Covering Up The Bentley-Mason Affair - by Donald V. Watkins/Facebook
A married politician like Governor Robert Bentley has four options after he has been caught cheating on his wife. None of them is good.
First, he can admit the truth and accept the consequences of his infidelity. This is what former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford did after his illicit love affair was exposed.
Second, he can remain silent by asserting that the affair is a "private family matter". This was one of former disgraced federal judge Mark Fuller's approaches when he was caught having an affair with his courtroom bailiff and when he was caught again with his law clerk. Like Fuller, this is one of Bentley's approaches for dealing with his love affair with Rebekah Mason.
Third, he can stonewall the public by securing a court order sealing the divorce records. Again, this was what Mark Fuller did, and is the other approach that is being taken by Bentley.
Fourth, he can lie about the cheating by denying it. This is what former president Bill Clinton did with Monica Lewinsky. When the evidence of his affair left Clinton with no way out, he admitted the affair and apologized.
Bentley has gone one step further than these high-profile cheaters. In addition to invoking the "private family matter" and "sealed divorce records" approaches to avoid coming clean about his affair, Bentley and his staff have used his executive authority in an unsuccessful effort to cover-up evidence of the affair. These efforts will be exposed in "Forbidden Love - Robert Bentley's Secret Love Affair" - Part 3, which will be published on September 18, 2015.
As an investigative journalist and lawyer, I have exposed many cover-ups during my career. Some are more memorable than others. Two of the worst cover-ups I have exposed prior to the Bentley scandal and its related cover-up are discussed below.
In December 1975, I represented the Estate of Bernard Whitehurst in a wrongful death case against the Montgomery police department. Whitehurst was an unarmed black man who was fatally shot by Montgomery police officer Donnie Foster. The police initially claimed that Whitehurst was a fleeing felon who shot at Foster during a running gun battle. My investigation revealed that Whitehurst was shot in the back, and that the gun found beside his body was "planted" by police after his death. The case evolved into a nationally recognized scandal that resulted in the resignations of the Montgomery's mayor and police commissioner, the indictment of three police officers, and the firing or resignation of eight others. The April 3, 1977 edition of the Washington Post devoted a full two-page feature story to the Whitehurst case and its aftermath.
In 1983, an out-of-state black family was mourning the death of their mother/grandmother on Todd Road in Montgomery when two white police officers mistook the Michigan and Ohio mourners' license plates as a gathering of out-of-state drug dealers. Unbelievably, these officers raided the funeral gathering and violence erupted in and around the home. The officers, who were believed to be home invaders, were shot during the ensuing melee. The mourners were subsequently arrested and beaten while in police custody. My investigation into this matter resulted in felony criminal charges against eleven of the mourners being reduced to misdemeanors in four cases and dropped altogether in eight others.
A cover-up is usually more despicable than the original act of wrongdoing. In Bentley's case, his lust and love for Rebekah Mason were acts of passion. Bentley's ensuing cover-up, however, may well be intentional criminal acts of altering governmental records that reveal the truth about the affair. These acts may have placed Bentley in a far worse legal predicament than he would been in had he simply told the truth. Right now, it seems like Bentley is not capable of telling the truth.
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