Alabama with his push to raise taxes after campaigning against them. Yes, folks this is and should be an unforgivable act of public betrayal. I contend his semi-platonic, handsy and wordsy affair with his staffer wouldn’t have been anyones business aside from his and his families, had he not used state funds, and potentially state staff, to attempt to cover it up. His true unforgivable crime was losing sight of the fiscally conservative values he espoused on the campaign trail once he was elected Governor. While 1st District U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne may be the only candidate to announce their 2020 U.S. Senate candidacy thus far, there are a handful of other names being kicked around as potential candidates right now too. Those currently in Montgomery flirting with the idea should just take a seat if they intend to not only a) vote for Gov. Kay Ivey‘s gas tax proposal, but also b) fail to stand up and do anything short of boldly coming out against it. I’m all for supporting infrastructure, but I’m not for indexing a tax increase, or for throwing good money after bad to an agency that has shown a total disregard for prioritizing their past and future budgets. And I’m not for raising the tax more than the state needs, just to give money to the cities so they can do what they please and use it on anything but infrastructure. As Montgomery-mayor Todd Strange said, what’s really going to happen is it’s going to become a shell game. The transportation dollars the cities receive from the state, will allow them to spend that money on whatever pet-projects they want. If you give a government bureaucrat an extra one-dollar, they’ll find a way to spend two-dollars, not necessarily on related items. Another potential candidate who’s name is being tossed around is Alabama 5th District U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks. Brooks should have been a solid candidate when he was running in the last election. But I take significant issue with the way his campaign was run, and even some of his supporter’s behavior was atrocious to say the least. Bridges have been burned unnecessarily because the candidate didn’t bring his “A-game” and that was no ones fault but his own. It doesn’t help to have the right message (pun intended) if you can’t get out of your way to deliver it to voters. All of this said, I’m on record saying it and I’ll say it again: Alabama needs someone young to win this seat and keep it. That’s not to be ageist, but rather that’s the reality of the way Congress and more specifically the U.S. Senate works. I’ve been a little disappointed by Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth choosing not to be vocal about the gas tax issue this session, when in the past he was a champion rallying against it. He had a really good opportunity to step up and be vocal against it, but it seems that power will seduce and silence just about anyone these days. There’s no question Sen. Doug Jones is going to be defeated in 2020. All it takes is a calculator and half a brain to figure that out. The question is, who is going to defeat him, and how conservative will they be. Us true conservatives, with passion and principles, it’s our time to make our voices be heard. To watch what’s going on Montgomery again this week with the gas tax increase and pay attention and take notes. We need a leader in the U.S. leader. It’s not going to be Robert Bentley, but it is a good time to start talking about what qualities we’re actually looking for in that future Senator. And hey, if Dianne is interested I’ll get my checkbook ready. *Baron is a lawyer, radio talk show host on News & Views on 93.1 FM, and political consultant based out of Montgomery, Ala. for those who don’t know. He also is a new contributor here at Alabama Today.
