Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley may soon face criminal prosecution over his relationship with a former top political aide, Rebekah
The Alabama Ethics Commission, a state body that exists to make recommendations on criminal charges related to Alabama's state ethics laws, found probable cause on four charges against Bentley, choosing to refer each of the charges to the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office for further consideration and possible prosecution.
The commission, in a series of public votes after hours of private meetings, found probable cause that Bentley violated both the Alabama Ethics Act and the Fair Campaign Practices Act.
The meeting Wednesday comes nearly a year after two ethics complaints were filed against Bentley by the state auditor, Jim Zeigler, and a state corrections officer, Stacey George, who ran against Bentley in the 2014 republican primaries for governor.
One of the charges alleges that Bentley violated the Alabama Ethics Act by using state resources for personal gain, and the other three charges allege Bentley violated the FCPA by misusing campaign funds and accepting illegal campaign contributions.
All four violations are class B felonies that could result in 2–20 years in prison or up to $20,000 in fines, per violation.
The Ethics Commission is not the only body pursuing possible charges against Bentley. The Alabama House of Representatives also began investigating him on this day in 2016 after several members of the House introduced a resolution calling for articles of impeachment. The committee met several times last year after the articles were filed on April 5 and even went so far as to subpoena the governor, Mason and others close to them.
But in November, then-Attorney General Luther Strange asked the committee to suspend their investigation because he was afraid it would overlap with "necessary related work" within his office. In February, newly appointed Attorney General Steve Marshall appointed a special prosecutor to oversee another active criminal investigation into Bentley within the Attorney General's Office.
In total, Bentley is under three different investigations.
The special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, charged with investigating Bentley for possible impeachment, plans to release a written report on his investigation by Friday at 5 p.m. After the release of the report, which could unearth more information on Bentley's relationship with Mason, on Friday, the House will begin public hearings on impeachment as soon as next Monday.
According to the special counsel's tentative schedule, the House could vote on impeaching and resultantly suspending Bentley by as soon as May 9. If the House does impeach, the Senate would later hold a trial to decide whether to permanently remove Bentley from office or clear him of any charges.
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 has said that his affair with Mason wasn’t physical.
In a press release, the commission said they investigated Bentley for over a year and issued more subpoenas than it has ever issued since it was given subpoena power. In total, the commission's special agents, Tony Goubil and Dustin Lansford, interview more than 45 witnesses.
Details of the commission's investigation fall under Alabama's grand jury secrecy laws, making the details confidential.
Reporters who attended the meeting today in Montgomery were not allowed into the commission's executive session, which lasted for more than nine hours. Inside of the session, members of the commission interviewed witnesses, which reportedly included the governor, Secretary of State John Merrill, former ALEA Secretary Spencer Collier and former Bentley staffer Seth Hammett.
Collier, who served under Bentley as the chief of the state's law enforcement agency, has accused the governor of using ALEA as a political tool to get back at those who allegedly didn't support his relationship with Mason. In March 2016, Bentley fired Collier and accused the longtime law enforcement officer of misusing state funds. A later investigation conducted by the Attorney General's Office cleared Collier of any wrongdoing.
Collier has said Bentley fired him for signing an affidavit in the criminal ethics investigation of former House Speaker Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn. According to Collier, Bentley told him not to cooperate with the attorney general's investigation.
Bentley now faces possible charges of violating the same ethics law that Hubbard was found guilty of violating last year. Hubbard, who had served as House Speaker since 2010, was convicted on 12 felony ethics charges in June 2016.
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