Johnny Mack Morrow on April 19.jpg
State Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow holds a copy of a legislative rule. Morrow wants the Alabama House to pass a resolution condemning the actions of Rebekah Mason, former political adviser for Gov. Robert Bentley.
(Mike Cason/mcason@al.com)
State Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow wants the Alabama House of Representatives to condemn the actions of Rebekah Mason, the former political adviser for former Gov. Robert Bentley.
Morrow, a Democrat from Red Bay who has served in the Legislature since 1990, has been one of the most persistent critics of Bentley and Mason since the scandal about their relationship surfaced last year.
That scandal ultimately led to Bentley's resignation from office on April 10 as part of a deal with prosecutors under which he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors involving campaign finance funds.
One of the charges was for paying legal fees for Mason from his campaign account.
A special counsel's investigation into impeachment articles against the governor determined that Bentley used law enforcement to try to hide from the public evidence of an affair with Mason.
Morrow held a news conference on the House floor this afternoon about a resolution he plans to introduce Thursday.
In the eight-page resolution, Morrow says "Governor Bentley has reaped the consequences of his actions; however, the protagonist of Governor Bentley's demise, Rebekah Mason, has emerged virtually unscathed and without punishment for her selfish, manipulative" actions.
Morrow said he would introduce the resolution Thursday and push for a vote on it.
"I will be giving my speech every morning asking (the Rules Committee) to vote this out so I can get a vote on it," Morrow said.
Last year, Morrow filed an ethics complaint against Mason, alleging she lobbied Bentley to veto a bill he sponsored in 2013 concerning security at schools in his district.
Morrow alleged that Mason lobbied against the bill because she held a grudge against him for the grade she received when she was a student in an economics class he taught at Northwest Shoals Community College 25 years ago.
The bill eventually became law over the governor's veto.
Morrow said the Ethics Commission informed him that the investigation of his complaint was closed.
The Ethics Commission found no probable cause against Mason from a complaint filed by State Auditor Jim Zeigler.