This isn't a sex scandal.

Sure, there are recordings of Gov. Robert Bentley talking dirty to his senior political adviser, Rebekah Caldwell Mason, saying the kinds of things that get edited out of Cialis commercials.

There's the Bill Clinton-like parsing of what constitutes a "physical" relationship. Is first base sexual? Second? Third?

And there's the governor's divorce from his wife of 50 years, Dianne Bentley, last year, which we now know for certain was triggered by the governor's betrayal to his betrothed.

But set all that aside for a moment, because this is much more important than that.

While this scandal might have distracted from the impending trial of Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard, this scandal is still about Mike Hubbard.

Specifically, it's about whether Gov. Bentley and Mason tried to sabotage the state's case in that trial, and why they would do so.

Who lit the fuse?

In early February, the political operative, lawyer, talk show host and one-time door-to-door Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman, Barron Coleman, flipped on Alabama prosecutors. In an affidavit in the Hubbard trial, he said that he'd had between 50 and 100 conversations with the man who has led the Hubbard investigation, Deputy Attorney General Matt Hart. Further, Coleman said he had inferred information that Hart shared with him came from the grand jury.

Prosecutors countered that Coleman had been a confidential informant for the state, and that his conversations with Hart were the state's way of collecting intelligence on Hubbard and his confederates.

As this latest twist unfolded, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency investigated Coleman's allegations, and according to three sworn affidavits, they found no wrongdoing by Hart. One of those affidavits was by Spencer Collier, the head of ALEA.

Those affidavits mitigated much of the damage Coleman had wreaked on the Hubbard case, clearing a path again for prosecutors to take it to trial.

But someone -- two people, actually -- didn't want Collier or the other ALEA employees to submit those affidavits.

Those two were Bentley and Mason.

Two meetings

At virtually the same time Bentley put Collier on medical leave, rumors spread that Hart had threatened Collier if he didn't sign the affidavit. What's clear about that is there are only two people who know the truth -- Hart and Collier.

A gag order in the Hubbard case prevents Hart from talking about it, but Collier flatly and emphatically denies that there were any threats or pressure.

Instead, he says, the pressure came from Bentley's office.

According to Collier, he met with Bentley and the governor's in-house lawyer, David Byrne, to tell them that he had been asked to submit an affidavit. Collier now says the governor in that meeting was ambivalent and not angry. Bentley suggested that ALEA say that the investigation was ongoing, Collier says, but that wasn't true and Collier perceived it only as a question, not an order. Even if it were an order, it was not one Collier could follow. The governor would be asking him to break the law.

Collier says he worked with Byrne to write the affidavit that's now in the court record.

Next, Collier was summoned February 16 to the governor's office, along with four other ALEA staff members, two of whom had also sworn affidavits in the Hubbard case.

According to Collier, the governor was irate and blasted him for disobeying his orders. Mason, too, berated Collier and his staff.

But what's important here is who else was in that meeting -- Byrne, Bentley spokeswoman Jennifer Ardis and Joe Espy, the governor's private lawyer.

The February Massacre

Collier says he now regrets not telling his staff to leave the moment he saw those two in the room. In that meeting, they discussed sensitive information about ongoing investigations that they shouldn't have heard.

Bentley's personal lawyer also represents other potential witnesses in the Hubbard trial, including Will Brooke and Jimmy Rane. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Espy's presence is important because, in addition to representing the governor, he also has two other clients in the Hubbard affair. One is Will Brooke, the BCA board member and former congressional candidate from whom Hubbard solicited money and assistance, according to Hubbard's indictment. The other is Jimmy Rane, the CEO of Great Southern Wood who plays the "Yella Fella" in his company's TV commercials. Rane has been a fierce ally and political benefactor of Hubbard.

Bentley, Brooke and Rane are all likely witnesses in the Hubbard trial and all are believed to have testified before the Lee County Grand Jury.

(Perhaps coincidentally, Espy serves on the University of Alabama Board of Trustees. The UA general counsel, Cooper Shattuck, helped set up the Alabama Council for Excellent Government, the governor's 501(c)4 dark money group that has been rumored to be Mason's true employer. Mason is not a state employee and has not filed a disclosure with the Alabama Ethics Commission in several years. )

Collier says now that he found out about Espy's other clients after the meeting and, had he known it at the time, he would have walked out immediately and taken his staff with him.

Regardless of the collateral damage here, Mike Hubbard benefits. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Since that meeting, Collier was placed on medical leave and later fired.

The other ALEA staff members from that meeting have either been fired, demoted or transferred. Those abrupt changes have brought an end to ongoing public corruption cases, Collier says.

In Collier's place, Bentley appointed Stan Stabler, his former bodyguard, as acting ALEA secretary. Stabler has been a sergeant with ALEA, with little or no experience with leading such a large bureaucracy.

The powder keg explodes

On the day he was fired, Collier began going public with what he knew about this meeting and Espy and Mason's involvement. The sexy stuff has gotten all the attention, but when it comes to possible crimes, the rest is what's more important.

He says he isn't sure whether he had been fired before or after he first began talking on the record about it, because he only found out later from reporters and social media that he had been fired.

Collier also says he doesn't know why the governor became so angry at the ALEA staff.

But Collier is certain and clear about one thing -- Bentley's order, it was illegal.

The governor, with Mason whispering in his ear and a lawyer with assorted loyalties at his side, took an active and disruptive role in a criminal prosecution of Mike Hubbard.

That's the story, not the sex. And no matter the myriad open questions that might take months or years to answer, if ever, one question has a clear answer.

Cui bono? Who benefits.

Bentley might have blown himself up trying to throw a bomb under Matt Hart's chair, but either way, it works for Mike Hubbard.