From The Trussville tribune staff reports
MONTGOMERY –In a news release Friday, state auditor Jim Zeilger said he is filing a report with the Alabama Ethics Commission regarding Governor Robert Bentley’s use of state resources to further an alleged affair with his staff member Rebekah Caldwell Mason. Zeilger is also requesting an investigation and disclosure as to Mason’s source of income and the possibility that Bentley and Mason have used their positions to interfere with an Attorney General’s investigation.
“The governor continues to disgrace the state of Alabama and in my official capacity as state auditor, I am required to report these suspected violations,” Zeigler said. “It is clear that he is misleading the people of the state about the nature of his relationship, but it is also clear that Ms. Mason is required to either be classified as a public official, or a file as a lobbyist, in her capacity as an advisor who is paid by an outside source.”
Zeigler cites an Ethics Commission advisory opinion as grounds for his request. The opinion states, “The Ethics Commission presumes that an employee who is paid from a sources other than public money, but who performs all the functions of a public sector employee, cannot serve under that arrangement without violating the fundamental principles underlying the Ethics Act.”
“The governor needs to be truthful with the people of our state about the nature and funding of Ms. Mason’s employment with his office,” Zeigler said. “This is not about his personal peccadilloes, it is about the improper use of state funds and the right of the people to know who is paying the advisors to our public officials.”