Where’s Rebekah Mason when the Luv Gov needs her?
I remember watching the train wreck that was Governor Robert Bentley‘s March press conference about his then-alleged but now confirmed affair with Rebekah Mason and thinking this has to be the worst decision by a principle and communications team I’ve ever seen. I wondered why no one stopped him. He’s a small man and his security detail would probably have turned a blind eye to someone tackling him and not letting him to the podium. I mean we’ve all heard how some on the detail had turned a blind eye to so many other of his and his staff’s indiscretions by that point. When the governor resigned and took his plea deal I thought/hoped that would be the end of our reminder of what a disappointment he ended up being to the Yellowhammer State. Then I came across a new t.v. interview published Tuesday by WVTV13 where our former, and now disgraced governor, talked about his political downfall and life out of office. Needless to say, his level of denial borders on clinical. My first thought when I read the AP headline, “After resigning in disgrace, Bentley gives himself high marks as Alabama’s governor,” was yet again — why didn’t someone stop him? Then I realized he doesn’t have anyone to stop him. For a brief moment I wished Mason was around to tell him what a bad idea any interview would be, let alone one he was clearly unprepared for. During the on-camera interview (though the camera is out of the room during some shots), Bentley said he was the “best governor” Alabama has ever had. Sadly, I’m not kidding. He actually said it. He then went on to say special interests are now running the state. Which leads me to believe he isn’t following the news. If he were, he’d probably know that Governor Kay Ivey has instituted new rules that prohibit lobbyists from serving on commissions and boards. She’s also gotten rid of some of the fluff he and his team created and her approval ratings are incredible. She has the 5th highest approval and the lowest disapproval of any governors. In the ill-fated interview Bentley talked about his popularity and said that everywhere he goes people want to shake his hand. Let me be clear, I have no desire to shake his hand or congratulate him for a job well done. As someone who tried to give him the benefit of doubt when the affair rumors first surfaced I just want to wag a finger at him and tell him what a disappointment he turned out to be in the end. He knew that he broke laws and abused his power in his attempt to cover up his affair and for months he denied it. To say he loves the state of Alabama and to claim he served it well is laughable. That said, there is a Bentley whose hand I would like to shake, Dianne Bentley‘s. I want to shake her hand, give her a hug, high five her and then buy her a bottle of wine. She remains one of the only players in the Robert Bentley saga that I hope doesn’t fade from sight. Her work as the first lady on domestic violence issues was incredible. Her actions in taping the governor and quietly filing for divorce — classic. I could go the rest of my life without being reminded of the opportunities that Governor Bentley wasted and missed. I could go the rest of my life without being reminded that he let so many down, betraying their trust and making the office of the governor. I could go the rest of my life and never need to hear his excuses and delusions about this being a witch hunt again. So if Rebekah Mason is still around, hanging onto a burner phone or two, or if there’s any communications professional in his circle of trust, would someone please give the former governor a call and, for the love of all that is holy, keep him from doing any more interviews and embarrassing himself and the state further.
Steve Flowers: Dark horses emerge to follow legacy of ‘Luv Gov’
Well, folks, let’s put the final coup de grace to the Robert Bentley six-year Governor’s reign and move on. Ole Bentley was quite a story his last two years. He had become the ringleader of a circus and an infamous national cartoon character. The salacious and lurid details of his affair with Mrs. Rebekah Mason were a never-ending, titillating saga. The story, along with his picture, could aptly be a plot for a tabloid or a Soap Opera. I will actually be surprised if it does not make it to television or even the movies. Unfortunately, this story will be his legacy as governor. He has no public policy initiatives to tout for posterity. He will be known as the “Luv Gov.” Our last two governors may not have gone to jail like previous ones, but they garnered terrific nicknames for their exploits over their last year in office. Bob Riley spent his last year doing the bidding of the Indian Gambling syndicate and his cowboy and Indian escapades closing down all the non-Indian casinos earned him the nickname of “Bingo Bob.” Ole Bentley, who appeared to be the least likely person to play the part, became a sex-crazed philanderer. His and Rebekah’s sordid romance tapes sounded like the x-rated version of Barney Fife sweet talking Thelma Lou. Even the national media dubbed him the “Luv Gov.” Bentley never really showed any genuine remorse or contrition. Even when he read his prepared resignation speech, it did not seem heartfelt or sincere. They were just words wrapped in religion. He never seemed to apologize from the heart. He still seemed a little bit haughty. Having taught Sunday school for many years, one would have thought Bentley had taught some from the book of Proverbs. One of Solomon’s greatest proverbs says, “Pride goeth before a fall.” Early in the day of Bentley’s resignation, I was walking around the Capitol with rumors swirling that Bentley’s demise was imminent at any time. I was wishing the best for ole Bentley. I thought about ole Big Jim Folsom standing on the Capitol steps when the press would pound on him and ask him to resign. He would say to them, “Y’all ain’t gonna get old Big Jim to quit. When I was a