Dianne Bentley emerges from the shadows thanks to her faith, friends
It’s been over two years since former Alabama First Lady Dianne Bentley quietly slipped into the shadows following her exit from the governor’s mansion at the end of her 50-year marriage with former Gov. Robert Bentley, but she’s slowing coming back into the light with the help of her faith and a small group of friends. Dianne’s exit from the public spotlight was a painful one. Stemming from her uncovering a scandal surrounding her ex-husband’s alleged affair with Rebekah Mason, his senior political adviser, Dianne faced endless questions from the media. According to the Tuscaloosa News, she had always doubted what the public truly thought of her while serving alongside her ex-husband. It was only in the wake of the scandal that she realized how much the Yellowhammer State was on her side. “I was thrust in the role of first lady and when I went places, I knew that they didn’t care about me; they cared about the position of first lady,” Bentley said in an interview with The Tuscaloosa News. “However, I didn’t realize until I went through this how much I was loved.” Nevertheless Dianne dealt with the pain of the divorce on her own. “When I was split in half and lost my one, I was an open wound,” she told the Tuscaloosa News. “I think that’s why I shut myself off for that year, because I didn’t want anyone opening that wound again.” But after a while her faith, which held her together during the scandal, and a small group of friends drew her out of isolation and back to a familiar place —her longtime church, First Baptist Tuscaloosa. There, she joined a Bible study group and began volunteering in the nursery on Sunday mornings. During her time as Alabama’s First Lady, Dianne made her platform speaking out against domestic violence. Today, she’s back in the spotlight tackling the issue once again. Over the past few weeks she’s traveled the state during October’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month. “I wish there were no more victims, but unfortunately the problem is growing and it’s growing on our college campuses,” Bentley said at a candlelight vigil last week in Tuscaloosa. “It is sad that Alabama has the No. 1 football team, but we also rank in the top four for domestic violence.” What comes next for Dianne remains unknown. But one thing’s for sure, she’ll continue to put her trust in God as she moves forward. “All I ever wanted to be was a wife and mother,” she told the Tuscaloosa New. “Right now, I don’t know what my career is going to be, so I’m just going to have to trust the Lord that he is going to show me the path.”
Robert Bentley resigns after plea deal
The Latest on impeachment hearings for Gov. Robert Bentley (all times local): 5:15 p.m. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has resigned after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor charges of violating state campaign finance law. The attorney general’s office announced the resignation Monday with a plea deal. Bentley was addressing the media Monday afternoon at the Alabama Capitol. Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey’s announced that she will be sworn-in this evening as Alabama’s governor at 6 p.m. Bentley’s voice began choking with emotion as he addressed reporters at the Alabama Capitol. He said he always tried to live up to the high expectations placed on the person who holds the esteemed office. He apologized for mistakes. Alabama’s Ethics Commission last week found probable cause that Bentley violated state ethics laws with his handling of an alleged affair and referred the case to prosecutors. ___ 5 p.m. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has pleaded guilty after being booked on two campaign and ethics charges in Montgomery. Bentley appeared sullen and looked down at the floor during the Monday afternoon session. Attorneys went over the charges as a plea agreement was signed. Bentley told a judge he understood the charges. The agreement specifies that Bentley must surrender campaign funds totaling $36,912 within a week and perform 100 hours of community service as a physician. He also cannot seek public office again. Jail records show Bentley was booked on two misdemeanor charges that arose from the investigation of an alleged affair with a top aide. His office has scheduled a late afternoon appearance by Bentley at the Capitol. A person who has spoken to Bentley tells The Associated Press says he plans to resign. ___ 4:30 p.m. Jail records show Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has been booked on two misdemeanor charges that arose from the investigation of an alleged affair with a top aide. A booking log at the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office website shows Bentley was processed on two campaign and ethics charges Monday afternoon. A mugshot released by the jail shows Bentley smiling slightly, his head cocked slightly to the right. He’s wearing