GULF SHORES, AL – As a second lawsuit charging that Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is illegally using BP funds to build a beachfront Hilton is dismissed, Charley Grimsley continues to voice his displeasure for the project.

“The Montgomery County circuit judge ruled that State Auditor Jim Zeigler and Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow, like me, do not have standing to question our imperial governor for using the BP money as his personal discretionary fund,” Grimsley said. “Simply put, for now the courts have ruled that BP indeed stands for Bentley’s Pocket.”

Grimsley, the former Commissioner of Alabama’s department of Conservation and Natural Resources says this plan and project also go against the mission of state parks, affordable options for citizens to enjoy state assets.

“For over a decade I have been arguing that the master plan is to turn Gulf State Park into a playground for the rich and to price average Alabama families out of the resort forever,” Grimsley said. “The original purpose of the Alabama State Park system was to protect and conserve special natural areas for the perpetual and affordable use of average Alabama families forever.”

A Hilton resort on the site of a former state lodge destroyed in a hurricane six years before oil stained Alabama beaches is not a project for average Alabamians, Grimsley said.

“Bentley’s rich friends will sit on the balconies of the luxury hotel, sipping their martinis and flicking the ashes from their Cuban cigars on a beach that average Alabamians were supposed to enjoy forever,” Grimsley said.

Another example Grimsley said he found by reading the project’s plan – one he says is difficult to find and read – is the elimination of Gulf State Park’s golf course.

“He’s not going to ‘close’ the golf course, he’s going to ‘repurpose’ it as an adventure park with the relocation of the zip line he is going to tear down from its present location,” Grimsley said. “There is no way Hilton would want to close a golf course right next to their hotel. So the question is why would Bentley do such a thing?”

According to Grimsley an 18-hole round of golf including cart costs $43.50, $27.50 for green fees plus $16 cart for 18 holes. At Craft Farms it costs $89 including cart for 18 holes.

“That means average Alabamians will either have to go to Craft Farms and either pay double or stay at home,” Grimsley said. “Bentley is killing a huge draw for snowbirds and average Alabamians.”

Grimsley said using the word “repurposing” instead of “closing” to describe plans for the golf course’s closure is insulting.

“I know I am only one Alabama voter, but I believe we should repurpose Gov. Bentley as a dermatologist,” he said. “Turning state parks into Six Flags or Disneyworld or into luxury resorts that only rich people can afford runs counter to the noble founding philosophy of providing affordable state park access and enjoyment by average Alabamians forever.”

Grimsley first filed a suit on April 8 seeking to halt construction in Gulf State Park. The way Grimsley sees it, money coming from BP into state coffers is exactly the same as taxpayer dollars coming into the state’s coffers.

“BP paid the State of Alabama for destroying public assets,” Grimsley said.

His lawsuit against the project, and using money to renovate the once-dilapidated governor’s mansion in Fort Morgan has hit a snag.

“Shockingly, the judge in my case in Montgomery County ruled that as a taxpayer I did not have legal status to question Gov. Bentley because the funds used are from BP, not taxpayer money,” he said.

The next step, Grimsley is hoping, will be federal involvement.

“Hopefully the feds, who are reportedly conducting an extensive corruption investigation in Montgomery, will investigate this issue,” he said. “My daddy said you can make whiskey until you get caught. We caught Bentley making whiskey but two circuit judges gave him a get-out-of-jail-free card.

“Hopefully he won’t be as lucky with the feds.”