Gov. Bentley lawyer seeks changes to impeachment hearings

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Gov. Robert Bentley’s lawyer on Tuesday said the governor must have “fairness and due process” as an impeachment committee weighs whether to recommend his impeachment.

Attorney Ross Garber in a press conference at the Alabama Statehouse repeated concerns about the procedure proposed by the committee’s special counsel and proposed a different process he said would resolve Bentley’s fate “more quickly and in accordance with the law.”

“This is not just an investigation. This is a decision about whether to throw out an election,” Garber said.

The House Judiciary Committee is tasked with making a recommendation on whether Bentley should be impeached in the wake of a sex-tinged scandal involving a former aide. Special counsel Jack Sharman, under a tentative schedule he released, plans to kick off proceedings Friday with the release of a report. The first hearing would follow on Monday.

Garber asked for courtlike procedures that, among other things, would give him ability to cross-examine witnesses so committee members can size up the evidence and require the special counsel to give him advance notice of the subjects and accusations to be considered.

Sharman said the governor is receiving more protections and due process than the subjects of most investigations.

“This is an investigation that leads to a committee decision on a recommendation,” Sharman said.

Sharman said that, at the end of the day, it is the committee’s decision what to do and not his.

Garber last week asked for an emergency hearing by the committee before Wednesday on Sharman’s proposed rules. The House Judiciary Committee did not schedule a meeting.

“This is a legislative committee, not a courtroom, and that’s been my position since the beginning of this process,” Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Jones, R-Andalusia, said in a statement issued Tuesday.

Garber declined to say if he would go to court to try to force changes to the process.

“At this point, I still remain hopeful that the committee and the House of Representatives will do what the law directs them to do. This process can be handled responsibly. It can be handled quickly and also lawfully,” Garber said.

Although the 74-year-old governor has acknowledged making personal mistakes, he has maintained he did nothing illegal to merit his removal from office. Bentley last year apologized in a press conference after recordings surfaced of him making sexually charged remarks to a female aide before his divorce.

The scandal has tarnished the reputation of the governor, a former dermatologist and former Baptist deacon who attracted voters to his longshot Republican primary campaign in 2010 with his nice-guy image.