a coat and tie. Bentley is expected to resign Monday. Alabama’s Ethics Commission last week found probable cause that Bentley violated state ethics laws with his handling of an alleged affair and referred the case to prosecutors. ___ 2:55 p.m. A person who has spoken to Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley says he plans to resign over allegations he covered up an affair with an aide. The person spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. Bentley is preparing to announce his resignation Monday during a Cabinet meeting. The person says Bentley is in good spirits over the decision to step down. Word of Bentley’s decision comes on the first day of impeachment hearings. He is accused of abusing his state powers to try to hide his romance. The Republican governor has acknowledged making personal mistakes but has denied doing anything illegal or anything that would merit removal from office. ___ 11:25 a.m. The top lawyer in an impeachment investigation says Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley did not cooperate with the probe. Special counsel Jack Sharman said Monday there was a question of the governor’s “candor.” Bentley is accused of misusing state resources to keep an alleged affair with a staffer from being exposed. Sharman says the governor’s office turned over only innocuous text messages between him and former political adviser Rebekah Caldwell Mason. Sharman says the governor’s former wife turned over others. In those texts, Bentley repeatedly told Mason how much me loved and wanted her. The governor’s then-wife, Dianne Bentley, was able to read the text messages because they also showed up on his state-issued iPad, which he had given the first lady. Dianne Bentley provided the messages to the committee. It is not known if the messages were deleted from the governor’s state phone when the committee requested them. ___ 10:30 a.m. Impeachment hearings have begun for Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, who is accused of misusing state resources to keep an alleged affair with a staffer from being exposed. House Judiciary Chairman Mike Jones opened the hearings Monday by saying no task was more serious than the possible removal of an elected governor. Jones said it was time to hear evidence collected by the committee’s special counsel. The governor’s lawyers will respond to those accusations later in the week. Special Counsel Jack Sharman opened by saying that impeachment is the “people’s check” on political excess. The hearings are the start of a lengthy process that could end with Bentley being removed from office. The Republican governor has acknowledged making personal mistakes but has denied doing anything illegal or anything that would merit removal from office ___ 8:15 a.m. A spokeswoman says scandal-plagued Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is not personally involved in any negotiations to resign. Yasamie August made the statement Monday morning as the House Judiciary Committee was set to begin impeachment hearings. Asked if there were any discussions about resignation, August said the response was the same that the governor was not personally involved in any negotiations. Bentley has struggled to shake off a scandal after recordings surfaced last year of him making romantic and sexually charged comments in 2014 to a top female aide before his divorce. The Republican governor has acknowledged making personal mistakes but has denied doing anything illegal or anything that would merit removal from office. The hearings are the start of a lengthy process that could end with Bentley being removed from office. The committee will decide whether to recommend impeachment. If the House votes to impeach Bentley, he will automatically be removed from his duties and can only be returned to office if acquitted in a trial-like proceeding before the Alabama Senate. ___ 2:05 a.m. Alabama lawmakers are set to begin impeachment hearings for Gov. Robert Bentley as they consider whether to try ousting the governor over accusations he used state resources
Robert Bentley scandal making national headlines amid new revelations
Gov. Robert Bentley has already dominated news in Alabama, where during the spring details of his alleged affair with former adviser and staffer Rebekah Mason and the ongoing impeachment proceedings surrounding it seemed to dominate the news cycle. But now the governor’s press problem has gotten worse still, as GQ writer Jason Zengerle published a scathing article on the matter, bringing national attention to Bentley’s peccadilloes. The story begins with the story of how former First Lady Dianne Bentley surreptitiously recorded her husband at their beach house in Gulf Shores, capturing illicit and somewhat awkward chatter between Bentley and his extramarital partner Mason, and it doesn’t ease up from there. Reads one knife-twisting passage: At first, the governor made idle chitchat, but the conversation soon grew