Alabama Governor Plagued By Sex Scandal Rumors Could Face Impeachment

The shadow of a sex scandal that has trailed Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) for the past year may have finally caught up to him. 

The embattled governor faces potential prosecution and possibly impeachment after the state’s Ethics Commission announced late Wednesday that it had found probable cause  to believe Bentley broke at least one state ethics law and three campaign laws.

Some of the violations may have occurred as Bentley, 74, allegedly carried out and covered up an affair with his former top political adviser, Rebekah Caldwell Mason, 45. Bentley is accused, among other things, of using state resources for personal matters and for using campaign cash to pay for Mason’s legal fees.

Bentley has denied any wrongdoing. When reached for comment, his office referred to remarks his attorney, William Athanas, had made to reporters following the commission’s vote. 

“It’s important to remember this is simply a finding of probable cause, not a finding of a violation,” Athanas said. “There is not a basis to find the governor violated any law.” 

Bentley swept into office in 2011 on a conservative platform of job creation, family values and government transparency. He even vowed not to draw a paycheck until Alabama’s unemployment rate went below 5 percent. 

“He was a real Horatio Alger story,” Flowers said of Bentley’s rags-to-riches story . Bentley’s move from humble beginnings to a lucrative dermatology practice made him especially popular with older, conservative voters in rural areas who saw him as familiar and trustworthy.

But the rumored sex scandal, which came to light near the start of Bentley’s second term, has evaporated much of his goodwill with voters. 

“If you ride in on a white horse and wear a white hat and get mud on it, they don’t forgive you,” Flowers said. “He won because he came across as a good ol’ boy, a grandfather-looking guy.”

As early as 2014, political insiders in Montgomery were raising their eyebrows at what some considered to be Mason’s outsized influence on Bentley. Chatter about the relationship and resentment over Mason’s power circulated around the capital and earned Mason the nickname of “de facto governor.”

“[Mason] was running his life,” Flowers said in reference to a meeting he’d had with Bentley about two years ago. “And she ran the whole meeting with me.”

Spencer Collier, the former head of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, said last year that the governor relied on Mason’s opinion above all others.