Alabama’s former law enforcement secretary on Wednesday accused Gov. Robert Bentley (R) of an extramarital affair after he was fired the day before.
Spencer Collier alleged during a news conference that afternoon that Bentley had an improper relationship with longtime aide Rebekah Caldwell Mason.
{mosads}“I think the governor owes the people of Alabama an explanation,” he told reporters in Montgomery.
Collier said he initially encountered a “text that was sexual in nature” between Bentley and Mason in August 2014.
He then acquired a tape recording from one of Bentley’s family members, he added, allegedly documenting the governor and Mason in “an inappropriate sexual conversation.”
“I told Gov. Bentley that I loved him like a father and that there was nothing I wouldn’t do for him, except lie for him to a grand jury,” Collier said, recounting an alleged confrontation with Bentley while traveling to Greenville, Ala.
“I made Gov. Bentley aware of the recording that I heard,” he added. “I told Gov. Bentley that there was no need to try and explain it for anything other than what it was. It was very obvious that it was sexual in nature. [Bentley] simply hung his head and asked for advice on how to get out of it.”
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Collier was dismissed the night before after an internal review of his agency.
Bentley said in a statement late Tuesday night that it had “found a number of issues, including possible misuse of state funds,” the Times reported.
The Alabama governor denied he had engaged in any wrongdoing with Mason during his own press conference late Wednesday.
“I have never had a physical affair with Mrs. Mason,” he said. “I can ensure the people of Alabama that as their governor, I have never done anything illegal.
“I have never asked any member of my staff or any cabinet member to lie, despite what the former ALEA secretary said today. In no time have I ever used the resources of my office to facilitate a relationship of any type.”
But Bentley said he had made inappropriate remarks and had apologized for “any conversations and behavior that was inappropriate.”
“At times in the past, have I said things that I should not have said? Absolutely, that’s what I’m saying today,” he said.