Alabama Official Files Ethics Complaint Against Guv Accused Of Affair With Aide

An Alabama official filed an ethics report Friday that called for an investigation into whether Gov. Robert Bentley (R) misused state property while allegedly carrying out an inappropriate relationship with his top aide.

“The Governor continues to disgrace the state of Alabama, and in my official capacity as State Auditor, I am required to report these suspected violations,” Zeigler wrote in a statement announcing that he had filed a report with the Alabama Ethics Commission.

Bentley admitted this week in an awkward press conference that he had made “inappropriate” statements to his chief adviser, Rebekah Mason, although he insisted they had engaged in “no sexual activity.”

The affair allegations had been floating around, unsubstantiated, for a while until Spencer Collier, the former head of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, offered what he said was proof of the affair in response to Bentley firing him. Collier claimed to have seen text messages and heard recordings between Bentley and Mason in which the governor spoke about touching his aide’s “breasts and behind.”

Zeigler maintained that he was motivated to file the report not by Bentley’s “personal peccadillos,” but by the source of Mason’s paycheck.

As AL.com reported, Mason is not on the state payroll, but is instead paid by the Alabama Council for Excellent Government, a social welfare nonprofit that backs Bentley’s policies.

Zeigler argued that Mason either must be classified as a public official or file as a lobbyist to comply with state ethics rules.

“It is clear that he is misleading the people of the state about the nature of his relationship, but it is also clear that Ms. Mason is required to either be classified as a public official, or file as a lobbyist, in her capacity as an advisor who is paid by an outside source,” he wrote in his complaint.

Ziegler also questioned whether Bentley and Mason “are using state property in furtherance of their personal relationship.”

While news of Bentley’s alleged affair has dominated local headlines this week, Zeigler himself was on the receiving end of some unfavorable media coverage in recent months.

In October, Zeigler faced criticism for speaking to a neo-Confederate group about his ongoing efforts to return portraits of segregationist former Govs. George and Lurleen Wallace to the state Capitol rotunda.

Zeigler told TPM at the time that the League of the South was not a hate group, and called those who listened to his speech “the nicest people I’ve ever met.”

The League of the South has long been classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.