By Bill Britt
Alabama Political Reporter
MONTGOMERY—More ethics complaints are being filed against Gov. Robert Bentley’s former senior adviser, Rebekah Caldwell Mason, and her husband, Jon.
State Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow (D-Red Bay) has filed new ethics complaints against the Masons, citing their failure to truthfully, fully, and accurately file their Statements of Economic Interest (SOEI) with the State’s Ethics Commission.
“Nowhere in the Ethics Law does it state that the Governor’s girlfriend is exempt from the Law. Nowhere in the Ethics Law does it state that the Governor’s girlfriend’s husband is exempt from the Ethics Law,” said Morrow in an interview with the Alabama Political Reporter.
Morrow has filed a complaint with the commission over Mrs. Mason’s lobbying efforts, to kill local legislation he sponsored in 2013.
“Now we know, while she was so busy killing my local legislation, she and her husband were hiding, what is now referred to as, ‘dark money.’ This is my complaint,” said Morrow.
After it was revealed that Bentley and Mrs. Mason had engaged in sexting and audio canoodling, an activity Jon Mason said he had come to terms with, the couple began amending their SOEI forms.
In his ethics complaint, Morrow wrote, “In recent months, the public has become aware of incomplete filings of Rebekah Caldwell Mason and her husband, Jonathan P. Mason. Mrs. Mason filings ommisions, while not as numerous as Mr. Mason’s, are strikingly similar. I have attached an outline of Mrs. Mason’s ethics filings and amended version comparisons.”
2(a)Ethics Complaint Against Rebekah Caldwell Mason
Of Mr. Mason he wrote, “While he has since amended his forms to give a more accurate view of what actually occurred, the inconsistencies and omissions of vital information remained as the public record of their activities until brought to the public’s attention. So numerous are the inaccuracies, that I have felt it necessary to outline the changes in Mr. Mason’s ethics filing on an item-by-item basis.”
2(B)EthicsComplaintAgainst JonMason
Morrow compared the Mason’s attempt to rewrite their SOEI forms to a bank robber trying to return the money after the heist to avoid prosecution.
From the amount of money the couple earned, to which board Mr. Mason sat on, the couple’s ethics filings are very different from the originals according to Morrow’s outlines.
Mrs. Mason is currently under investigation due to Morrow’s earlier compliant.
The Mason’s are also connected with a criminal probe being conduced by the FBI, and the Office of the Postmaster General.
Morrow, in his earlier complaint, said Mrs. Mason tried to kill his local bill, because as her community college instructor 25 years ago, he had given her a grade she did not like. “This all ties back to my local bill, the very nerve of these people thinking they could veto a local bill for a personal vendetta is beyond belief,” said Morrow.
