Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Republican Alabama Governor Robert Bentley Won't Say Whether He Fucked a Staffer
Robert Julian Bentley is an American politician and medical doctor who is the 53rd and current Governor of Alabama. A member of the Republican Party, Bentley was elected Governor in 2010 and was sworn in on January 17, 2011. Wikipedia
This morning, a recently deposed top police officer in Alabama told AL.com that he had heard audio of the state’s governor, Robert Bentley, having a sexually charged conversation with Rebekah Caldwell Mason, a top adviser who, dating back to last year, has been rumored to be the governor’s mistress. Late this afternoon, the audio of that conversation leaked, forcing Bentley to hold a press conference in which he apologized for his remarks while still maintaining that he and Mason never had an affair.
You can hear the audio above. The recording is from 2014 but is of unknown origin (though local muckrakers, who have been on the Bentley affair story since the beginning, say they know). It captures one side of a phone conversation between Bentley and Mason, with her voice unheard. Here are some highlights, all quotes from the governor:
* “You kiss me. I love that. You know I do love that.”
* “You know what, when I stand behind you and I put my arms around you, and I put my hands on your breasts, and I put my hands on you [unintelligible] and pull you real close...”
* “Hey, I love that too, putting my hands under you.”
* “Oh, great. I think about that right now, so let’s do it.”
* “Yeah, I could tell you were thinking about—I could tell you were thinking about it last night.”
* “It’s okay, everything is going to be fine. We’re going to be alright this week.”
* “I love you. I love to talk to you. I do.”
* “But baby, lemme tell you what we’re gonna have to do tonight: Start locking the door. If we’re gonna do what we did the other day, we’re gonna have to start locking the door.”
It’s about to be the Horny Time. Does this get you in the mood?
In his press conference late this afternoon, Bentley admitted that the audio is indeed between him and Mason. Nonetheless, he still tried to thread an impossible needle. Via AL.com:
Bentley said his comments, captured on recordings in 2014, have hurt his family and Mason’s. He called today “a difficult day.”
He repeated over and over that his sins were in the words he used in talking to Mason, nothing more.
When asked to comment on the recordings – part of which include Bentley describing how he liked the come up behind the woman and touch her breasts – he clarified that it was not a “sexual relationship.”
It’s hard to fathom how Bentley can assert that he and Mason did not have a sexual relationship. He seems to make several references to sex, saying to Mason that “I could tell you were thinking about it last night” and “we’re gonna have to start locking the door.” At the very least, he admits to touching her breasts. The alternative that he’s proposing—that he didn’t have a sexual relationship with Mason but did feel her up—is actually worse than if they were having an affair. It would be, potentially, sexual assault, or, at the very least, highly inappropriate workplace behavior that would easily make the case for him to resign his office.
Of course, that might happen anyway. Bentley, despite his insistence to the contrary, was caught speaking sexually to a subordinate at a time in which he was still married to his wife, whom he separated from in January 2015 before officially divorcing in September. Republicans in his state have already pressed the attorney general to investigate whether Bentley used state funds to cover up the affair, and the leaking of this audio only figures to add fuel to those flames.
**************************************
Alabama governor Robert Bentley is widely suspected of having carried on an affair with a woman named Rebekah Caldwell Mason, who currently serves as one of his most senior advisors. Although the rumors of infidelity are public enough that several fellow state Republicans asked the attorney general to investigate, Bentley, who divorced his wife last year, has always denied he was unfaithful.
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley Won't Say Whether He Fucked a Staffer
In Bentley’s defense, no one had put their name to an on-the-record quote alleging personal knowledge of the supposed affair. Until yesterday, when Spencer Collier, who led the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency until being fired, provided firsthand knowledge—including new details—of a relationship between Bentley and Mason to AL.com.
Collier says saffers close to Bentley first became aware of the exact nature of that relationship in August 2014, when one of his underlings noticed a sext from Mason when picking up Bentley’s cell phone after he had dropped it:
Collier said the first evidence of an affair arose Aug. 2, 2014, when Stan Stabler – who took his place as the head of ALEA – saw a text message from Mason on Bentley’s cell phone. Collier said Stabler saw the message after the governor dropped his phone at a Business Council of Alabama conference at Point Clear.
He said Stabler notified his then-boss, former Bentley security officer Ray Lewis, of the “sexual nature” of the text.
Further, Collier says that three days later, Lewis played him a recording in which Bentley and Mason talk about screwing each other:
Three days later, at 3 p.m. on Aug. 5, 2014, Lewis brought a laptop to Collier and played an audiotape of conversations between the governor and Mason, Collier said. The tape, purportedly created by a Bentley family member hoping for an “intervention,” left no doubt about the relationship, he said.
“’If we’re gonna do what we did yesterday we’re going to have to lock that door,’” Collier says Mason said.
The governor responded, Collier maintains, with improper comments about “her breasts and behind.”
Collier says the tape was erased but members of Bentley’s family are still in possession of it. Per AL.com, Bentley is continuing to deny that he had an affair with Mason. Stabler, who allegedly saw the sext and still works closely with the governor, told the paper that “the allegation and implication from Mr. Collier is completely false and without merit.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Presidential Election 2016: Lets Get Ready To Rumble!!
Democrats
Republicans
Third party candidates
As of March 1, 2016, a total of 1,591 candidates had filed a Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission.[1] A full list of these candidates and their parties and filing dates can be found here.
The following candidates and politicians have either suspended their presidential campaign or declined to run.
Dropped out:
Lincoln Chafee (D)
Lawrence Lessig (D)
Martin O'Malley (D)
Jim Webb (D)
Jeb Bush (R)
Chris Christie (R)
Carly Fiorina (R)
Jim Gilmore (R)
Lindsey Graham (R)
Mike Huckabee (R)
Bobby Jindal (R)
George Pataki (R)
Rand Paul (R)
Rick Perry (R)
Rick Santorum (R)
Scott Walker (R)
Declined to run
Joe Biden (D)
Andrew Cuomo (D)
Al Gore (D)
Dennis Kucinich (D)
Brian Schweitzer (D)
Elizabeth Warren (D)
Kelly Ayotte (R)
Nikki Haley (R)
Peter King (R)
Susana Martinez (R)
Mike Pence (R)
Mitt Romney (R)
Paul Ryan (R)
Brian Sandoval (R)
Democratic nomination
Republican nomination
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)