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Alabama Lawmaker Moves to Impeach Governor Lawmaker Takes First Step in an Effort to Impeach Alabama’s Governor
(about 7 hours later)
An Alabama lawmaker announced on Tuesday that he was filing articles of impeachment against Gov. Robert Bentley, who admitted to having made sexually charged remarks to one of his closest aides and is facing questions about possible misuse of state resources in connection with that relationship. MONTGOMERY, Ala. — As the Alabama Legislature came back into session Tuesday after a 12-day break dominated by news of a sex scandal involving the governor, a state lawmaker filed articles of impeachment against Gov. Robert Bentley, who admitted to having made racy remarks to one of his closest aides, but has been accused of much more.
The measure was introduced at a news conference by State Representative Ed Henry, a Republican who was flanked by several other lawmakers, Democrat and Republican. Flanked at a news conference by three lawmakers representing both parties, State Representative Ed Henry, a Republican, presented the proposed articles declaring the governor, also a Republican, “unfit to serve the State of Alabama.”
“We’re looking at this governor, who has essentially betrayed the trust of the people of Alabama,” Mr. Henry said. “The only course the people of Alabama have to address this issue is through the impeachment process.” “We’re looking at this governor who has essentially betrayed the trust of the people,” Mr. Henry told reporters at the State House. “The only course the people of Alabama have to address this issue is through the impeachment process.”
The scandal broke into the open in March, when the recently ousted top law enforcement official in the state publicly alleged that the governor and the adviser, Rebekah Caldwell Mason, had been having an affair. Tapes surfaced of Mr. Bentley apparently talking to Ms. Mason, and discussing, among other things, how he loved to “put my hands on your breasts.” It is unclear whether the resolution has the votes to move forward, but it ensures that a scandal that Mr. Bentley has tried to push aside is not going to go away easily, if at all. While the more lurid aspects of the scandal center on an alleged sexual relationship between the governor and Rebekah Caldwell Mason, who resigned last week as Mr. Bentley’s senior political adviser, the particulars of the proposed resolution show just how multidimensional the scandal has become.
Mr. Bentley, a Republican, has rebuffed calls to resign. On Monday, during a news conference at a state prison, the governor apologized, though he did not address the accusations in detail. The articles point out that Ms. Mason, a powerful member of the Bentley administration, was not paid by the state in recent years and was thus unaccountable under financial disclosure rules. They question whether the governor used state funds to facilitate the relationship, which Mr. Bentley insists was not sexual despite highly suggestive audio recordings. They also reiterate an accusation made by the state’s former top law enforcement official that Mr. Bentley removed him from office in part because he was cooperating with state prosecutors in the investigation of Mike Hubbard, the current speaker of the House, who is scheduled to go on trial on felony corruption charges next month.
“I’ve asked God to forgive me because that’s the most important thing,” he said. “I have truly asked the people of this state — they’re the folks who love me and are the best people in the world — I have asked them to forgive me.” Policy quarrels are also, apparently, a factor: At the news conference, Mr. Henry raised the fact that Mr. Bentley had run for re-election in 2014 pledging no new taxes and, not long after winning, proposed large tax increases.
Mr. Bentley said on Tuesday that he would continue to do his job. “There are no grounds for impeachment, and I will vigorously defend myself and my administration from this political attack,” Mr. Bentley said in a statement. “Today’s press conference is nothing more than political grandstanding intended to grab headlines and take the focus away from the important issues the Legislature still has to address before the end of the session.”
“For five years, I have faithfully served the people of Alabama. We have made great progress streamlining the way state government operates and have saved taxpayers more than $1 billion annually,” he said. Ms. Mason did not return an email seeking comment.
He added: “There are no grounds for impeachment, and I will vigorously defend myself and my administration from this political attack. Today’s press conference is nothing more than political grandstanding intended to grab headlines and take the focus away from the important issues the Legislature still has to address before the end of the session.” Alabama has never impeached a governor, having attempted impeachment only once: of a secretary of state in 1915.
