MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - State Auditor Jim Zeigler is asking the House Judiciary Committee to restart an impeachment probe of Gov. Robert Bentley.
Zeigler said he sent a Jan. 1 letter to House Judiciary Chairman Mike Jones asking the committee to resume the investigation.
The committee announced Nov. 3 that it was suspending proceedings at the request of Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange. Strange asked for the suspension while his office was pursuing “related work.”
Zeigler questioned the need for a delay. He cited what he called a discrepancy of the committee’s November press statement that Strange was conducting an “investigation of the governor” while Strange did not specifically state that in his letter to the committee chairman.
“It is clear that there was either a serious misunderstanding between the Attorney General and this committee, or else an obstruction of the legislative impeachment process by Attorney General Luther Strange,” Zeigler wrote in the letter he released to the media.
Strange’s office declined to comment on the letter.
Zeigler is a frequent critic of the governor and has filed several unsuccessful lawsuits against the administration over contracts. Strange was one of 20 people interviewed by Bentley as a potential replacement for Sen. Jeff Sessions. Sessions has been nominated to be the nation’s next attorney general. Bentley will make an interim appointment to the Senate when Sessions steps down.
Twenty-three House members signed impeachment articles after Bentley’s fired law enforcement secretary accused the governor in March of having an affair with his then-political adviser, Rebekah Caldwell Mason, and of interfering in law enforcement business. Bentley, who is now divorced, admitted to inappropriate behavior and apologized to his family. But the governor denied a sexual affair and the other allegations.
The House Judiciary Committee, under a process adopted by House members, was tasked with investigating if Bentley committed any impeachable offenses and making a recommendation to the full House. The committee’s attorney subpoenaed documents from Bentley and others as part of the probe.
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