intimate, slipping as it did into the cringe-patois of a randy senior citizen. “I love you,” he told the person on the other end. “When I stand behind you and I put my arms around you, and I put my hands on your breasts, and I put my hands on you and pull you in real close, hey, I love that, too.” Robert went on in this vein for nearly 30 minutes. All the while, Dianne’s iPhone quietly recorded—filling itself with lusty incriminations that eventually would tornado through Alabama and spiral into the craziest political scandal in the country. “Rebekah, I just, I miss you,” he said wistfully at one point. “I worry about loving you so much.” The article, while it focuses on salacious revelations like the above, also puts Bentley in his Alabamian context. “Every governor exists in a perpetually reinforcing bubble of self-regard. But in Alabama, delusions of grandeur can inflate to Mobutu-like proportions,” Zengerle writes. The article also regales readers with the tale of Mason’s ascension within the Bentley administration. After nearly three years on the periphery of the governor’s inner circle, Mason made her move for greater influence in late 2013. According to a person close to her at that time, she thought the governor was being ill-served by his other advisers. Bentley’s approval numbers were high, but Mason, who had recently begun working for his re-election campaign, believed that he’d squandered his first term and that he needed to be more aggressive. Before long, she was functioning as Bentley’s top adviser. “He didn’t have a voice,” one friend of Mason’s told me, “until she helped him find it.” And then, as we all are familiar with by now, things took another turn. … Bentley—an awkward man with a heart-rending comb-over who’d married young and come late to his lofty position—was unaccustomed to female attention. And foolishly susceptible to it. When his advisers would caution him about pushing for things the legislature wouldn’t support, like a teacher pay raise, Mason would counter in a syrupy voice, “But you’re the governor. People love you.” Of course, it’s impossible to know when Bentley and Mason’s relationship became more than just professional. (Neither Bentley nor Mason responded to GQ’s interview requests. Bentley has apologized for making “inappropriate remarks” to Mason, and both have denied having a “physical affair.”) But their closeness had become noticeable and, to those around the governor, increasingly troubling. Beyond a vivid recounting of the Bentley affair, so to speak, the article also contains new revelations that are of note to Alabama pol watchers. For instance, this hot take from a former Bentley loyalist: “When she became his top political adviser, it was like the Hindenburg came down and fell on the Titanic as the Titanic hit the iceberg. I was watching a woman who didn’t know how a bill becomes a law running the state of Alabama.” To boot, the story revealed new details about Bentley’s fondness for the iPhone’s red rose emoji, financial difficulties in Mason’s family life that more or less led to her appointment with the Bentley administration in the first place, and drama over Bentley’s wife and children, who nearly boycotted the governor’s second inauguration and, cruelly, ended up seated just behind Mason’s family. Read the full piece here.
Lawmaker’s wife reminisces about Dianne Bentley
Muriel Farley, the wife of Republican Rep. Allen Farley, did some soul searching over the weekend. Farley published a blog post over the weekend waxing nostalgic — and expressing some regret — about her relationship with former Alabama First Lady Dianne Bentley, who has faded from the headlines some eight months after her divorce from embattled Gov. Robert Bentley. Rep. Farley, a longtime friend of Bentley’s, had personally been lied to by the governor after rumors of his affair with former staffer Rebekah Mason began to circulate. When more allegations came to light about the governor, media outlets once again started contacting my husband for an interview. Not only were they asking about the letter to [Attorney General Luther Strange], but now they were also very interested in a telephone call Allen received the night of August 31, 2015 from the governor. You see, when the governor called my husband, the world had not heard the audio sext tapes. And, during the governor’s telephone conversation with Allen, he told my husband he had not been involved in an affair and he didn’t believe Allen needed to get Luther involved in it personally. That political impropriety on the governor’s behalf unduly damaged her warm personal relationship with the First Lady, Farley wrote. During an interview with GQ Magazine about the scandal: I explained that Dianne would invite members of the Legislative Spouse’s Club to a monthly bible study along with other lady friends from Tuscaloosa and around Alabama. (I also mentioned that I considered Dianne Bentley my friend.) Jason asked me if I had reached