--- title: Alabama Governor Faces Impeachment Over Alleged Sex Scandal description: Alabama lawmakers will try to impeach Republican Gov. Robert Bentley over accusations that he had an affair with a former employee. canonical: https://time.com/4283131/alabama-governor-impeach-scandal/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-06T00:01:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:27:09.411Z article:section: Politics og:title: Alabama Governor Faces Impeachment Over Sex Scandal Accusations og:description: Opponents said he "has essentially betrayed the trust of the people of Alabama" og:url: https://time.com/4283131/alabama-governor-impeach-scandal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt192e79eced5a753b/69888de5bc6cfc5c623dc745/robert-bentley.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Bentley og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Alabama Governor Faces Impeachment Over Sex Scandal Accusations twitter:description: Opponents said he "has essentially betrayed the trust of the people of Alabama" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt192e79eced5a753b/69888de5bc6cfc5c623dc745/robert-bentley.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Alabama Governor Faces Impeachment Over Sex Scandal Accusations  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Apr 6, 2016 12:01 AM UTC  Gov. Robert Bentley speaks during Alabama Community College Day on the Alabama Capitol lawn on April 5, 2016, in Montgomery, Ala. Gov. Robert Bentley speaks during Alabama Community College Day on the Alabama Capitol lawn on April 5, 2016, in Montgomery, Ala.Albert Cesare—AP  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Apr 6, 2016 12:01 AM UTC Alabama lawmakers will [try to impeach Republican Gov. Robert Bentley](http://www.wsj.com/articles/alabama-lawmakers-announce-plans-to-impeach-gov-robert-bentley-1459885733) over accusations that he had an affair with a former employee. Republican State Rep. Ed Henry announced at a news conference Tuesday that he has filed articles of impeachment against the state’s governor for many reasons, including neglect of duty, corruption in office and incompetency, the Wall Street _Journal_ reports. “We’re looking at this governor who has essentially betrayed the trust of the people of Alabama,” Henry said. “The only recourse the people of Alabama have to address this issue is through the impeachment process.” Bentley, who called the resolution “nothing more than political grandstanding,” has come under fire after [allegations surfaced of his alleged relationship](http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/30/politics/alabama-governor-aide-resigns/index.html) with his former chief adviser, Rebekah Caldwell Mason. The accusations came from the former head of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, who was fired by the governor for alleged wrongdoing, according to the _Journal_. “There are no grounds for impeachment, and I will vigorously defend myself and my administration from this political attack,” the 73-year-old governor said in a statement. \[[_WSJ_](http://www.wsj.com/articles/alabama-lawmakers-announce-plans-to-impeach-gov-robert-bentley-1459885733)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4283131/alabama-governor-impeach-scandal/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4283131/alabama-governor-impeach-scandal/"},"headline":"Alabama Governor Faces Impeachment Over Sex Scandal Accusations","datePublished":"2016-04-06T00:01:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:27:09.411Z","description":"“We’re looking at this governor who has essentially betrayed the trust of the people of Alabama\"","url":"https://time.com/4283131/alabama-governor-impeach-scandal/","keywords":["alabama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt192e79eced5a753b/69888de5bc6cfc5c623dc745/robert-bentley.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt192e79eced5a753b/69888de5bc6cfc5c623dc745/robert-bentley.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bentley","caption":"Gov. Robert Bentley speaks during Alabama Community College Day on the Alabama Capitol lawn on April 5, 2016, in Montgomery, Ala.","creditText":"Albert Cesare—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/alabama/","name":"alabama"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4283131/alabama-governor-impeach-scandal/","name":"Alabama Governor Faces Impeachment Over Sex Scandal Accusations"}}]}] ```