MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Former Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) Secretary Spencer Collier on Tuesday filed a nine count civil lawsuit in Montgomery County Circuit Court against Governor Robert Bentley, his former senior advisor Rebekah Mason, current ALEA Secretary Stan Stabler, the Alabama Council for Excellent Government, RCM Communications and Bentley for Governor Inc. The lawsuit alleges that Collier has suffered financial and personal harm as a result of wrongful termination and defamation, among other counts, and seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Spencer Collier served as the state’s senior law enforcement official as the Secretary of ALEA before being terminated by Governor Bentley on March 22, 2016. The complaint alleges that Governor Bentley terminated Collier’s employment after Collier refused to lie to a prosecutor in matters related to House Speaker Mike Hubbard’s ethics case.
The lawsuit accuses Governor Bentley, his alleged mistress Rebekah Mason and ALEA Secretary Stan Stabler of purposefully planted false stories with the media accusing Collier of misappropriation of funds. An audit report prepared by the Alabama Department of Public Examiners found no evidence to support the accusations of misuse of state funds.
“As a law enforcement officer, I had a duty to uphold the law and to cooperate with law enforcement investigations,” Collier said. “When Governor Bentley asked me to lie to a prosecutor from the Attorney General’s Office, he was asking me to commit a crime and I refused to comply with that request. That is why Governor Bentley fired me and then participated in a campaign to ruin my name and reputation.”
In the lawsuit, Collier alleges that Bentley, Mason and Stabler purposefully made a series of false statements to the media about him in a deliberate attempt to portray him negatively and to damage his reputation and image, making it difficult for him to work in law enforcement in the future.
A press release sent out by Mr. Collier’s legal counsel Tuesday morning laid out the following scenario:
Within hours of placing Collier on medical leave to recover from back surgery, Bentley granted an interview to AL.com’s Chuck Dean where he indicated that Collier would be “dealt with” for disobeying a direct order. Bentley, Mason and Stabler then planted a story with Dean accusing Collier of misusing funds. Collier alleges that all three individuals were aware or should have been aware of the recently completed audit which indicated that there was no evidence of financial misappropriation in the state’s law enforcement agency when it was under Collier’s command.
Stabler then placed his name on an editorial that called into question Collier’s credibility. That op-ed was distributed to media outlets statewide on April 15.
“Governor Bentley, Rebekah Mason and Stan Stabler launched a barrage of false attacks on me day after day that were done solely to discredit me and to damage my reputation and those attacks continue to this day. Their lies have hurt me financially, have severely damaged my reputation and they have made it their mission to permanently end my career in law enforcement,” Collier explained. “They are using their positions in an attempt to damage the reputations and the livelihoods of myself and other hardworking people and this has to be stopped. I will not stand by and watch it happen and do nothing about it.”
Collier’s full complaint and discovery requests can be found here.
UPDATE: Governor Bentley responds:
“Mr. Collier was terminated of his duties at ALEA for cause. Once the facts and circumstances become public, I am confident that the justification for terminating him will be shown. We will aggressively defend this lawsuit.”
