Bentley impeachment seriously flawed

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley wants the state House Judiciary Committee to suspend its impeachment proceedings against him.

That’s hardly surprising. Nor, given current circumstances, is it necessarily unreasonable. Bentley’s legal team, at least at this point, makes a better case for putting the process on hold than the lawmakers have made for the impeachment itself.

The specific motion filed Thursday calls for suspending the committee’s investigation until the full House agrees on some actual charges.

That’s right: The impeachment articles against Bentley accuse him of corruption and neglect of duties in connection with what Bentley has acknowledged was an inappropriate relationship with an aide, but no specific examples.

“The current impeachment resolution,” Bentley’s attorneys wrote, “appears to sanction the deployment of governmental power to conduct a roving investigation that is unbounded by time or subject matter.”

The representative who led the impeachment move, according to Associated Press, said the wording was deliberately vague in response to criticism that impeachment was premature.

Seriously.

A second defense motion asks that three Judiciary Committee members — who signed the articles of impeachment and made public statements condemning Bentley’s behavior — recuse themselves from the committee. At least one has said he has no intention of doing so.

Seriously.

Robert Bentley might indeed be guilty of impeachable offenses. To date, his accusers have come nowhere remotely close to making that case.

In constitutional government, an elected official serves at the pleasure of the voters. Voiding those voters’ choice for any other than the soundest of statutory and constitutional principles obliterates the distinction between due process and a political coup. Seriously.

This story was originally published August 13, 2016 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Bentley impeachment seriously flawed."