Bentley.

Governor-Elect Robert Bentley, 2011

     I believe it was The New York Times that pointed out how unlikely a candidate Dr. Robert Bentley was for scandal when he began serving as Governor in 2012. 
     A Grandfather, Church Deacon, Physician, member of The Alabama House. Married almost a half-century to the same woman. A Father.
     It is virtually all gone now.
     His Governorship, and perhaps his life, are in tatters.

A few thoughts about the events of the past week or so:

• This is not a time for celebration, despite the cheering that went on when Kay Ivy was sworn in. 

• The page that used to display the flight logs of the State Planes, and spending by The governor's Office, is empty. 

 

     Let's hope Governor Ivy's pledge of openness and transparency will include replacing those documents, including the records of where Bentley flew, and with whom, during the first quarter of this year, records that had not been posted when he left office on Monday.

• And speaking of the state planes, I hope prosecutors are interviewing the people who made changes to those official flight logs before they were posted online. From the report issued by the special council appointed by the legislature:

"members of Governor Bentley’s staff routinely review and amend “flight log records” before they are “post[ed] to the Governor’s website.” In fact, the documents labeled OTG005667-005672 (Ex. 5-CC) show after-the-fact red-line edits that were made to the State Aircraft Usage document for the Fourth Quarter of 2015 before it was made public."

You can read the entire report online HERE.

    And finally, there has been a lot of Millennial snark about Bentley too---ageism really---by people who can't imagine someone Bentley's age actually "doing it". Get over yourselves. If you are lucky enough, you'll be old some day too. Than you can talk about seniors and sex with all of the snark you have left.