There has not been an impeachment for the past hundred years, according to D. Patrick Harris, the secretary of the Alabama Senate, and the state Constitution is vague on the process. While the exact procedures are unclear, a majority of the House of Representatives would need to vote for impeachment. “Most folks just quit,” said D. Patrick Harris, the secretary of the Alabama Senate, contemplating the day’s news in an office adorned with mounted deer heads. He pointed to the example of former Gov. Guy Hunt, who was never impeached, even when he went to trial. Mr. Hunt was removed from office in 1993 after he was convicted of violating the state ethics law.
If the House did vote for impeachment, a trial would be held in the Senate, which would be presided over by the chief justice of the state Supreme Court. That position is held by Roy S. Moore, famous for fighting a federal court over same-sex marriage and defying an order in 2003 to move a giant monument of the Ten Commandments from the state judicial building. The State Constitution is vague on the process. At the basic level, if a simple majority of the House votes to impeach, an impeachment trial would take place in the Senate. The trial would be presided over by the chief justice of the State Supreme Court: in this case Roy Moore, the firebrand judge who has defied federal courts on same-sex marriage and the placement of a giant monument of the Ten Commandments in the state judicial building.
Procedurally, this is complicated. Politically it is, in the words of Mr. Harris, “a three-ring circus.”
For one thing, Mr. Hubbard, the speaker, could be in the position of helping oversee the impeachment process of a potential key witness — Mr. Bentley — at his own trial.
“That’s a very unusual situation,” said Michael V. Rasmussen, a lawyer in Birmingham who unsuccessfully defended a former mayor of the city in a corruption case. “It’s human nature to consider your own self-interest.”
Mr. Henry suggested that Mr. Hubbard would probably abstain. Mr. Hubbard’s office issued a statement, saying, “The Alabama Constitution lays out a process for impeachment, and we will follow that process with great care and deliberation.”
That there is an effort to impeach the governor for some as-yet-unclear list of violations, while Mr. Hubbard has had wide support as speaker despite a 23-count indictment, is not lost on lawmakers, though some appeared disinclined to address it.
“Why don’t you ask somebody else, is that fine?” asked State Representative Will Ainsworth, a Republican who supports impeachment. “It’s apples and oranges,” he eventually said, arguing that the chief executive of state employees should abide by rules that apply to all state employees.
A dermatologist and state representative, Mr. Bentley surprised many when he won the 2010 governor’s race, having edged out a Tea Party favorite for the runoff.
But even before rumors of an affair began with his divorce last year, Mr. Bentley had a hard time getting his way with the Legislature. Some of his proposals have fallen flat, while others frustrated lawmakers, who complained of unexpected demands from the governor that undermined deals that had been forged. Still other plans, such as his proposed tax increases, brought on full-throated opposition by Republican leaders.
On Tuesday, the governor’s veto of the Legislature’s budget, made on the ground that it did not adequately fund Medicaid, was easily overridden in both houses.
“This governor doesn’t have a real close relationship with this Legislature,” said the Senate president pro tempore, Del Marsh, a Republican.
With the governor hobbled by scandal and the House speaker facing a corruption trial, Mr. Marsh appears to be in an unusually powerful position. This is not lost on him, though he emphasizes the growing clout of the body as a whole to set the state’s agenda. “It’s unfortunate for the governor, but it leaves our opportunities greater,” he said.
That may be where things stand for the rest of Mr. Bentley’s term. He has flatly said he will not resign, and it is unclear whether there are enough votes to impeach, or even get the resolution to the House floor.
“It’s a small lynch mob, though it’s a very vocal lynch mob,” said State Representative Jack Williams, a Republican.
Investigations are not new to the State House, and ever since the indictment of Mr. Hubbard in the fall of 2014, lawmakers have waited nervously for further developments, possibly including new indictments. The Bentley saga has deepened the unease.
“It’s a mess over here,” said Jack Campbell, a longtime Republican political consultant. “An old bird dog trainer once told me, ‘Jack, your enemy today in politics is your friend tomorrow.’ He was right, but I guess I don’t consider anybody a friend anymore.”