WAAY 31 checked, and the actual law is pretty vague, which is why former Governor Bentley was able to schedule the election for 2018. This photo provided Montgomery County Sheriff's office shows a booking mugshot of Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley on Monday, April 10, 2017.
Bentley and Mason both initially denied their affair - and Bentley frequently denied allegations that he spent tax dollars and abused his office to hide the illicit relationship with Mason, a married mother of three. It paints a portrait of a dysfunctional executive branch headed by a Nixonian governor whose "loyalty shifted from the State of Alabama to himself". He never took a paycheck as governor.
In August of that year Bentley's wife Dianne filed for divorce and in September an agreement was finalized.
The Republican has since struggled to win support in the GOP-controlled Legislature, and Republican leaders called for his resignation.
Within hours, Collier spoke out against the governor, alleging that he had seen and investigated sexual text messages and audio recordings between Bentley and Mason. He repeatedly said he wouldn't quit, claiming there was no reason.
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There should be an embedded item here. Prosecutors had claimed that Bentley loaned the aide campaign money for legal fees and had failed to disclosed a $50,000 personal loan to his campaign. State law says major contributions should be reported within a few days. The other charge stemmed from his use of campaign funds to pay almost $9,000 in legal bills for political adviser Rebekah Caldwell Mason past year. State law says public officials can use their campaign funds to pay their own legal bills but does not explicitly say they can pay staff member's legal bills.
The resignation comes just as the state's House of Representatives starts its impeachment hearings over Bentley's alleged campaign and ethics violations.
Taking his place is Lieutenant Governor Kay Ivey.
January 27, 2011: After being elected to two terms in the Alabama House, the dermatologist and one-time Baptist deacon is inaugurated after running on a platform of increasing jobs and not accepting a salary until the state reaches full employment. The state's attorney general, Luther Strange was reportedly considering an investigation into the affair, but then Bentley appointed Strange to replace Jeff Sessions in the Senate after President Trump appointed him to the Attorney General spot. Ivey dropped out of the race that Bentley eventually won, and she was victorious in her bid for lieutenant governor that year.
Bentley is the third ex-Alabama governor to be convicted of criminal charges since the 1990s, following in the steps of Don Siegelman and Guy Hunt, both of whom were imprisoned on charges related to corruption in office. The report also detailed what allegedly went on behind closed doors when Mason, according to the report, left the office "with her hair tousled and her clothing in disarray". After discussions with Dianne Bentley, Hannah said the "voice record" app was used to capture intimate conversations between the former governor and his aide.
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