Accusations of hypocrisy dominate ongoing Alabama sex scandal

In a culture where voters are often willing to overlook candidates’ marital infidelity, a sex scandal in Alabama could lead to the governor’s impeachment. What’s behind the uproar?

For one thing, Gov. Robert Bentley is the state’s highest-ranking elected official. For another, the Republican rose to power on the promise of promoting family values, using the 2010 campaign to strongly weigh in on issues important to social conservatives. During his first year in office, he landed in hot water with the national press for making an altar call of sorts during a speech and using Christian terminology they found confusing, like “brothers and sisters.”

Now, Bentley is trying to beat back accusations he had an affair with a female advisor, Rebekah Mason. In 2014, a bodyguard noticed a sexually suggestive text message to Mason on Bentley’s cell phone, and people began questioning their relationship. Bentley has always denied having an affair with Mason, but in 2015, his wife of 50 years filed for divorce.

The issue arose again in March when another staffer fired by the governor retaliated by announcing he had proof of the affair. Sources close to the Bentley family also released recordings of the governor making sexually suggestive comments over the phone, presumably to Mason. She is not heard on the recording and has not admitted to having a relationship with Bentley. But she resigned a few days later, further stoking rumors. The governor admitted to making the recorded remarks but again denied the two had an affair.

Even so, Republican lawmakers asked for Bentley’s resignation. When he refused, they began calling for his impeachment. The governor’s former allies are now investigating the impeachment process—which has never been done in Alabama—and in an especially bizarre twist, the lead Republican heading the effort, state Rep. Ed Henry, is the Alabama chairman for Donald Trump’s Republican presidential campaign. (Trump has been referred to as a “serial adulterer” and has admitted to affairs.)

Political observers can’t help but note the irony of Henry’s efforts, including his support from state House Speaker Mark Hubbard, who faces 23 ethics violations of his own. Together the two want to impeach the governor for “moral turpitude,” as defined by the Alabama constitution.

“When you fight hypocrisy with hypocrisy, you get only more hypocrisy,” one reporter noted.

Lobbyist and former Virginia Tech political science researcher Richard Andrew Marrs researched media reaction to gubernatorial sex scandals, and noticed increased coverage in situations with apparent hypocrisy. He concluded the media seems less interested in stories in which the fallen politician never claimed to be a saint. “Therefore, one must consider whether the existence of hypocrisy is a lynchpin of sorts between minimal news coverage and abundant news coverage,” Marrs wrote in his dissertation.

But David Iglesias, who directs the Wheaton Center for Faith, Politics, and Economics, says it’s not just a matter of Christian versus non-Christian politicians, citing liberal Democrat Eliot Spitzer, whose career was ruined by a sexting scandal, and Republican Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who remains in office despite admitting to using a Washington, D.C., escort service.

“I do think that the hypocrisy component makes it more serious if you’ve run on a family values platform,” Iglesias said.

Yesterday, the editorial board for AL.com, the digital presence for The Birmingham News, the Press-Register of Mobile and The Huntsville Times, joined calls for Bentley to resign.

“The governor seems to think that repentance and asking forgiveness is enough. It might be enough between him and God. But it is not enough for Alabama’s top public office holder and the public trust,” the board wrote. Bentley has on multiple occasions asked for forgiveness from the people of Alabama and has stated he does not intend to step down.

State Rep. Kerry Rich, a Republican and manager of contemporary Christian radio station WJIA, said he does not condone Bentley’s actions but takes a very different view of impeachment—one he believes is shared by the vast majority of the Alabama House Republican Caucus.

“The governor has admitted to an inappropriate relationship with an aide. That alone, in my view, does not require his resignation or impeachment. We have ALL sinned and have come short of God’s glory,” Rich said in a statement. “If he is telling the truth and there is nothing else involved, either illegal or unethical, and shows proper remorse and demonstrates he can continue, he should be allowed to. The Attorney General and the Federal Prosecutor will conduct an investigation to determine the facts. … In my view we should let the dust settle and see what the facts are.”