boy, growing up in Coffee County my old pappy would make me get out of bed before daylight and go work in the fields chopping cotton and plowing behind a mule. I’d see a rain cloud come up and start praying for rain so I could quit for a while. My pappy would say, boy, it may cloud up but it ain’t gonna rain on Big Jim.” Well, bless his heart, it did rain on Bentley. He’s gone. Kay Ivey will serve out the remaining 19 months of his term. She may decide to run for a full term of her own as governor. As the incumbent governor, she would be a viable candidate. There is an ever-growing list of potential and probable horses that are gearing up for the 2018 gubernatorial derby. The list of viable candidates is at about a dozen. However, let me tell you again, like I have been telling you for years, Alabamians like to vote for a dark horse for governor – one who has not been around the political track. Let me give you the names of two very rich businessmen who could pull off a Fob James 1978-like coup. Jimmy Rane, known as “Yella Fella” from his ads of riding a horse and wearing a big yellow hat advertising his yellow lumber, started out and built Great Southern Wood out of Abbeville where he was born and raised and still calls home. Forbes magazine has his net worth at $600 million. Johnny Johns became CEO of Birmingham-based Protective Life at a young age. He built the company started by Colonel Rushton into one of the largest life insurance companies in the world. When an international corporation bought Protective several years ago, Johnny walked away with $300 million. He is known throughout Birmingham as one of the most civic-minded people in the Magic City. Either one of these two distinguished gentlemen could easily buy the governor’s office with their pocket change and they may be interested. See you next week. ___ Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state Legislature. Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
Ethics Commission clears Rebekah Mason in Jim Zeigler complaint
The former Senior Policy Adviser and alleged mistress of former-Gov. Robert Bentley was cleared Thursday by the Alabama Ethics Commission against accusations brought forth by State Auditor Jim Zeigler. Zeigler had named Mason in a complaint filed March 25, 2016 with the Ethics Commission, which according to Zeigler, launched a year-long investigation that ultimately resulted in finding probable cause Bentley violated state law. Zeigler reportedly included in his complaint the allegation that Bentley and Mason set up a “dark money” group to receive funds from unknown donors and spend it without accountability. Named among the group’s donors was ACEGOV, the Alabama Council for Excellent Government, a nonprofit founded by Bentley, which partially paid Mason. On April 5, the Ethics Commission met and held ten hours of hearings on complaints against Bentley and Mason, in which they were unable to prove Mason was guilty of an ethics violation. The Commission concluded, upon review of the evidence from the investigation, that there was not probable cause to believe that Rebekah Caldwell Mason committed a violation of the Alabama Ethics Act. Accordingly, your complaint has been dismissed. Should you provide any additional information that would warrant a reopening of this case, a new investigation would be conducted. Zeigler says he now looking to see if other options are available to continue to the investigation. Read the full letter from the Ethics Commission below:
Robert Bentley paramour Rebekah Mason behind effort to shut DMV offices in black counties, new report shows
Rebekah Mason, Gov. Robert Bentley’s former top adviser and illicit lover, pushed to close 31 offices of the Alabama Department of Motor Vehicles in mostly black counties. After protests by civil rights activists, including Jesse Jackson, the politically motivated effort was later overturned, resulting in a federal investigation. The relationship between Bentley and Mason and how it impacted the DMV closure plan was the focus of a new 131-page report, which the Birmingham News reports was released by investigators examining impeachment proceedings against the governor. The report, from lead investigator Jack Sharman, found Mason “proposed closing multiple driver’s license offices throughout the State” and asking Alabama Law Enforcement Agency to “put together a plan.” Sharman also noted that former ALEA head Spencer Collier – well-aware of Mason’s intent – was instructed to have a plan “rolled out in a way that had limited impact on Government Bentley’s political allies.” Collier reported the closure plan to Luther Strange, Alabama’s then-Attorney General, expressing concern over possible Voting Rights Act violations. The News reports that Collier eventually agreed to the closure plan, but through “objective measure based on processed transactions per year to determine which offices to close.” Mason’s plan, if enacted, would of save the state $200,000 – a small amount in a General Fund showing typical annual shortfalls between $100 million and $200 million. Bentley agreed to the plan, the report said, with a single exception: removing state Sen. Gerald Dial’s district from the list. Dial told the News he never spoke with Bentley about any closures and is not aware of which county was under consideration. The plan set off an investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation, which discovered that the closures would hit rural counties hardest and disproportionately affect black neighborhoods, a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The NAACP, the nation’s leading civil rights organization, filed a lawsuit prompting the federal review. At first, Bentley was critical of DOT involvement in the investigation, which he said was political in nature. But after striking an agreement between state and federal agencies, ALEA agreed it would extend service hours for DMV offices in Alabama’s so-called “Black Belt.”
