Governor Robert Bentley’s former top advisor and secret paramour Rebekah Mason led a politically-motivated effort in 2015 to close 31 driver’s license offices in mostly black counties, a move that embarrassed the state and was later reversed. The decision also led to a federal investigation and drew civil rights protesters such as Jesse Jackson to the state. Mason’s role was highlighted in a 131-page report released Friday by the investigator leading impeachment efforts against Gov. Bentley, a report largely focused on the relationship between Mason and Bentley. The report and exhibits can be found here. According to that report, which was compiled by lead investigator Jack Sharman, it was Mason who “proposed closing multiple driver’s license offices throughout the State” and asked the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency to “put together a plan.”
According to Sharman’s report, former ALEA head Spencer Collier understood Mason’s intentions were to have the plan “rolled out in a way that had limited impact on Government Bentley’s political allies.”
Collier, according to the report, claims he then reported the closure plan to then-Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange’s office because he was concerned about a Voting Rights Act violation.
Collier assented to the closure plan, but through the use of an “objective measure based on processed transactions per year to determine which offices to close,” the report states.
Full Article: Rebekah Mason suggested closure of DMV offices in majority black counties, report shows | AL.com.