Dentons 50 partner Toby Roth writes on the spectacular resignation Monday of Alabama’s governor and the ripples it sent through the state’s political establishment:
Amid a week of damaging developments and embarrassing investigative reports, Gov. Robert Bentley (R) of Alabama resigned his office Monday, in turn elevating only the second woman to occupy the governor’s mansion.
Bentley’s disastrous week had its beginnings with the 2015 revelations of a marital affair with a senior staff member and his ensuing divorce from his wife of 50 years, First Lady Dianne Bentley. His efforts to conceal the extramarital relationship allegedly led him to threaten cabinet officers and staff members who learned of the affair, utilizing state resources to facilitate the relationship, according to reports.
When one of those cabinet officers was terminated by the governor in 2016 for suspect cause, that official called a press conference and laid out details of the affair which had previously only been rumors. That development prompted legislative calls for impeachment, and those proceedings were initiated in the 2016 legislative session. Separately, the state auditor and a handful of legislators filed ethics charges against the governor with the Alabama Ethics Commission .
However, during the 2016 legislative session, then-Attorney General Luther Strange (R) urged the legislature to stay its impeachment proceedings because his office was reviewing the allegations against Bentley. Rumors of a federal investigation also circulated in Montgomery. The legislative leadership agreed to hold off on impeachment to allow the AG’s Office to proceed, but that situation was complicated when Attorney General Strange was chosen by the governor in early 2017 to fill the U.S. Senate vacancy created when Jeff Sessions was named by President Trump to be U.S. Attorney General. Those legislators most vocal about impeachment criticized the turn of events as raising questions about the AG’s investigation of the governor. Interestingly, the governor’s selection as the new state attorney general, Marshall County District Attorney Steve Marshall, almost immediately recused himself from the Bentley investigation and named a special prosecutor to pursue the matter. Soon after, the Alabama legislature resumed its impeachment investigation/process.
All of these contemporaneous investigations came to a head last week. On Wednesday, the Alabama Ethics Commission met for a day-long session and heard testimony from many key players, including Governor Bentley himself. The Ethics Commissioner reportedly focused on the governor’s use of state resources to facilitate the relationship and also that he improperly raised and spent campaign funds to cover legal expenses for himself and his alleged mistress. After nearly 10 hours of proceedings, the Ethics Commission found probable cause that Bentley violated the state ethics law and the campaign finance law. The commission, in four separate charges, determined there was probable cause that Bentley violated one count of the ethics law and three counts of the campaign finance law. The Commission referred the charges to the Montgomery County district attorney for action. Each violation is a Class B felony, punishable by 2-20 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000.
Then on Friday, the House Judiciary Committee, which is heading up the initial investigatory phase of the impeachment process, announced it would be releasing initial investigatory findings late that day and that they would begin impeaching hearings on Monday, April 10. In a series of legal maneuvers, the governor’s lawyers went to court on Friday seeking an injunction to stay the Judiciary Committee’s release of the report and their Monday proceedings. Late on Friday, a Montgomery County Circuit Judge (whom Bentley had appointed to fill a vacancy just last year) granted the governor’s request for a stay based on due process considerations. However the House Judiciary Committee rushed its release of the investigative report and before the court ruling was issued the House Committee released thousands of pages of findings, exhibits and other supporting documents. That investigative report was perhaps more damaging than the Ethics Commission decision of earlier in the week, because it revealed highly embarrassing texts between Bentley and his alleged girlfriend/staffer, damaging testimony from key staffers and confidantes, and it detailed threats and other tactics used by the governor to intimidate those who knew of the relationship.
In a move that was widely expected by most legal observers, on Saturday afternoon the Alabama Supreme Court lifted the Circuit Court injunction based on the separation of powers between the judicial and executive branches. As the salacious news stories trickled out over the weekend related to the information dump by the impeachment investigation, as it became clear that the impeachment hearings would being on Monday, and as it still remains unknown what the AG’s investigation and possible federal investigations might reveal, reports began to emerge on Sunday that Bentley was negotiating his resignation. Although initial reports were that Bentley would leave office on Wednesday, by Monday afternoon it was reported by several media sources that Bentley would resign by the end of the day.
Upon the Governor’s resignation, Lt. Governor Kay Ivey has become Alabama’s Governor – the second woman in state history (Lurleen Wallace, wife of Gov. George Wallace, was elected to the post in 1966 when her husband was term-limited). Ms. Ivey was in her second term as Lt. Governor and would have been term limited for the 2018 elections. In Alabama, the Governor and Lt. Governor do not run on a ticket so Lt. Governor Ivey, also a Republican, was elected in her own right in 2010 and again in 2014. Ivey previously served two terms as Alabama’s State Treasurer.
A native of Camden in rural southwest Alabama, Ivey is 72 years old. She was widely believed to be foregoing the 2018 Governor’s race and opting instead for retirement, but now her future plans are unclear – which also raises questions for other elected officials who have been making plans for the Governor’s race next year. It is expected that Ivey will make some changes in the Governor’s cabinet and staff, but perhaps not as extensively if she was of a different political party. Upon taking the oath office, Ivey will have approximately 21 months in office until inauguration day in January 2019, although that could be extended if she seeks and wins re-election.
