MONTGOMERY — The committee charged with gathering evidence on Gov. Robert Bentley for possible impeachment voted Wednesday to allow its legal staff to resume a private investigation.
The vote Wednesday, which passed the committee unanimously, will allow Judiciary Committee Special Counsel Jack Sharman to continue a private investigation of Bentley and his relationship with his former top political aide Rebekah Mason.
The vote Wednesday came after a similar vote on
The committee voted Tuesday to continue a pause that began in the fall following a request from then-Attorney General Luther Strange. That pause was reversed by the Wednesday vote, which was proposed by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, who voted no on the original motion Tuesday.
Several legislators were confused about the implications of their vote Tuesday when the committee met to discuss a letter from Special Attorney General Ellen Brooks, several legislators said.
"There was some confusion among members who voted against the motion Tuesday," said Rep. Mike Jones, R-Andalusia, chairman of the Judiciary Committee. "With today's vote, we're instructing special counsel to move forward with the probe."
In late February, Brooks sent the committee a letter asking them to review a 1933 court case, which, according to her, raised a possible conflict between the two separate investigations.
The Alabama Supreme Court, hearing the case more than 80 years ago, ruled at the time that some impeachments conducted in alignment with one portion of the Alabama Constitution could be considered criminal proceedings.
Since they could be considered criminal in nature, there could be the possibility of triggering double jeopardy. If the governor was acquitted in a Senate trial, then the Attorney General's Office could be prevented from prosecuting him again in a criminal court.
Most of the committee did not seem too concerned with the case's possible implications, though.
The motion Tuesday, which would have given Sharman the go-ahead, got muddled up in the confusion over whether the committee's investigation would trigger double jeopardy.
“Very soon after we closed out our meeting yesterday morning, a number of committee members approached me," Jones said. "It was very clear quickly that there was a lot of confusion as to what the intent of the motion was."
Several legislators didn't like the idea of continuing a pause Tuesday, no matter what reason, but they still voted no on the Tuesday motion.
"We have been empaneled as members of the Legislature to decide on an impeachment resolution, to determine whether the governor should be removed," said Allen Farley, R-McCalla, who voted against the motion.
Farley wanted hearings to resume and the two investigations to be conducted on separate tracks.
The House Judiciary Committee began investigating Bentley in 2016 after several members of the House introduced a resolution calling for articles of impeachment. The committee met several times last year and even went so far as to subpoena the governor, Mason and others close to them.
But in November, Strange asked the committee to suspend their investigation because he was afraid it would overlap with "necessary related work" within his office. Last month, newly appointed Attorney General Steve Marshall appointed a special prosecutor to oversee an active investigation into Bentley.
Bentley, who was accused last year of maintaining an extramarital affair with Mason, and using State funds to do so, has denied any legal wrongdoing and said that his affair with Mason wasn’t physical.
He has called the House effort to impeach him “political grandstanding.”
Attorneys from the governor have criticized the impeachment hearings in the past. They have said the governor should be afforded due process in the House by allowing his attorneys to interview witnesses and present their own evidence, which the committee has been hesitant to do.
If the House votes to deliver impeachment articles, the governor will be suspended immediately and will remain suspended unless he his acquitted in a Senate trial.
"In other words, impeachment would immediately throw out the votes of Alabama citizens," said Ross Garber, an attorney for Bentley's office. "This is not something that can be done without due process and very substantial evidence of serious wrongdoing."
The chairman of the House committee said Wednesday said he had no timeline for when the committee would hold another public hearing.
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