Alabama Governors: A Political History of the State

Robert Julian Bentley / Margaret E. Armbrester

Robert Julian Bentley, 2011– MArgAret e. ArMbrester When Dr. robert bentley became the fourth republican governor in the modern era, it was the first time since the reconstruction era of the 1860s that the state’s republican Party held the governor’s chair and also a majority of seats in the state’s legislature and on its supreme court. bentley, an improbable candidate, campaigned for governor as Dr. bentley: a selfless, thoughtful diagnostician with a likable bedside manner. During his first years in office, he might have been better served if he had been more of a politician: at ease with confrontation , clear purposed, and decisive. robert Julian bentley was born on February 3, 1943, in Columbiana, Alabama, to mattie vick bentley and David h. bentley. he attended public schools and was graduated in 1961 from shelby County high school. he put himself through the University of Alabama in three years, earning a bachelor of science degree with majors in chemistry and biology,and immediately entered the University of Alabama at birmingham (UAb) school of medicine in 1964. A year later he married martha Dianne Jones of montgomery, who was earning a degree in bacteriology. The bentleys reared four sons and often remarked that they could not remember which two of the four were adopted and which were not. After completing his internship at UAb hospital,bentley volunteered for military service in the U.s.Air Force (during thevietnamWar) and was commissioned a captain. he served as medical officer and briefly as interim hospital commander at Pope Air Force base, north Carolina. Upon completing robert Julian bentley 2011– / 313 his military service, he finished a residency in dermatology and established a successful practice in Tuscaloosa, where he and his family became active members of the First baptist Church. in 2002, the almost-sixty-year-old bentley easily won his first political election and took a seat in the Alabama house of representatives; four years later he ran unopposed. he sponsored the Alabama medical education Consortium, which encouraged training for more primary care physicians for the state by expanding scholarship support . he also supported legislative changes designed to increase organ donations in the state. bentley ran for governor in the 2010 republican primary, facing betterknown opposition in Tim James, son of former governor Fob James; and bradley byrne,mobile attorney,former member of Alabama’s state board of education, and foe of the powerful Alabama education Association (AeA). The United states was in recession, and Alabama voters felt the pinch of declining salaries and increasing unemployment. bentley’s quiet demeanor made him an unlikely contender, but his clean record and promise to reject the salary of governor until the unemployment rate in Alabama dropped to the range of 5.2 percent resonated with voters. he narrowly won a place in the primary runoff, facing byrne, and, with support from the AeA, bentley won the runoff and became the republican candidate for governor. bentley then faced Democrat ron sparks, Alabama’s agriculture commissioner, in the general election. The genial physician campaigned in a folksy manner , and sparks’s support for legalizing casino gambling in Alabama to create additional funds for the state’s treasury seemed to be the main difference between them. bentley easily won the election by 57.6 to 41.9 percent, and republicans also won a majority in the legislature, running on a program they called the “republican handshake with Alabama.” The “handshake” promised passage of bills previously sponsored by republicans but killed by Democrats, including those to reform ethics, extend riley-era income tax cuts to middle-class families, provide tax incentives to small businesses, limit yearly property tax increases,and prevent illegal immigrants from using public benefits.by provision of the state constitution,Alabama legislators are sworn in immediately after their election, rather than in January with the governor. incumbent governor riley immediately called a special session and won passage of a strong ethics package during his last days in office. bentley got off to a bumpy start when, in a postinauguration speech at the historic Dexter Avenue baptist Church, he asserted to his fellow baptist “brothers” that those who had not accepted Jesus as their savior were not his “brothers and sisters.” his remarks caused a firestorm nationally and internationally , and two days later he apologized, explaining that he had meant 314 / robert Julian bentley 2011– no offense and believed himself to be governor...