Robert Bentley confirms Rebekah Mason not returning to his administration
The Robert Bentley administration has “no plans” to re-hire former top aide Rebekah Caldwell Mason. Bentley spokeswoman Yasamie August made the clarification Thursday following a question from a reporter as to whether or not Mason was returning to the Bentley administration. “She [Mason] has not been rehired by the Bentley Administration since her resignation, and there are no plans to hire her,” August told AL.com via email. Mason resigned following a scandal that stemmed from a recording of sexually charged conversations between Bentley and Mason going public earlier this year.
Robert Bentley, others subpoenaed in impeachment investigation
Alabama’s House Judiciary Committee issued subpoenas to Governor Robert Bentley, his former top aide Rebekah Mason, among others as part of an ongoing impeachment investigation against the governor on Thursday. The subpoenas were issued by Alabama House of Representatives Clerk Jeff Woodard after special counsel Jack Sharman claimed he wasn’t getting voluntarily cooperation. “The office of the governor has flatly, adamantly and in every way possible made clear they are not going to cooperate,” Sharman told the committee. “The same thing is true of every other person and entity on that list I provided you.” The following were issued subpoenas: Robert Bentley, individually and as Governor Bentley for Governor, Inc. Michael H. Echols Jonathan Mason Rebekah Mason Alabama Council for Excellent Government JRM Enterprises, Inc. RCM Communications, Inc. The subpoenaed documents also include five years of the governor’s tax returns, bank records, personnel records, cellphone records, text messages and other communications with Rebekah Mason, Jon Mason, Spencer Collier, Stan Stabler, Ray Lewis and Cooper Shattuck, as well as any government payments to companies belonging to Mason and her husband. “These individuals and corporations have until 5:00 p.m. on Monday, October 10, 2016, to deliver the requested documentation to the special counsel,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman and Andalusia-Republican Rep. Mike Jones in a statement. “If they fail to comply, we will take appropriate action.” Bentley still maintains his innocence, claiming he has not broken any laws or done anything that would warrant impeachment.
Robert Bentley is one of America’s least popular governors
Robert Bentley can’t catch a break these days. The Alabama Governor is not only facing a continued call for his impeachment, but now he’s been ranked as one of the least popular governors in America. On Tuesday, media and research company, Morning Consult ranked America’s governors and Bentley ranked as the 8th least popular in the country. 53 percent of respondents said they disapproved of Bentley’s job performance. Only 35 percent said they approved of Bentley’s job performance, and 12 percent were undecided. Bentley’s new approvals ratings come in stark contrast from earlier in the year. He moved from a 1-point net approval rating among state residents to a whopping 18-point deficit between voters who have a favorable view of him (35 percent) and those who have an unfavorable view (53 percent). Bentley’s drop in favorability is almost certainly linked to his admission that he made inappropriate remarks to a former senior advisor Rebekah Mason. Before that scandal, from January through early May, his ratings were hovered around 46 percent approval and 45 percent disapproval. According to the Morning Consult here are the five most unpopular governors: Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) Dan Malloy (D-Conn.) Chris Christie (R-N.J.) Rick Snyder (R-Mich.) Paul LePage (R-Maine) According to the Morning Consult here are the five most popular governors: Dennis Daugaard (R-S.D.) Larry Hogan (R-Md.) Charlie Baker (R-Mass.) Steve Bullock (D-Mont.) Gary Herbert (R-Utah) The poll that tracked approval ratings of governors nationwide between May and early September, surveying more than 71,900 registered voters nationwide.
State to pay lawyers up to $200,000 in lawsuit against Robert Bentley
The state will pay outside legal counsel up to $200,000 to represent Gov. Robert Bentley and his law enforcement chief in a wrongful termination lawsuit brought by the governor’s fired secretary of law enforcement. The legislative Contract Review Committee will review the contracts Thursday. The governor’s office has proposed to pay a private law firm up to $100,000 to represent Bentley. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency will pay up to $100,000 to represent Law Enforcement Secretary Stan Stabler. Former Secretary Spencer Collier in April filed a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against Bentley, Stabler and former Bentley adviser Rebekah Mason. Bentley has said Collier’s dismissal came after an internal investigation about the possible misuse of state funds. Collier accused Bentley and Mason of having an affair. Bentley denied having a “sexual affair.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
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.
