https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBzFnzV?m=en-us
Justice
Alabama governor resigns after plea deal
Associated Press
© The Associated Press Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley speaks during a news conference on Friday, April 7, 2017, outside the Alabama Capitol building in Montgomery, Ala. Bentley vowed again he won't resign even as his political troubles mounted…
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has resigned after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor charges of violating state campaign finance law.
The attorney general's office announced the resignation Monday with a plea deal.
Bentley was addressing the media Monday afternoon at the Alabama Capitol. Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey's announced that she will be sworn-in this evening as Alabama's governor at 6 p.m.
Bentley's voice began choking with emotion as he addressed reporters at the Alabama Capitol. He said he always tried to live up to the high expectations placed on the person who holds the esteemed office. He apologized for mistakes.
Alabama's Ethics Commission last week found probable cause that Bentley violated state ethics laws with his handling of an alleged affair and referred the case to prosecutors.
This is a breaking news update. Check back later for more.
EARLIER STORY: MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Gov. Robert Bentley was booked on two misdemeanor campaign and ethics charges that arose during the investigation of alleged affair with a top aide and was expected to resign Monday evening.
The mild-mannered 74-year-old Republican and one-time Baptist deacon was at peace with the decision to step down, according to a former administration member who was not authorized to release the information and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
The sex-tinged scandal gathered force over the past few days and the legislators turned up on the pressure by opening impeachment hearings Monday. Last week, the Alabama Ethics Commission cited evidence that Bentley broke state ethics and campaign laws and referred the matter to prosecutors.
A booking log at the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office website showed Bentley was processed Monday afternoon and a mugshot released by the jail shows him smiling slightly, his head cocked slightly to the right. He's wearing a coat and tie.
Bentley's resignation would follow the ouster of former House Speaker Mike Hubbard, who left office in 2016 after being convicted on ethics charges, and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was suspended from his post last year over an order opposing same-sex marriage.
Bentley, a staunch family-values conservative who won two terms partly because of his reputation for moral rectitude, was first engulfed in scandal last year after recordings surfaced of him making sexually charged comments to 45-year-old political adviser Rebekah Caldwell Mason.
An investigative report prepared for the House Judiciary Committee and released last week said Bentley encouraged an "atmosphere of intimidation" to keep the story under wraps and directed law enforcement officers to track down and seize the recordings. The report portrayed the governor as paranoid and obsessed with trying to keep the relationship secret.
The committee on Monday started what was expected to be days of hearings.
Bentley lawyer Ross Garber had argued that impeachment should be reserved for only the "most grave misconduct," noting that only two U.S. governors have been impeached since 1929, and both were indicted for serious felonies.
"It is not unusual for elected officials to have ethics and campaign finance issues. In fact, many governors face these things. It is very rare, though, for legislators to try to leverage those issues to impeach a governor. In fact, it is simply not done," Garber told The Associated Press in an email.
Garber also represented former Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Gov. John Rowland of Connecticut during impeachment proceedings.
The last U.S. governor to be impeached was Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2009. He was removed from office, and is now serving a prison sentence, for conspiring to sell an appointment to President Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat.
The investigative report contained text messages that the governor sent to Mason. They were intercepted by Bentley's then-wife, Dianne Bentley, who was able to read the messages because they also showed up on the governor's state-issued iPad, which he had given her.
"I sure miss you. I need you. I want you. You are the only one," one message read.
Dianne Bentley divorced her husband in 2015 after 50 years of marriage.
At one point, according to the investigative report, the governor sent the head of his security detail to fetch the recording from his son, Paul Bentley, who responded: "You ain't getting it."
The former first lady's chief of staff also charged that Bentley threatened her job because he believed she had helped his wife make the recordings.
On Friday, the governor made a somber plea for forgiveness from the steps of the Alabama Capitol, acknowledging that he had let people down but promising that he had done nothing illegal or anything to merit his removal from office.
He has denied having a physical relationship with his former aide, though in some of the recordings he talked about the pleasure he got from fondling her breasts.
GOP leaders in the House and Senate have called on Bentley to resign, as has the Alabama Republican Party's steering committee.
Two of Bentley's predecessors in the past three decades have been convicted of crimes: Republican Guy Hunt in the 1990s, for misusing funds, and Democrat Don Siegelman, who was convicted of bribery in 2006.
___
This story corrects an earlier version that said two of Bentley's predecessors went to prison. Former Gov. Guy Hunt was convicted, but did not go to prison. It also corrects that Bentley lawyer Ross Garber represented former Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Gov. John Rowland of Connecticut during impeachment proceedings, not Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2009.
