In an interview with WVTM-TV, disgraced former Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said: “I’m the best Governor Alabama’s ever had by far.”
Defending his time in the governor’s mansion, Bentley added, “They (his political opponents) took advantage of some personal things. . . Had people just left us alone Alabama would have been a lot better off.”
On the surface, this posture seems like a departure from his statement leaving office in April when he said, “There have been times that I have let you, and our people down, and I am sorry.” However, Bentley’s newest remarks don’t come as a total surprise. This isn’t the first time he’s tried to shift blame to others while minimizing his actions. In his first one-on-one interview following the scandal, he told the New York Times his conduct in office was not “all that egregious,” and pledged to bypass the “errors and misconceptions and opinions” of the press and social media by taking his message straight to the people.
Bentley’s outlandish claims of being the state’s best-ever chief executive come only three months after he was forced out of office and plead guilty to criminal charges of campaign finance violations surrounding his salacious relationship with his adviser, Rebekah Mason, which came to light after Yellowhammer founder Cliff Sims released an audio recording of Bentley having a sexually charged conversation with Mason.
Last April, the former governor was booked in the Montgomery County, Alabama Sheriff’s office, after cutting a deal that allowed him to avoid a heavy sentence. As part of that agreement, he was compelled to immediately resign his office and give up his retirement and security benefits. He was charged with two misdemeanors for ethics violations for which he will have to pay fines and serve over 100 hours of community service.
Since leaving office, Bentley has resumed his dermatology practice in Tuscaloosa.
Related Stories:
I’m sorry’: Robert Bentley apologizes and resigns following arrest, looming impeachment
The Overarching Influence of Rebekah Mason
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