Ed Henry

Rep. Ed Henry (R-Hartselle) reacted strongly to a relationship scandal involving the governor and his former aide, Rebekah Mason, telling The Cullman Times in March that he intended to lead an unprecedented effort to impeach the governor.

By the end of April, Henry had collected the signatures of 23 members of the Alabama House of Representatives calling for articles of impeachment, accusing Bentley of willful neglect of duty and corruption.

Henry — whose district includes a portion of Cullman — made his impeachment plans public the same day Mason had resigned, a casualty of the governor’s admission that he had made inappropriate remarks to her.

Mason was not working as a state employee at the time, and was paid out of Bentley’s campaign fund for her services.

Momentum for impeachment gathered steam throughout the summer among some of Bentley’s harshest Republican critics in the Legislature.

While Bentley, 73, admitted to making the inappropriate remarks, he has maintained that he did not have an affair with Mason. Bentley’s wife of 50 years, Dianne, had filed for divorce from the governor in mid-2015, only months before knowledge of the scandal became public.

The slow-moving impeachment investigation came to a pause in November at the request of Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange.

Earlier this month, Bentley’s office said it would not release a set of documents turned over to an impeachment committee — for now.

Several news organizations had requested copies of the material, which had been delivered to the House Judiciary Committee. Previously, the governor’s office had released a first batch of documents given to the committee.

Henry and Bentley are both Republicans who have frequently clashed over the past two years, including over the governor’s proposal last year to raise taxes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

(Year in review No. 9) Economic bustle, with an upward trend