Justice
Alabama governor resigns after plea deal
Associated Press
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has resigned after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor charges of violating state campaign finance law.
The attorney general's office announced the resignation Monday with a plea deal.
Bentley was addressing the media Monday afternoon at the Alabama Capitol. Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey's announced that she will be sworn-in this evening as Alabama's governor at 6 p.m.
Bentley's voice began choking with emotion as he addressed reporters at the Alabama Capitol. He said he always tried to live up to the high expectations placed on the person who holds the esteemed office. He apologized for mistakes.
Alabama's Ethics Commission last week found probable cause that Bentley violated state ethics laws with his handling of an alleged affair and referred the case to prosecutors.
This is a breaking news update. Check back later for more.
EARLIER STORY: MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Gov. Robert Bentley was booked on two misdemeanor campaign and ethics charges that arose during the investigation of alleged affair with a top aide and was expected to resign Monday evening.
The mild-mannered 74-year-old Republican and one-time Baptist deacon was at peace with the decision to step down, according to a former administration member who was not authorized to release the information and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
The sex-tinged scandal gathered force over the past few days and the legislators turned up on the pressure by opening impeachment hearings Monday. Last week, the Alabama Ethics Commission cited evidence that Bentley broke state ethics and campaign laws and referred the matter to prosecutors.
A booking log at the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office website showed Bentley was processed Monday afternoon and a mugshot released by the jail shows him smiling slightly, his head cocked slightly to the right. He's wearing a coat and tie.
Bentley's resignation would follow the ouster of former House Speaker Mike Hubbard, who left office in 2016 after being convicted on ethics charges, and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was suspended from his post last year over an order opposing same-sex marriage.
Bentley, a staunch family-values conservative who won two terms partly because of his reputation for moral rectitude, was first engulfed in scandal last year after recordings surfaced of him making sexually charged comments to 45-year-old political adviser Rebekah Caldwell Mason.
An investigative report prepared for the House Judiciary Committee and released last week said Bentley encouraged an "atmosphere of intimidation" to keep the story under wraps and directed law enforcement officers to track down and seize the recordings. The report portrayed the governor as paranoid and obsessed with trying to keep the relationship secret.
The committee on Monday started what was expected to be days of hearings.
Bentley lawyer Ross Garber had argued that impeachment should be reserved for only the "most grave misconduct," noting that only two U.S. governors have been impeached since 1929, and both were indicted for serious felonies.
"It is not unusual for elected officials to have ethics and campaign finance issues. In fact, many governors face these things. It is very rare, though, for legislators to try to leverage those issues to impeach a governor. In fact, it is simply not done," Garber told The Associated Press in an email.
Garber also represented former Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Gov. John Rowland of Connecticut during impeachment proceedings.
The last U.S. governor to be impeached was Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2009. He was removed from office, and is now serving a prison sentence, for conspiring to sell an appointment to President Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat.
The investigative report contained text messages that the governor sent to Mason. They were intercepted by Bentley's then-wife, Dianne Bentley, who was able to read the messages because they also showed up on the governor's state-issued iPad, which he had given her.
"I sure miss you. I need you. I want you. You are the only one," one message read.
Dianne Bentley divorced her husband in 2015 after 50 years of marriage.
At one point, according to the investigative report, the governor sent the head of his security detail to fetch the recording from his son, Paul Bentley, who responded: "You ain't getting it."
The former first lady's chief of staff also charged that Bentley threatened her job because he believed she had helped his wife make the recordings.
On Friday, the governor made a somber plea for forgiveness from the steps of the Alabama Capitol, acknowledging that he had let people down but promising that he had done nothing illegal or anything to merit his removal from office.
He has denied having a physical relationship with his former aide, though in some of the recordings he talked about the pleasure he got from fondling her breasts.
GOP leaders in the House and Senate have called on Bentley to resign, as has the Alabama Republican Party's steering committee.
Two of Bentley's predecessors in the past three decades have been convicted of crimes: Republican Guy Hunt in the 1990s, for misusing funds, and Democrat Don Siegelman, who was convicted of bribery in 2006.
___
This story corrects an earlier version that said two of Bentley's predecessors went to prison. Former Gov. Guy Hunt was convicted, but did not go to prison. It also corrects that Bentley lawyer Ross Garber represented former Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Gov. John Rowland of Connecticut during impeachment proceedings, not Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2009.
