Robert J. Bentley

In 1998, Bentley ran for the Alabama State Senate as a Republican against incumbent Democrat Phil Poole, losing by fifty-eight votes.[17]

In 2002 Bentley was elected to the Alabama State House of Representatives from Tuscaloosa County with almost 65% of the vote.[14] In 2006 Bentley ran unopposed for re-election to the State House.

In the Alabama House of Representatives, Bentley made it a priority to train primary care health care providers and to increase organ donation. He is responsible for two major revisions of Alabama's organ donor laws: one specific to corneas and the other reinforcing the rights of organ donors by making it difficult to challenge their decisions.[14]

Bentley helped establish the Alabama Medical Educational Consortium. His efforts included work on legislation to expand scholarships for medical training. 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.[18]

Bentley is opposed to increasing taxes. He has signed the No New Taxes Pledge by the Americans for Tax Reform.[19]

In April 2010, Bentley's self-drafted Reemployment Act of 2010 won unanimous approval in both houses of the Alabama State Legislature, and was signed by Governor Bob Riley on April 22.[20]

In 2008, Bentley was elected as a Republican Presidential Delegate for Mike Huckabee. At the Republican National Convention he represented Alabama on the Republican Platform Committee.[13][14] For the United States presidential election in 2016, Bentley endorsed fellow governor John Kasich.[21]

During his time in Montgomery he served on the Education Appropriations Committee, the Boards and Commissions Committee, the Agriculture and Forestry Committee, and was a member of the Tuscaloosa County Legislative Delegation. He also served as the Vice-Chairman of the Internal Affairs Committee.[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.[23] One of James' supporters, former U.S. Representative Sonny Callahan, endorsed Bentley in the runoff.[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.[25]

In the general election, Bentley defeated Democrat Ron Sparks, 57.9% to 42.1%.

Bentley has stated he does not approve of gambling in the State of Alabama, but supports a referendum for its citizens to vote on whether to approve its legality.[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. Bentley apologized for the remarks, saying he would be a "governor of all the people."[28]

Bentley's tenure was largely defined by his scandal.[29] Nonetheless, Montgomery Advertiser praised his response to deadly tornadoes that swept through Alabama in Spring 2011. 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.[30]

An analysis of Republican governors by Nate Silver of The New York Times in April 2013 ranked Bentley as the 16th most conservative governor in the country.[31]

Bentley is anti-abortion, but in 2010, he supported abortions in cases where the mother's life was in danger.[32]

Bentley favors a balanced and conservative budget without federal aid, though it's worth noting that Alabama ranks No. 7 in federal aid per person as of 2022. He pledged to cut taxes 15-45% in 2011 while protecting essential services.[33][32]

In 1998, he called to affirmative action for colleges & state contracts. He does not support gay marriage or civil unions as of 2010. He also voted no on adding sexual orientation to hate crime criteria.[32]

Bentley supports ending parole for repeat felons. He wants to expand the use of the death penalty and limit appeals. He advocates against defunding the police, instead calling for police budget increases (even to train them in Spanish). He called for the construction of four new state prison facilities.[32]

He refused to endorse Donald J. Trump in the 2016 presidential campaign.[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. He has pledged to fight opioid addiction and drug use.[32]

He has supported moment-of-silence and teacher spanking laws. He has advocated for more power to local school boards to make decisions.[32]

He supports off-shore drilling and the oil and gas industries. He believes the primary value of forests is economic and job related. He has stated that Gulf State Park is economically & environmentally sustainable.[32]

He supported a suit of federal government to reform Refugee Resettlement Act.[32]

Bentley refused to accept his gubernatorial salary until the state unemployment level reached 5.2%.[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 five governors omitted from the analysis all assumed office in 2013. 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.[37] According to his official website, in Bentley's first three years in office, Alabama gained nearly 60,000 jobs, and in addition, Governor Bentley had recruited over 55,000 new, future jobs.[36]

He has called for no campaign spending limits and no state funding of candidates.[32]

Bentley opposes gun control measures, advocating for the right to purchase, own, carry and use firearms.[32]

He opposes the Affordable Care Act and has supported loosening the one-size-fits-all approach to Medicaid. He is against Medicaid expansion, even with federal dollars. He argued Alabama should reject the ACA under the 10th amendment.[32]

In June 2011, Bentley signed into law Alabama HB 56, an anti-illegal immigration law which was considered to be the toughest of such in the United States.[38][39] On August 20, 2012, the Eleventh Circuit invalidated portions of the law, declaring them to be unconstitutional.[40] The United States Supreme Court later denied certiorari, refusing to review the Eleventh Circuit's decision.[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.[42]

He called to fix the fatally-dangerous Redmill Bridge, despite obstacles.[32]

On April 10, 2017, on the same day that the state legislature began impeachment proceedings[56] Bentley resigned as governor of Alabama.[11] On the same day, Bentley pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges: one for failing to file a major contribution report and the other for knowingly converting campaign contributions for personal use.[11][59] Both charges related to Bentley's concealment of the alleged affair.[11][60] He was booked at the Montgomery County Jail and on the same day was sentenced by Montgomery County Judge Troy Massey to a suspended sentence of 30 days in jail (allowing him to avoid jail time),[61] as well as one year of probation and 100 hours of community service, to be performed under Bentley's role as a physician.[59] The judge said that Bentley's probation could be terminated early "if he meets conditions of the plea deal, including refunding his campaign account nearly $9,000 and surrendering his account – worth $37,000 – to the state within a week."[59] The guilty plea was part of a plea agreement with the Alabama State Attorney General's office, under which Bentley pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges "in an effort to avoid felony charges and potential jail time."[11] As part of the plea agreement, Bentley accepted a lifetime ban from ever holding public office in Alabama again.[60]

Bentley was the fourth Alabama governor to resign from office.[11] He was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Kay Ivey, who was sworn into office the day Bentley resigned.[11]