23 Mar 2016 8:59 pm
Alabama Governor, Robert Bentley, Denies Having Affair With Aide
Gov. Robert Bentley of Alabama acknowledged Wednesday that he had made inappropriate and sexually charged remarks to one of his closest aides, but he denied an accusation that he and the woman had pursued a physical relationship.
“At times in the past, have I said things that I should not have said? Absolutely, that’s what I’m saying today,” Mr. Bentley said at a State Capitol news conference, when he said he had apologized for “any conversations and behavior that was inappropriate.”
He insisted that he had broken no laws during his friendship and professional partnership with his senior political adviser, Rebekah Caldwell Mason, who holds such power in Alabama that Spencer Collier, a former state law enforcement secretary, on Wednesday referred to her as the “de facto governor.”
Mr. Bentley’s public demonstration of remorse came nearly seven months after Dianne Bentley, to whom the Republican governor was married for 50 years, sought a divorce, and just hours after Mr. Collier, the recently ousted leader of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, described what he saw as a history of improper conduct between the governor and Ms. Mason. Mr. Collier said that Mr. Bentley had, in 2014, effectively acknowledged an affair, and that it appeared to be continuing as recently as last month.
It gets better.......Gov. Robert Bentley had affair, says fired Alabama top cop.
Spencer Collier, head of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency until he was fired today, said this afternoon he has seen and investigated text messages and audio recordings "of a sexual nature" between Gov. Robert Bentley and his chief advisor, Rebekah Caldwell Mason.
It is the first on-the-record confirmation of a long-rumored affair from someone claiming personal knowledge of what took place, though people close to the governor argue it is the last gasp of an angry man.
But Collier lays out times and dates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaIQWFnhH6YEXCLUSIVE: Bentley had illicit affair with staffer in Governor’s office, audio recordings reveal
Audio recordings reveal that Alabama Governor Robert Bentley carried on an illicit affair with a staffer that included sexual encounters inside the Governor’s Capitol office.
Yellowhammer was given exclusive access to the content of audio recordings captured by Dianne Bentley, Governor Bentley’s ex-wife, during which Governor Bentley makes sexual advances on and recalls sexual encounters with Rebekah Mason, his former communications director who has since become his most senior external advisor.
Mrs. Mason’s husband, Jon, also serves in the Bentley administration as Director of Serve Alabama, the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Volunteer Service.
