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.

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.

The closures were estimated to save around $200,000, an extremely small savings in a General Fund that typically has annual shortfalls ranging from $100 million to $200 million.

Bentley, the report claims, approved the closure plan with one exception: He wanted an office in Sen. Gerald Dial's district to be removed.

Dial, a Republican of Lineville, said on Saturday that he was surprised to see his name mentioned in the report, and doesn't recall having any conversations with Bentley's staff in 2015 about DMV offices in his district.

Dial has six counties in his district, and he's unsure which one could've been slated for closure.

"I guess he didn't want me mad at him," Dial said, referring to Bentley. "It was something I was concerned about. I wanted to keep them open, but I don't remember talking to anyone about it."

The closures sparked a federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation, which determined that the stoppages disproportionately affected black residents. The DOT determined that ALEA's plans were a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The decision was another black eye for Alabama, as national civil rights leaders, such as Jackson, and dozens of black churches and community leaders mounted an opposition against the governor's stance.

Rural Alabama was hit hard by the closures, especially in the Black Belt - the region of Alabama that takes its name first from the color of its rich soil but also from the concentration of African-Americans who live there.

The NAACP, the nation's prominent civil rights organization, initiated the lawsuit which prompted the federal probe.

"We think it was damaging to the African-American community and I think it's hard to quantify the damage," said Benard Simelton, president of the Alabama NAACP State Conference. "It was more political in that it would have disproportionate impact on African-Americans in being able to get the documents required to vote."

Alabama requires photo ID to vote, meaning that a driver's license is a key document which allows residents their place at the polls.

Children and adults held signs at a rally opposing cutbacks at driver's license offices at the Capitol in Montgomery on Monday, Nov. 23, 2015. (file photo)

Bentley initially criticized the DOT's role in the investigation, calling it politically motivated. But in a later agreement between state and federal agencies, ALEA agreed to add more hours of services to the Black Belt offices.

Legislation this spring, sponsored by Sen. Hank Sanders of Selma, would require driver's license offices in the state to open at least one day a week. A similar bill, passed by both the Senate and House last year, was not signed into law by Bentley.

The closures occurred at a time when Mason had a growing influence over the governor's office, Sharman's report shows. The report will be presented next week to the Alabama Judiciary Committee, which is charged with moving forward on impeachment hearings.

This story was updated at 10:50 a.m. on Saturday, April 8, 2017, to include statements from State Senator Gerald Dial.