Free Republic

Kay Ivey Sworn In as Alabama GovernorLt. Gov. Kay Ivey is sworn in as Alabama governor by acting Chief Justice Lyn Stuart as her pastor Jay Wolfe looks on after the resignation of former Gov. Robert Bentley Monday, April 10, 2017, at the Capitol in Montgomery, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com) Julie Bennett Kay Ivey, the first female Republican in Alabama history to hold the office of Lieutenant Governor, is only the second woman to serve as Governor of the state. Acting Chief Justice Lyn Stewart administered the oath of office to Ivey just after 6 p.m. Monday. Ivey assumes the role...

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley has been on the ropes for a while now. The origins of the story all boil down to allegations of improper relations with an aide which… Okay. Let’s just say it. The guy cheated on his wife with one of his staffers before divorcing her and she was less than thrilled with his behavior. Since that doesn’t technically qualify as breaking the law, you’d normally not see him getting the boot from his job unless the voters decided to do it in the next election. But the initial deed led to some complicating factors which the...

New Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall on Wednesday officially recused himself from an investigation of Gov. Robert Bentley. The recusal confirms that the attorney general's office is investigating the governor. In a Wednesday afternoon statement, Marshall said he met with the Special Prosecutions Division of the Attorney General's Office concerning a possible investigation into Bentley and decided to recuse himself. Former Montgomery County District Attorney Ellen Brooks was appointed to serve as the district attorney leading the Bentley investigation. When asked for comment on the investigation, Bentley's attorney Bill Athanas released this statement to AL.com: "Given the ongoing investigation, it...

Remember that crazy rumor that was going around that Alabama Governor Robert Bentley was considering appointing the Attorney General that halted his impeachment to replace Jeff Sessions in the Senate? It’s happening. Twitter: "BREAKING: ABC 33/40 confirms Gov. Bentley to appoint Luther Strange to Senate following Sessions resignation to become U.S. Atty Gen" — ABC 33/40 News (@abc3340) February 8, 2017" Attorney General Luther Strange recently asked the legislature to halt the ethics-related impeachment proceedings against the Governor, while providing virtually no explanation for doing so. Now, with his appointment to the Senate, Governor Bentley will be able to single-handedly...

Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama hasn’t yet been confirmed as U.S. attorney general, but concern already is mounting that state Gov. Robert Bentley will use his vacancy-appointment power to torpedo an investigation of his own alleged corruption. An apparent front-runner for the Senate appointment is Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange, a fellow Republican who asked that impeachment proceedings against Bentley in the state legislature be delayed pending an investigation by his office. If Bentley appoints Strange, the governor also can pick a new attorney general, potentially affecting that investigation. "That's what the governor would call a twofer," says Selma, Alabama,...

As I drove up U.S. Highway 280, swerving in and out of traffic and making my way from suburban Birmingham toward the city’s center, I thought about the events of the past year that had led up to this moment. For many months the hottest rumor in Alabama politics was that Governor Robert Bentley had engaged in a long-running extramarital affair with his senior political advisor Rebekah Mason, a married mother of three. At first the idea seemed so absurd I dismissed it as politically motivated nonsense. Now, here I was, driving toward an obscure Birmingham gas station to obtain...

After his successful reelection bid in 2014, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley did something that shocked many of his fellow Republicans: He called for raising taxes to shore up the state's budget — $500 million in new taxes, in fact. The moment was particularly head-scratching for anyone who had been following his career. It came mere months after Bentley had successfully campaigned on his record of not raising taxes in his first term. "He frankly lost his mind," AL.com reporter Leada Gore told The Fix on Thursday. "He starts throwing out tax increases — it's almost as if somebody flipped a...

Then-First Lady Dianne Bentley, suspicious that her husband, Governor Robert Bentley, was having an affair with his senior advisor, Rebekah Mason, on multiple occasions pressed “record” on her cell phone, left the room, and captured the governor having intimate conversations with his mistress. Included in those recordings, which were obtained by Yellowhammer News, is overwhelming evidence that Governor Bentley and Mrs. Mason had an intense emotional and — based on their discussion of past events — physical relationship with each other. Governor Bentley has apologized for making “inappropriate” comments to Mrs. Mason, but has denied their relationship was physical. Transcript...

MONTGOMERY, Alabama, January 8, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Alabama's top justice has ordered the state's judges to uphold the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment, despite the U.S. Supreme Court Obergefell v. Hodges decision last June redefining marriage. Chief Justice Roy Moore said probate judges have a ministerial duty not to issue marriage licenses in conflict with the state marriage amendment pending a decision from the Alabama Supreme Court. "Confusion and uncertainty exist among the probate judges of this State as to the effect of Obergefell on the 'existing orders' in API," Moore said in a January 6 administrative order. "Many probate judges...

