A Hoover lawyer says he and six others have filed an ethics complaint with the Alabama State Bar seeking an investigation of whether Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange stalled an investigation into Gov. Robert Bentley to get an appointment by the governor to a vacant U.S. Senate seat.

Sam McLure, an adoption lawyer who writes columns for the Alabama Political Reporter website, said he filed the complaint Thursday. The complaint asks that the Alabama Bar investigate the claims.

"It appears that Sen. Luther Strange has egregiously violated his duty to his client, the State of Alabama, by accepting Governor Robert Bentley's appointment to U.S. Senate after stalling the Legislature's impeachment investigation into Governor Robert Bentley and halting his own investigation in to Governor Robert Bentley," the complaint provided by McLure states.

An Alabama Bar spokeswoman said this morning that rules prevent them from commenting on whether a complaint has, or has not, been filed. A spokeswoman for Strange also has not responded to a request, made Thursday afternoon, for comment.

Strange was appointed to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat of Jeff Sessions, who was appointed U.S. Attorney General in the Trump Administration.

The appointment came four months after Strange asked the Alabama House Judiciary Committee to suspend an investigation into impeachment articles against Bentley because his office was conducting a related investigation.

"I respectfully request that the Committee cease active interviews and investigation until I am able to report to you that the necessary related work of my office has been completed," Strange wrote in a Nov. 3 letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Mike Jones, who agreed to suspend the proceedings.

Luther Strange

Strange, however, never confirmed that an investigation of Bentley was underway in his office, but new Attorney General Steve Marshall revealed it existed when he took office. Marshall turned the investigation over to a special prosecutor.

The impeachment investigation was related to allegations that Bentley had an affair with former political adviser Rebekah Mason and whether state resources were used to facilitate the relationship.

The Alabama Ethics Commission on Wednesday found probable cause that Bentley violated the state ethics law and the campaign finance law. The commission is turning their findings over to the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, which could seek possible criminal charges against Bentley.

Bentley and Mason have denied having an affair and the governor has denied doing breaking any laws or doing anything to warrant impeachment.

McLlure said he had sought out five people to join him in filing the bar complaint in one of his columns for the Alabama Political Reporter. That column ran March 28.

"There it is ... if your bologna meter peaked out when Luther Strange was appointed to the U.S. Senate you are not alone. If you think there is a sufficient likelihood of impropriety that you would like a public hearing to determine if there is clear and convincing evidence of Sen. Strange's alleged ethical violations, then contact me," McLure wrote. "I'm applying the Rule of Six in this case. If five other Alabama citizens will join with me in a Disciplinary Complaint to the Alabama State Bar, then we'll file it together."

McLure said of the six residents who joined him in filing the complaint "are just concerned Alabama citizens like me."