Robert Bentley impeachment: Subcommittees created to consider subpoenas, counsel
A legislative committee investigating if there are grounds to impeach Gov. Robert Bentley has created two subcommittees to review potential subpoenas and the hiring of special counsel. Eight state lawmakers have been assigned to the committees, House Judiciary Chairman Andalusia-Republican Rep. Mike Jones announced Tuesday. The subcommittee created to review proposed subpoenas and recommend which ones should be issued to the full House Judiciary Committee will be chaired by former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Tuscumbia-Democrat Rep. Marcel Black. Montevallo-Republican Matt Friday, Leeds-Republican Dickie Drake, Killen-Republican Phillip Pettus and Birmingham-Democrat Merika Coleman will join Black on the committee. Jones reiterated the importance of a bipartisan subcommittee in a news release. “I don’t want this to be one-sided,” Jones said in a news release. “This applies to Democrats just as much as it does Republicans.” The second subcommittee, assigned to selecting a special counsel who will oversee the ongoing impeachment investigation will be chaired by Moody-Republican Rep. Jim Hill. He will be joined by Tuscaloosa-Democratic Rep. Chris England along with Birmingham-Republican Rep. David Faulkner. The Judiciary Committee is investigating if Bentley committed any impeachable offenses in a sex-charged scandal involving a former top aide, Rebekah Mason. Twenty-three representatives signed articles of impeachment in April accusing Bentley of willful neglect of duty and corruption in office.
Jim Zeigler: Impeachment should focus on public, not private, misconduct by Robert Bentley
As things began to take on a somewhat personal tone in the early stage of a legislative panel’s proceedings to consider the impeachment of Gov. Robert Bentley, some in Montgomery are saying the investigation should focus strictly on official deeds, not the governor’s personal peccadilloes. State Auditor Jim Zeigler, an ardent critic of his fellow Republican Bentley’s administration, released a statement on Friday to that effect, even as sordid details involving alleged inappropriate comments to a former staffer and adviser resurfaced this week. “It is not the possibility of a personal affair that is the Bentley legal problem and the impeachable offense,” Zeigler said Friday. “It is the possible use of state resources, the use of a ‘dark money group’ to pay [aforementioned adviser] Rebekah Mason, possible ethics violations, and possible felony obstruction of justice. Those who say that Bentley’s personal life is not anybody’s business have missed the point. It is not the affair but the affairs of state that may be impeachable,” said Zeigler. The House Judiciary Committee resumes its investigation into Bentley’s potential impeachment next week.
Court documents: Rebekah Mason may be under criminal investigation
According to documents filed by attorneys for former senior advisor to the governor, Rebekah Mason, the Tuscaloosa resident may be under criminal investigation for her role in the possibility of misusing state funds during an alleged affair with Governor Robert Bentley. The filings were made Wednesday in Montgomery County Circuit Court and are related to the wrongful termination lawsuit filed by former Alabama Law Enforcement Agency director Spencer Collier. The lawsuit named four other defendants besides the Bentley campaign (Bentley for Governor, Inc.) Gov. Bentley himself, new ALEA Secretary Stan Stabler, Rebekah Mason, and the group through which she was paid, the Alabama Council for Excellent Government. Both Mason and Bentley’s campaign lawyers have filed motions to stay the lawsuit, denying each allegation, and saying many of them are too vague to be heard in court. But in the stay filed by Mason, her lawyers argue that documents and testimony during the discovery phase of the civil lawsuit could unwittingly violate her 5th amendment right to not self-incriminate. The stay is requested based “Upon information and belief, Mrs. Mason is, or may be, the subject of ongoing criminal investigations relating to, among other things, her prior employment as a Senior Political Advisor to Defendant Governor Robert Bentley… The allegations and issues presented in Plaintiff Spencer Collier’s Complaint and the believed areas of criminal investigation overlap and focus on the same alleged conduct.” “Any testimony that Mrs. Mason might give or documents she might produce in this matter could potentially be used against her in connection with the ongoing criminal investigations,” the motion continues. Bentley’s campaign lawyers filed a motion in May to dismiss the lawsuit. This week a lawyer for Bentley asked the July 26th court date set for the hearing be moved to avoid interfering with vacation plans. The governor has maintained his own innocence throughout the months following Collier’s allegations. Efforts to impeach Bentley have thus far fallen short, facing opposition in the Alabama Legislature.