out to my friend Dianne Bentley during this devastating time. I said no. (I actually hung my head in shame and said no.) This stayed on my mind the rest of the day. How could I have not contacted my friend. This lady who lead me in prayer month after month. The sweet grandmother (our First Lady) who would walk the halls of the State House bringing her granddaughter to page, as I had also done with two of our granddaughters and a grandson. Sitting in the gallery of the Alabama State House last Thursday, I asked my friend Danna Standridge if she had reached out to our friend Dianne Bentley. (Danna is the wife of Rep. David Standridge.) She is also a member of the Alabama Legislative Spouse’s Club. She said no, but she wanted to. I believe she and I both just didn’t know how or what to say. We were both hurting. But, we decided right there we were going to find out how to contact our friend, and we did. The two gave Dianne Bentley a call and spoke with her from Montgomery, which Farley said was cathartic, but did not fully assuage her guilt over abandoning her erstwhile friend. Despite more bad faith by the governor, Farley writes, she should have been there for her fellow political spouse. Toward the end of our 2014 Legislative Session my husband had a private meeting with Governor Bentley. Allen soon began to understand that the man he had reached out to as a fellow Christian and friend was not who he had believed him to be. And, within a few weeks, Allen’s private meeting with the governor was being absolutely misrepresented on a weekly political talk show. That did it for Allen, he stepped back from the governor he once trusted. Something was definitely different inside the governor’s office and my husband did not want anything to do with someone he knew he could not trust. I know, that is no excuse for me to stop attending Dianne’s bible studies. But, I saw how Governor Robert Bentley had hurt my husband, and I did not want to be in a position to see him and have to pretend everything was alright. However, knowing what I know now, I should have been there. Maybe, just maybe, I could have picked up on something different about her and been there to help. Maybe, just maybe, her eyes didn’t glitter like they had in previous years. Maybe, just maybe, she needed a shoulder to lean on. So, I now regret my poor decision. Farley concludes, simply: “Dianne Bentley, I want you to know that we are in your corner. We are on your side.”
Robert Bentley releases 2015 tax returns, reports $147K in income
Gov. Robert Bentley has reported earning $147,624 on his federal tax return for tax year 2015, a steep reduction from the previous year’s filing, having lost a significant portion of his assets in his divorce from former First Lady Dianne Bentley. Bentley first released his tax return during the his campaign for Governor in 2009 and has continued to make public his federal and state tax returns every year since being elected. “As a promise to the people of Alabama, I am again releasing my income tax filings for the citizens of Alabama to see the financial standing of their governor,” Governor Robert Bentley said. “It is a mark of transparency that the people of Alabama value, and one that I have prioritized. As long as I am governor, these filings will be made public to continue the legacy of transparency promise I made years ago.” The returns show that Bentley is also fulfilling another campaign promise to Alabama: to not collect a salary. During the 2010 election Bentley said he would not accept the $121,000 annual salary until the state returned to “full employment” — a level he defined as a 5.2 percent unemployment rate. The state’s unemployment rate was 6.2 percent in March. Instead, the bulk of his income came from distributions from retirement accounts. You can view Bentley’s 2015 tax return here.
Robert Bentley admits making inappropriate remarks to staffer; denies affair
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is admitting that he made inappropriate remarks to a female staffer two years ago but says he never had a physical relationship with the woman. Bentley spoke to reporters Wednesday after the state’s former top law enforcement official made a series of accusations. That official, former Law Enforcement Secretary Spencer Collier, had been fired Tuesday. He said during a news conference that he believed the governor had an inappropriate relationship with a female staffer. Collier says another law enforcement officer played a recorded conversation for him in which Bentley makes sexual remarks to a woman. The governor divorced last year after Dianne Bentley said their marriage had suffered a breakdown. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
49 years after Lurleen Wallace admin, Jim Zeigler again decries Capitol portrait removal
