Alabama governor resigns amid sex scandal; successor makes state history
Politics
Alabama governor resigns amid sex scandal; successor makes state history
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has resigned following allegations that he used state resources to cover up an affair he was having with one of his top aides, 45-year-old political adviser Rebekah Caldwell Mason. Bentley, 74, was booked into a Montgomery County Jail Monday on charges of failing to file a major contribution report and knowingly converting campaign funds to personal use. He pleaded guilty in an agreement with prosecutors to two misdemeanor campaign violations and is barred from seeking public office again. The relationship between Bentley and his married aide became a topic of speculation in 2015, when his wife of 50 years, Dianne, abruptly filed for divorce.
I have spent the last year in deep and earnest prayer over our state and our people. I pray every morning for wisdom and guidance and forgiveness for the sins I have committed.
Robert Bentley
With Bentley’s resignation, his successor, Kay Ivey, becomes the state’s second female governor and the first to rise through the political ranks on her own. The first Republican woman elected lieutenant governor of Alabama, Ivey was also the first Republican to hold that office for two straight terms. She entered the Old Senate Chamber Monday evening for her swearing-in ceremony to a thunderous round of applause.
