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posted by on Wednesday April 12 2017, @01:09PM   Printer-friendly
from the he's-no-atticus-finch dept.

Alabama's Governor has resigned rather than face impeachment over campaign finance violations linked to the cover-up of an extramarital affair.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has resigned after pleading guilty to abusing his office, allegedly to conceal an affair with a political adviser.

[...] The Associated Press describes the scene as the plea agreement was signed:

"Bentley appeared sullen and looked down at the floor during the Monday afternoon session. ...

"The agreement specifies that Bentley must surrender campaign funds totaling $36,912 within a week and perform 100 hours of community service as a physician. He also cannot seek public office again."

The governor, a Republican, was briefly booked into Montgomery jail, according to local media reports, before heading to the state Capitol to announce his resignation.

Republican state Rep. Ed Henry, who had introduced articles of impeachment against Bentley last year, said, "I think we have a great day for Alabama, where justice was done. Corruption was spotted, recognized and dealt with. ... even though it was slower and little more painful than we had anticipated."


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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Thexalon on Wednesday April 12 2017, @06:02PM (3 children)

    by Thexalon (636) on Wednesday April 12 2017, @06:02PM (#492950)

    Democrats, no matter how many felonies (Sen. Kennedy, Bill Clinton), never punish their politicians when they commit crimes; no they rally around him because to them the only thing wrong was getting caught. If you see a Democrat leaving office it is because he was finally convicted and has to vacate the office to serve a sentence.

    Fairly recent counterexamples: Eliot Spitzer, governor of New York, ousted due to a high-class hooker. John Edwards, former senator and presidential candidate, sunk by an extramarital affair. Anthony Wiener, congressman, didn't even have the affair but was ousted for sending underwear pics to somebody he found on Craigslist.

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  • (Score: 1, Troll) by jmorris on Wednesday April 12 2017, @07:10PM (2 children)

    by jmorris (4844) on Wednesday April 12 2017, @07:10PM (#492986)

    John Edwards, former senator and presidential candidate, sunk by an extramarital affair.

    Actually, no. The media knew about his affair with a creepy groupie and sat on it until after he was eliminated from the race, then they could go for the ratings they knew they could gain from the ick factor of cavorting with a groupie while the wife was dying. Plus they could time it to suck all the media oxygen from the news cycle at a time of their choosing. Waste not, want not. Too bad the National Enquirer broke it first and smashed all their carefully laid plans.

    Eliot Spitzer, governor of New York, ousted due to a high-class hooker.

    Failed straight up to CNN host. And resigning was his choice, the Party would have stood by him if he wanted to fight and mobilized their media flying monkey squads to run air cover. He hadn't even put the hooker on the State payroll or anything, the excuses write themselves; this is just a story about sex, this is a private matter, blah, blah. The high class hooker part was the most problematic element of the story for a Democrat.

    Anthony Wiener, congressman, didn't even have the affair but was ousted for sending underwear pics to somebody he found on Craigslist.

    No, he resigned when he became the butt of jokes from every comedian because his last name was Wiener. And I really don't think the Party wants Weiner investigated very hard because odds are a lot more ick is waiting to be found, and not just sex; see Huma Weiner + Hillary Clinton + Clinton Foundation + Billions in Dirty Money = Pulitzer Prize being left on the table for Party loyalty. But the Party media didn't break that story, it was the Internet guys like Ace at ace.mu.nu who worked tirelessly that long holiday weekend to dig out the story and flog it hard enough to cause the comedians to run with it. And then the Democrats and the media (BIRM) buried him a short time and ran him for mayor of NYC. And if he could have kept his pants up long enough he probably would have been elected because the D voters certainly didn't hold his past creep factor against him. Sending dick pics to minors is A-OK with them.

    If you wanted a counter factual you could cite Mark Sanford, a Republican caught in a super creepy affair who has managed to crawl back into public office. Exception that proves the rule though since he is one of the only ones I can think of.

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by vux984 on Wednesday April 12 2017, @09:31PM (1 child)

      by vux984 (5045) on Wednesday April 12 2017, @09:31PM (#493074)

      If you wanted a counter factual you could cite ...

      Donald Trump

      Well documented extramarital affairs in his past. Has bragged of lots more that aren't so well documented. Weird creeping on his daughter. Boasts of "grabbing pussy".... and everyone knows about it. And with all that baggage the guy didn't merely crawl into public office, the republican faithful elected him their president.

      • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Wednesday April 12 2017, @10:08PM

        by jmorris (4844) on Wednesday April 12 2017, @10:08PM (#493096)

        Trump smashes the traditional Christcuck, Glenn Beck sorta super Holy and utterly ineffectual conservatism into tiny pieces. He is something new, whether for good or ill we still await an answer to. Stay tuned. Of course his election was only possible because the situation was so utterly dire that enough people were willing to roll the dice.