Republican Robert Bentley resigned as governor of Alabama in disgrace in 2017, and one old intra-party rival seems to think he has his eyes set on a 2020 bid against Democratic Sen. Doug Jones. However, as we’ll discuss, this may just not be possible thanks to the plea deal that ended Bentley’s time in office.
State Auditor Jim Zeigler, who announced in November that he was forming an exploratory committee (but still doesn’t appear to have done so as of Monday), noted on Thursday that Bentley had been invited to Gov. Kay Ivey’s inauguration earlier this month. Zeigler continued by saying that, while he believed Bentley had only been invited because he was a former governor, Bentley “thinks and he said to the media that he was invited because he was a potential candidate for the U.S. Senate for the Doug Jones seat and people in Montgomery don’t want to irritate a potential winner in the U.S. Senate race.” Zeigler added, “Well, I think he is delusional. I don’t think he’s a potential winner, though he is openly talking about running.”
We haven’t heard much from Bentley about him running for the Senate in 2020 apart from one August interview. Back then, the local political site Yellowhammer asked him if he would “consider a return to public office? Maybe the U.S. Senate in 2020?” Bentley didn’t directly address the Senate race, only saying how much he loved serving the public and if “God shows me a new avenue where I can do that, I’ll do it.” However, Bentley previously did rule out running for office again, and unlike so many other politicians who have made that kind of pledge, he can’t easily reverse himself.
Back in 2017, Bentley was under investigation for allegedly using state resources to cover up his affair with a top staffer, and the GOP state legislature was getting ready to impeach him. However, prosecutors ended up reaching a deal with the governor where Bentley resigned from office and pleaded guilty to some campaign finance violations. AL.com notes that, as part of that deal, Bentley agreed “not seek or serve in any public office,” which would seem to lock the door on a Senate bid in 2020 or any other year.
It’s not clear what Zeigler thinks Bentley’s planning, but it’s always possible that the state auditor is just hoping to pick another fight with the former governor. In 2017, when it still looked like Bentley would just be leaving office due to term limits rather than scandal, Zeigler self-published a novel titled “The Making of the People's Governor 2018.” The tome's description states that, "Several of the usual suspects ran for governor with no track records of having stood up against the abuses of the Bentley administration. But one candidate had stood up in the Bentley years and, in 2018, stood out from the rest."
Zeigler ended up running for re-election instead, but unlike his 2018 campaign for governor, his hatred of Bentley was hardly fictional.
Monday, Jan 28, 2019 · 7:15:37 PM +00:00
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Jeff Singer
However, it’s not clear that the plea deal actually could stop Bentley from running. Last year, Yellowhammer asked former Montgomery County prosecutor Richard White about this, and White told them that, based on his reading of the text of the plea deal, the so-called “Bentley-ban” might be unenforceable now that his one-year probation sentence is over. White, who cautioned that he only had access to the publicly available information, said that, “As long as he’s paid his money and it’s been over a year, I don’t think the court has any jurisdiction over him.”
Yellowhammer went on to ask White if prosecutors could just charge Bentley with more serious charges if he reneged on his plea agreement and ran again. White admitted that, while he didn’t know and that there “might be other documents that I haven’t seen,” there’s nothing in the plea agreement that says “that if this is violated, then [the prosecution] can bring back charges.”