Impeachment report says if Alabama governor ‘meant to hide his affair from his wife, he did not do it well’

The report, commissioned by the Alabama House Judiciary Committee and released Friday afternoon, details Bentley’s relationship with his former senior aide, Rebekah Mason.

“Witnesses and documents have confirmed that an inappropriate relationship developed between Governor Bentley and his chief advisor, Rebekah Mason,” the report states. “Within his inner political circle, Governor Bentley made little effort to mask the relationship.”

Bentley, 74, is accused of using state resources to cover up the relationship with Mason, who is 45.

“Governor Bentley directed law enforcement to advance his personal interests and, in a process characterized by increasing obsession and paranoia, subjected career law enforcement officers to tasks intended to protect his reputation,” the report states.

The governor has apologized for his comments to Mason, but has vowed not to resign. Mason resigned from his staff after the affair was made public.

In April 2016, 23 members of the House proposed two articles of impeachment against Bentley and directed the committee to investigate the allegations, the report states.

Before Bentley was elected governor in 2010, he taught a Sunday school class at First Baptist Church Tuscaloosa that included Rebekah Mason, a former television reporter, and her husband, the report says. He hired Mason to join his campaign in the summer of 2010. She worked as both press secretary and director of communications after his election.

The report states that as Bentley’s “re-election campaign progressed throughout 2013, so did his relationship with Rebekah Mason, and the outward signs of affection between the Bentleys began to dissipate.”

The report details how Bentley’s wife, who has since filed for divorce, and his staff came to find out about the relationship:

• “By September 2013, First Lady Dianne Bentley began to have concerns about Mason. At that time, Rebekah Mason’s family was still living in Tuscaloosa, so she was spending her nights in the pool house at the Governor’s Mansion. Ms. Bentley’s worries, however, arose from her perception that Mason was frequently texting her husband on weekends with unnecessary ’emergencies’ or simply about football games.”

• “In October 2013, Ms. Bentley’s Chief of Staff, Heather Hannah, had what was, for her, the first ‘red flag’ in the Bentley-Mason relationship. Mason was at the Mansion working on a speech with Governor Bentley when Hannah walked into the room. They seemed to jump at Hannah’s presence as if they were uncomfortable with someone seeing them.”

• “Ms. Bentley had a similar experience at around the same time when Governor Bentley was at their home in Tuscaloosa recovering from hernia surgery. Ms. Bentley returned from a trip to the grocery store to find Mason sitting with Governor Bentley, and the pair reacted awkwardly when Ms. Bentley came into her home.”

• “Heather Hannah had noticed that Governor Bentley was leaving the Mansion earlier in the mornings and returning later, and she recalls a particular day when Governor Bentley had makeup on his shirt when he came home.”

• “Around the same time, Ms. Bentley had begun to record in her journal the absence of affection from her husband. She noted there was no physical affection, no suggestions of intimacy, and that he had not so much as said ‘I love you’ in quite some time.”

• “More signs emerged when a large contingent from the Administration traveled to Washington, D.C. in February 2014 for the National Governor’s Association (NGA) meeting. The majority of the entourage, including both Mason and Ms. Bentley, attended a dinner at the Old Ebbitt Grill, a well-known local restaurant. Throughout the dinner, Ms. Bentley was able to read text messages being exchanged between Governor Bentley and Mason, who was seated directly across from the Bentleys. Those text exchanges included Governor Bentley stating, ‘I can’t take my eyes off of you.'”

• “Later that evening at a D.C. bar, Mason bragged that Governor Bentley had called and told her that he had opened his hotel room door to hotel staff while clad in boxers, believing Mason was on the other side.”

• “Then there were more glaring indicators, many of which came from Bentley-Mason text exchanges: for example, in the spring 2014, Governor Bentley mistakenly sent to Ms. Bentley a text message that stated, ‘I love you Rebekah’ and was accompanied by a red-rose emoji. On other occasions, Ms. Bentley was able to read text messages sent by her husband to Mason because he had given Ms. Bentley his state-issued iPad, not understanding that it shared the same “cloud” as his state-issued iPhone and granted equal access to all message functions.”

• “Over time, the nature of the Bentley-Mason relationship also became more obvious to the Governor’s staff. Zach Lee reported to Heather Hannah during the re-election campaign that Governor Bentley had begun to call Rebekah Mason ‘baby’ in meetings and that Governor Bentley and Mason frequently went to lunch together by themselves.”

• “The staff frequently observed Mason go into Governor Bentley’s office and shut the door where they would remain for long periods of time. Ray Lewis, the leader of Governor Bentley’s security detail, had an office in the same area and once observed Mason leaving Governor Bentley’s office with tousled hair and making adjustments to her wardrobe.”

• “As of March 2014, Ms. Bentley had made recordings that captured her husband, Governor Bentley, expressing both his passionate love for Mason and describing in detail the pleasure he drew from fondling her breasts.”

The report states that “concerned that those recordings could become public, Governor Bentley directed law enforcement officers to perform tasks that had no law enforcement justification.”

“For example, Governor Bentley directed law enforcement officers to (1) end his relationship with Mason on his behalf; (2) drive to Tuscaloosa to recover a copy of the recordings from his son; (3) drive to Greenville to confront a longtime public servant about whether she had a copy of the recordings; and (4) investigate who had a copy of the recordings and identify potential crimes with which they could be charged,” the report alleges.

Bentley isn’t just facing impeachment. The Alabama Ethics Commission said this week it “found probable cause to believe” Bentley may have violated the state’s campaign finance law. The Alabama attorney general’s office is also investigating the governor.

Bentley, who attempted to block the release of the report, on Friday maintained his innocence during a press conference on the steps of the state capitol.

“If the people want to know if I misused state resources, the answer is simply no. I have not,” Bentley said.