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday (in a room with a governor who said he'd refuse refugees) that she understood the concerns over the security risks, but that the United States needed to accept refugees, as reported by AL.com. Rice made the remarks at the 38th annual Southeast U.S.-Japan conference, in Birmingham, Alabama, according to the publication. Among those in attendance was Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) who had released a statement Sunday that said he would not "stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm's way." He was one of 13 governors...

Governor Robert Bentley on Sunday announced he is refusing Syrian refugees relocating to Alabama. "After full consideration of this weekend's attacks of terror on innocent citizens in Paris, I will oppose any attempt to relocate Syrian refugees to Alabama through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. As your Governor, I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm's way," Governor Robert Bentley said.

Gov. Robert Bentley's wife of 50 years, Dianne, today filed for divorce, saying "their marriage has suffered an irretrievable breakdown," according to court records. The couple, both 72, were married in 1965 and have four children. Alabama's First Lady files for divorce Alabama Governor Robert Bentley's wife, Diane, files for divorce citing "complete incompatibility." The filing cites "complete incompatibility of temperament" and states they have been separated since January. The filing also lists her address as Tuscaloosa and his as Montgomery. "There exists a conflict of personalities which destroys the legitimate aims of matrimony and all possibilities of reconciliation are...

In a series of tweets Thursday, Alabama's Republican Governor Robert Bentley made his state the third one to cut state funds from Planned Parenthood this week, as the fallout continues from the recent release of five controversial videos describing the harvesting and marketing of aborted babies' organs for financial reward. "The deplorable practices at Planned Parenthood have been exposed to Americans. I've terminated any association with the organization in AL," noted Bentley, a medical doctor, on his Twitter account. "As a doctor and Alabama's governor, the issue of human life, from conception to birth and beyond, is extremely important to...

Gov. Robert Bentley late Friday ordered workers to remove “no weapons beyond this point” signs at all state rest areas. The governor’s move came following a back and forth between Alabama Department of Transportation and state lawmakers over the legality of banning guns at rest areas for all those other than law enforcement.

Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has released a letter to Gov. Robert Bentley saying that he intends to continue to recognize the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and urging the governor to do so. Moore's office released the three-page letter that was delivered to the governor this morning in response to a federal judge's ruling Friday striking down the ban. "As Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, I will continue to recognize the Alabama Constitution and the will of the people overwhelmingly expressed in the Sanctity of Marriage Amendment," Moore wrote.

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) - [Alabama] Gov. [Robert] Bentley made a major job development announcement Monday afternoon. Remington Arms, a company that produces guns and ammunition, said they will be moving to Huntsville. The move would bring about 2,000 jobs to the Rocket City. The company is expected to move into the old Chrysler building on Electronics Boulevard.

by John HillStand With ArizonaThe Alabama Legislature scored a huge victory on Friday, as Gov. Robert Bentley reluctantly signed immigration law H.B. 658 - after legislators refused to "moderate" provisions Bentley (and open-borders activists) had complained were too "harsh" against illegal aliens. Alabama's immigration law H.B. 56, patterned after Arizona's S.B. 1070, passed in 2011, and has been called the toughest state immigration law in America. But several issues were causing legal Alabamans longer lines to obtain state documents and foreign executives issues with being detained, and those provisions were fixed in the new bill. But H.B. 658 (PDF) also...

by John HillStand With Arizona The war against Alabama's immigration law has intensified in recent weeks, with a Justice Department lawsuit, visits by DOJ officials, and a showdown over illegal alien children who have been pulled from Alabama schools. Eric Holder sued Alabama, trying to block every aspect of its enforcement provision. Why has the Administration and their ACLU and La Raza allies frantically tried to stop Alabama's law from being enforced? Because it's WORKING - and putting legal Alabamans back to work. As illegals have fled the state by the tens of thousands, the jobs they took -...

President Barrack Obama plans to visit Alabama on Friday to view the tornado destruction and meet with Gov. Robert Bentley, other state officials and victims of the Wednesday's storms. Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox said he could not confirm if Obama would visit Tuscaloosa, one of the hardest hit areas from Wednesday's deadly tornadoes. The White House Press Office did not release the president's itinerary other than to confirm he will be in the state. The press office said President Obama spoke Thursday morning with Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate about...

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama Republican governor candidate Robert Bentley has turned down an offered endorsement from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, expected to be a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2012. Romney on Thursday endorsed a list of 24 Alabama Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, state treasurer Kay Ivey in her race for lieutenant governor and Birmingham lawyer Luther Strange, who is running for attorney general. The Birmingham News reported that Bentley turned down the endorsement. A spokeswoman for Bentley, Rebekah Mason, said Friday that Bentley wanted to concentrate on the race for governor and did...