Robert Julian Bentley (born February 3, 1943) is an American former politician and physician who served as the 53rd governor of Alabama from 2011 until 2017 upon his resignation following his arrest after a sex scandal involving a political aide.

from the University of Alabama School of Medicine in 1968 and then served in the United States Air Force as a medical officer until leaving the service as a captain.

Bentley won in a seven-candidate primary and faced Democrat Ron Sparks, the outgoing Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture, in the general election.

[4] In 2014, Bentley won re-election, winning the largest percentage of the vote that any Republican gubernatorial candidate had received in modern Alabama history, 63.6%.

[8] Bentley tendered his immediate resignation as Governor of Alabama on April 10, 2017, after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor charges related to campaign finance law.

His parents, Mattie Boyd (née Vick) and David Harford Bentley, did not complete school past junior high.

In 1998, Bentley ran for the Alabama State Senate as a Republican against incumbent Democrat Phil Poole, losing by fifty-eight votes.

Questions were raised by Sparks camp during the gubernatorial campaign as to whether Bentley's son, while in medical school, benefited from his father's involvement with the consortium.

[22] In the June 1, 2010 primary race, Bentley surprised political analysts by finishing second ahead of Tim James to reach a runoff election with Bradley Byrne.

[24] In the July 13 run-off election, Bentley defeated Byrne by a 56%-44% margin to claim the Republican nomination for governor, leaning on the Alabama Education Association.

[26] In the general election held on November 4, 2014, Bentley won re-election easily against Democratic candidate Parker Griffith, gathering almost twice the votes of his rival at 63% to 36%.

In the process, Bentley won the largest percentage of the vote of any Republican gubernatorial candidate in modern Alabama history.

[27] Two days after he was inaugurated, Bentley told a Baptist church audience that only those who had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior were his brothers and sisters.

He also advocated for increased funding for pre-K programs, and, in 2015, he played a major role in the removal of Confederate flags from the State Capitol.

He also argued with state Republican leaders for a 2% teacher pay raise, and in 2015, he also proposed a $700+ million revenue package consisting of tax increases.

[34] Bentley has called for strengthening penalties for drug-related crimes, but he has expressed support for rehabilitation for non-violent criminals, such as drug offenders.

[35][36] In a June 2013 analysis by The Business Journal looking at 45 of the country's 50 governors by their job creation record, Bentley was ranked at number 36 (tied).

The ranking was based on a comparison of the annual private sector growth rate in all 50 states using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

[41] On July 22, 2014, Bentley, along with several other Republican governors, sent a letter to President Barack Obama, expressing their concern about the handling of the 2014 border crisis.

[32] On March 22, 2016, Bentley fired Alabama Law Enforcement Agency secretary Spencer Collier, citing him for misuse of state funds.

[44] Following his firing, Collier alleged that Bentley had engaged in an extramarital affair with his senior political adviser, Rebekah Caldwell Mason.

Collier stated in a press conference the following day that he had seen sexually-charged texts between Bentley and Mason and heard audio recordings of conversations between the two.

At a press conference that day, Bentley apologized for the comments but denied having an affair and stated that his relationship with Mason had not been sexual.

[47] State Representative David Standridge (R) and Alabama Republican Party committee member Terry L. Dunn called on Bentley to resign.

[5] At the time of Henry's announcement, it was reported that the resolution would be referred to the legislature's House Rules Committee for review and further action.

[5] In a shocking turn of events, Ed Henry himself was later sentenced to two years of probation by U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins, but for an unrelated case (where he and a Montgomery doctor plotted to defraud Medicare).

[55] On April 5, 2017, the Ethics Commission found probable cause that Bentley had committed four Class B felonies; the Commission determining in four separate votes that "there was probable cause that Bentley violated one count of state ethics law and three counts of the Fair Campaign Practices Act (state campaign finance law).

On April 7, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Greg Griffin [2] granted a temporary restraining order in Bentley's favor, but in a unanimous ruling the next day, the Alabama Supreme Court stayed that decision and allowed impeachment hearings to go forward while the case was pending.

The report also "alleged that the governor's critics had been subjected to coercion, including harassing messages and the threat of criminal prosecution" and "described how Mr. Bentley tried to use a member of his security detail to break up with Ms. Mason on his behalf and how the governor demanded that Ms. Mason be allowed to travel in official vehicles after she left the state's payroll.

[66] Governor Bentley had appointed Tuscaloosa County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Hamner to the bench and her current position in 2011.