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Ethics Complaint Against Rebekah Mason Dismissed
By Donald V Watkins - Apr 13, 2017
By Donald V Watkins - Apr 13, 2017
No wonder former Alabama Governor Robert Bentley was smiling in his mugshot photo at the Montgomery County jail. In the span of two weeks in April, Bentley orchestrated a political deal with the Alabama Ethics Commission and a "sweetheart" plea deal with state prosecutors that would free his girlfriend, Rebekah Mason, and himself from jail time after the pair committed one of the most notorious crime sprees in gubernatorial history.
In the same April 5, 2017, Ethics Commission meeting that resulted in a referral of Bentley's case to state prosecutors on four felony ethics violations, the Commission also dismissed the case against Rebekah Mason. According to investigators, they could not find any evidence that Mason had misused state property.
They did not look hard enough, if they looked at all. Rebekah Mason operated her public relations firm, RCM Communications, Inc., while working full-time as Bentley's communications director. Rebekah also conducted RCM's business from the governor's office and used state resources to further her private business interests.
Also, Bentley made sure that Rebekah had unfettered access to state trooper transportation, the Governor's mansion (at all times of the night), the state airplane, the Winton Blount mansion in Montgomery (which was donated to the state), and to any other state resource she needed to make herself fully available to the Governor for his personal and sexual pleasure. After all, Rebekah, in Bentley's mind, was the real First Lady of Alabama.
Yet, the Commission could not find "probable cause" that Rebekah Mason violated any state ethics laws.
The Commission's disposition of Rebekah's case has the feel and smell of a political "fix". Through back channels, Bentley apparently signaled that he would resign as governor if no charges were brought against Rebekah and if he could dispose of his felony violations by pleading guilty to two no-jail time misdemeanors. The state caved in and agreed. Bentley's exit from the governorship played out Monday just as the governor had demanded.
This is why Robert Bentley was smiling in his mugshot. He hoodwinked them all. The only people who were not aware of: (a) the Ethics Commission's accommodation "fix" of Rebekah's case, (b) the prosecutor's "sweetheart" plea deal with the governor, and (c) the "sellout" of the people's right to the fair administration of justice, were the citizens of Alabama who are thirsty for tough law enforcement in public corruption cases. Once again, they got shafted in this debacle. Nobody gave a damn about their rights as crime victims.
Donald V Watkins
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