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of Alabama’s first and only female governor, Gov. Lurleen Wallace, the wife of her predecessor and notorious fellow Gov. George Wallace. State Auditor Jim Zeigler continued his criticisms of the administration of Gov. Robert Bentley, who removed both Wallaces’ portraits from the Capitol rotunda in Montgomery in a move the auditor calls a move to re-write Alabama’s history. “One year ago, the Bentley administration removed her portrait from the capitol rotunda, where it historically and legally was supposed to remain,” said Zeigler. “One of my regrets in my one year as state auditor is that they declined my two requests — and requests by many citizens — to restore her portrait to its lawful place.” The portrait issue is one of many where Zeigler and the governor have had disagreements, including taxes, state parks, and other more personal conflicts. Last month Zeigler accused Bentley of basing his decision to revamp the abandoned gubernatorial residence in Gulf Shores on his personal desire for a new place to stay on the Gulf coast after Bentley lost his own house there in a public divorce with his longtime wife Dianne Bentley. “It will likely take a new governor in 2018 to right this wrong and stop this historical revision,” remarked Zeigler, who also took Bentley to task for removing items bearing the Confederate flag from the Capitol gift shop. “Sadly, Gov. Lurleen Wallace’s 50th anniversary will pass next year with Bentley still as governor and the Lurleen portrait still banished from the rotunda.” Zeigler’s interest in the portrait issue aroused the attention of left-leaning anti-racism group Southern Poverty Law Center after he addressed in a speech to the neo-Confederate League of the South. “It’s quite unfortunate that a public official would lend legitimacy to a hate group by appearing at one of its functions. And believe me, the League of the South is about hate, not heritage,” Southern Poverty Law Center President Richard Cohen said. Zeigler contested that criticism, saying the SPLC doesn’t know a hate group when they see it. “They were interested in my fight to return the portraits of Governors George and Lurleen Wallace to their legal and historical place in the capital building, and that is a legitimate issue that has nothing to do with hate,” Zeigler recently told reporters. The administration of Lurleen Wallace was largely seen as an extension of her termed-out husband, who served as her “one dollar a year adviser,” strongly influencing her actions as head of the state’s executive branch.
Gay marriage fight named top state news story of 2015
Alabama’s uneven response to court rulings allowing same-sex marriages is the top state news story of 2015. Gay marriage became a reality nationwide this year, but the issue took on special significance in Alabama as officials in a conservative Deep South state grappled with how to respond to court rulings allowing same-sex weddings. Some counties complied with court decisions immediately and issued same-sex marriage licenses, prompting joyous ceremonies on courthouse lawns. Others delayed or quit issuing marriage licenses altogether, forcing both gay and straight couples to go elsewhere to get married. More court battles are possible. Here is a look at Alabama’s Top 10 news stories of 2015 as selected by The Associated Press: GAY MARRIAGE A federal judge in Mobile overrules Alabama’s ban on gay marriage and the U.S. Supreme Court then legalizes same-sex marriage nationally, decisions that spark both celebrations and opposition across the state. The fallout from the rulings is Alabama’s No. 1 news story of 2015, and the reverberation could continue into 2016 as gay marriage supporters consider whether to sue counties that quit issuing marriage licenses altogether rather than grant any to same-sex couples. HARPER LEE NOVEL Author Harper Lee of Monroeville releases her second novel, “Go Set a Watchman,” in July, topping best-seller lists. Reviews are mixed for “Watchman,” which was written in 1957 and depicts fictional lawyer Atticus Finch as a racist rather than the noble lawyer of her classic “To Kill a Mockingbird.” A state elder abuse probe is closed after determining the 89-year-old Lee wanted to publish the book. BUDGET CRISIS Two Special Sessions are required before the Republican-controlled Legislature agrees to $1.7 billion state operating budget that includes both spending cuts and tax increases to plug a $200 million gap. POLICE CONFRONTATION Madison police Officer Eric Parker is arrested on state and federal charges after his videotaped takedown of Indian national Sureshbhai Patel, a grandfather, in a suburban neighborhood. Two federal trials end in hung juries, but prosecutors say they want a third trial. BENTLEY DIVORCE First lady Dianne Bentley unexpectedly files for divorce from Gov. Robert Bentley citing an “irretrievable breakdown” of their marriage of 50 years. The case, filed in Tuscaloosa the same day the couple made a joint appearance, is sealed and then settled within weeks. DEATH PENALTY With executions still on hold because of a shortage of drugs needed for lethal injections, three prisoners once sentenced to death — Anthony Ray Hinton, William Ziegler and Montez Spradley — are released from prison after claiming they were wrongly convicted. A fourth death row inmate claiming innocence dies of cancer while fighting his conviction. RUN TO DEATH In Etowah County, Joyce Hardin Garrard is convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole in the running death of her 9-year-old granddaughter, Savannah Hardin. Prosecutors claimed the child was forced to run for hours as punishment for a lie about candy. OBAMA VISIT President Barack Obama is joined on stage by former President George W. Bush in Selma during the 50th anniversary commemoration of the “Bloody Sunday” confrontation where voting rights demonstrators were beaten while attempting to march to Montgomery. POLARIS FACTORY Polaris Industries says it is planning an ATV manufacturing plant that will bring as many as 2,000 jobs to north Alabama. Production is scheduled to begin in 2016 at the 600,000-square-foot plant, located in Limestone County. WINTER WEATHER A record winter storm dumps a foot of snow on north Alabama in February, leaving roads coated with an icy slush that complicates travel. The storm comes only weeks after an arctic blast that sent temperatures plunging and broke records dating to the 1880s as far south as Mobile. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Gov. Robert Bentley ends turbulent year
For Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, you could say 2015 was a turbulent year: He removed the Confederate flags from the state Capitol, where they’d flown for decades, waged a tax-hike battle with lawmakers, and saw his marriage of 50 years come apart. In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Bentley discussed the past year and the outlook for 2016. He said Dianne Bentley‘s decision to end their marriage caught him off guard. And he called his decisions to endorse tax increases and remove Confederate flags the right things to do. Alabama’s general fund budget is again the top legislative challenge, and he anticipates a lottery will be one of the ideas lawmakers debate. But he said Alabama can’t afford to expand Medicaid without additional revenue. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Former Alabama first lady Dianne Bentley doing fine after divorce
Former Alabama first lady Dianne Bentley says she’s “doing fine” days after her divorce from Gov. Robert Bentley. WSFA-TV reports that Bentley made the comments during an appearance Thursday night in Montgomery. Dianne Bentley filed for divorce from the governor in late August, citing an irretrievable breakdown, and a judge officially ended their 50-year marriage on Tuesday. The former first lady says God is helping her, and expressed thanks for prayers. She says she still wants to represent the state “as a lady” even though she isn’t first lady anymore. Bentley’s comments came outside the state Capitol at a rally against domestic violence. Bentley campaigned for domestic violence awareness and prevention as first lady, and she says she wants to continue doing that. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Evidence of First Lady Dianne Bentley’s significant contributions have vanished
When Alabama Today launched we highlighted First Lady Dianne Bentley as a Woman of Influence in the state. After all, the first lady’s work on domestic violence has changed the state for the better permanently. When her divorce from Governor Robert Bentley was first reported Alabama Today reached out to the governor’s office to ask what, if anything, Dianne Bentley would continue doing in her official capacity after the divorce was final. We never received a response to our inquiry, but today noticed the first lady’s official webpage, Twitter and Facebook accounts have all been deleted. I’m calling on the Governor’s office to rethink this rash decision. While Dianne may no longer be the first lady, the much-needed attention she brought to key issues, such as domestic violence prevention and recovery, education and literacy as she visited classrooms across the Yellowhammer state, are of value and are certainly worth remembering. Alabama Today suggests giving her back her Facebook and Twitter accounts and taking “First Lady” out of the title if that’s the issue at hand. In the very least, we suggest you reinstate her official webpage and post a farewell letter thanking her for her year’s of dedicated service to the state. There has to be a better way to proceed during this difficult time rather than to simply press delete and attempt to erase her from Alabama’s history books. That’s just disrespectful. Come on Governor Bentley, we know you can do better. The first lady worked hard for the state and her legacy will continue beyond the time you’re in office. You can’t and shouldn’t try to whitewash that with a few clicks of a mouse. New site missing the “First Lady” tab:
