Posted on 11/03/2019 4:50:11 AM PST by MarvinStinson
One of the cocky Democrats responsible for writing the party’s widely-criticized, “unfair” impeachment rules that were voted on this week is reportedly a habitual rule breaker who’s been caught employing his own girlfriend in his congressional office.
That Democrat is House Rules Committee vice-chair Alcee Hastings of Florida, who this week joined his fellow equally cocky Democrats in stonewalling efforts by Republicans to install just a modicum of fairness in their otherwise unfair and unjust impeachment rules.
Cocky Dems stonewall GOP over unfair impeachment rules during contentious meeting https://t.co/6puPuUlcpO
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) October 31, 2019
According to an investigation by The Palm Beach Post, this top-ranking Democrat rule-maker has himself been violating House rules by allegedly maintaining a relationship and even cohabitating with one of his staffers.
“Hastings, 83, has employed a disbarred lawyer, Patricia Williams, on his congressional staff since at least 2000. She has been paid nearly $3 million in taxpayer-funded salary since that time,” the outlet reported Thursday.
“Property records show Williams and Hastings bought a $700,000 house together near Boynton Beach in 2017.”
When questioned about this incredible purchase, Hastings seemed to dismiss the Post’s concerns about potential ethics violations.
“However it looks, it’s been looking like that for 25 years,” he reportedly said.
It’s not clear whether there’s ever before in American history been a case of a congressman and his staffer purchasing a home together.
What’s known is that last year the then-GOP-led House-passed “new rules barring members of Congress from having a sexual relationship with a member of his or her staff” and decreed that anyone who violated the new rules could face potential expulsion.
“A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not engage in a sexual relationship with any employee of the House who works under the supervision of the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, or who is an employee of a committee on which the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner serves,” the House’s updated code of conduct reads.
The only exception is for married couples. Hastings and his alleged paramour are not married.
House rules.https://t.co/zKfCMOdYUv pic.twitter.com/wBJVDcpSzJ
— Cr8z13 (@Cr8z13) October 28, 2019
The Post’s report comes only days after disgraced former freshman California Rep. Katie Hill announced her resignation from office over her own violations of these rules.
The allegations against Hill involved her first having an illicit affair with a campaign staffer during the midterms last year, and then having yet another affair — this time with a congressional aide — after her inauguration into office this past January.
The allegations against Hastings, a 26-year congressional veteran, meanwhile, extend beyond the latest matter involving his staffer. Nine years ago, a congressional staffer who worked on the U.S. Helsinki Commission accusing then-commission chairman Hastings of sexual harassment.
“[The victim] alleged that she ‘was forced to endure’ repeated ‘unwelcome sexual advances, crude sexual comments and unwelcome touching’ by Hastings,” NBC News revealed in a report on sexual harassment two years ago.
“In describing the incidents, [she] alleged that Hastings had hugged her multiple times, sometimes in front of witnesses at public events, pressing his whole body against her, and his face to her face. [She] also claimed that after she complained to the commission’s staff director, she was subject to threats of retaliation by both the director and Hastings himself, including ‘threats of termination.'”
Three years later, Congress used taxpayer funds to provide the victim with a $220,000 settlement payment.
I don’t trust democrats with our taxpayer money:
✔️Yvette Clarke wrote off $120,000 ✔️Alcee Hastings’ $220,000 settlement ✔️Millions paid to criminal Imran Awan family#TaxCutsandJobsAct #TuesdayThoughts
— #ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) December 19, 2017
But as horrific as this sounds, it’s not the worst of the congressman’s antics. Prior to joining Congress in 2013, he worked for ten years as a district judge – up until he was impeached from office in 1989 for having accepted a $150,000 bribe.
Here’s the kicker: The attorney who represented him during the impeachment hearings was Williams, i.e., his current alleged girlfriend.
“Before she was disbarred for misusing client funds, Williams represented Hastings in the 1980s when Hastings was impeached and removed from his position as a U.S. District Court judge,” the Post confirmed. “After he won a seat in the House in 1992, he hired Williams, who is listed by LegiStorm as his deputy district director.”
Apparently, Hastings’ beau is just as corrupt as him.
What with the congressman’s sordid history, one would think that Rules Committee chair Ted Deutch might think it proper to open an investigation into him. Especially given that he, Deutch, was one of the co-sponsors of the House’s new rules pertaining to relationships. But according to the Post, he just doesn’t seem interested in the matter.
“Questions The Post asked Deutch’s office about Hastings were directed to a staff member of the Ethics Committee, who would not comment,” the outlet reported.
Republicans, however, were more than willing to offer their take.
“His flouting of the rules is legendary. This is open and shut. He is in violation,” Rep. Barbara Comstock of Virginia said about Hastings’ alleged violations.
Lateresa Jones, one of Hastings’ Republican challengers in the upcoming 2020 race, agreed with the sentiment, though she aimed her fury at Deutch instead.
“Congressman Ted Deutch needs to grow some (courage) and do the right thing by the people,” she said. “This behavior is not acceptable. Alcee Hastings is not above the law.”
Or is he?
“When questioned by the news outlet whether it was appropriate to investigate Hill, but not probe Hastings, Deutch refused to comment.”
Investigate Hill: justice
Probing Hastings: racism
Alcee’s impeachment hearings (when he was a judge) was _great_ TV back in the day.
It would have been a fantastic made-for-TV movie—sex, cash in suitcases, chase scenes with the FBI....
and the guy is _still_ around—proof that crime pays these days—if you are black.
The star chamber tactics of the Democrat Party ought to scare the bejesus out of any fair minded American. Their tyrannical proclivities are on display for all to see. After they stole control of the House they went on a totalitarian drinking bing. I wonder how crazed their withdrawal symptoms will become when they lose control in 2020.
If I recall, David Bonior even went so far as to marry his staffer then kept her on his payroll.....at least that's what I think happened.
I nominate this as post of the day.
He is a Mercedes Marxist.
2000? 2017? Boehner? Ryan? The corruption is bipartisan in The Swap.
Only the democRATS would think this was okay. The more corrupt their members, the better they like them.
Democrats? Boehner and Ryan seemed just fine with Hastings. They certainly didn’t lift a finger to stop it. Contrast that to Ryan’s treatment of Nunes.
“Rules to a Democrat are only a means to handicap their enemies. Neither oaths nor rules or their word mean anything to a Democrat.Rules, oaths, and one’s word of honor are only valid or have meaning if one has honor. Democrats have no honor, therefore, none of these are valid.”
Well said.
I would love to see President Trump go on the offense and start informing/reminding people of the crooked demonicRATS who are out to destroy him.
Sounds like she is doing a bang up job.
The democrats are a cancer that the republicans have left untreated for decades. The extent of their ineffective opposition has been to express outrage. Lindsey Graham’s latest genius tactic is to sign a petition. A petition? The democrats have full control over the republicans.
On the plus side, this criminal wretch is elderly and will likely die soon. That would be good for America.
Williams and Hastings must have two freezers to keep all that much money.
Hastings? Anything involving him is bound to stink like week old fish.
...that certain members of Congress are not called out for their behavior.
“There is a sense that there are people who get away with it and people who don’t,” she said.”
It’s called a swamp, jail the bass turd and move on.
You're making an assumption that Boehner and Ryan are Republicans. RINOs maybe.
But more likely, democRATS with a small "r" on their lapel pins.
Loyal members of the Uniparty.
Even Cons become congrees critters.
In 1981, a federal grand jury indicted Judge Alcee L. Hastings, appointed to the federal district court in 1979, along with his friend William A. Borders, a Washington, D.C. lawyer. Hastings was charged with conspiracy and obstruction of justice for soliciting a $150,000 bribe in return for reducing the sentences of two mob-connected felons convicted in Hastings’ court. A year after Borders was convicted of conspiracy, the result of an FBI sting effort, Hastings’s case came before the criminal court. Despite Borders’ conviction, and the fact that Hastings had indeed reduced the sentences of the two felons, he was acquitted in a criminal court in 1983 and returned to his judicial post.
Votes
Votes on Articles:
Article 1: 69 guilty; 26 not guilty
Article 2: 68 guilty; 27 not guilty
Article 3: 69 guilty; 26 not guilty
Article 4: 67 guilty; 28 not guilty
Article 5: 67 guilty; 28 not guilty
Article 6: 48 guilty; 47 not guilty
Article 7: 69 guilty; 26 not guilty
Article 8: 68 guilty; 27 not guilty
Article 9: 70 guilty; 25 not guilty
Articles 10-15: Senate chose not to vote on these articles.
Article 16: 0 guilty; 95 not guilty
Article 17: 60 guilty; 35 not guilty
Vote for Removal and/or Disqualification:
No separate vote was taken. Having found Hastings guilty on 8 of the 17 articles of impeachment, the president pro tempore ordered him removed from office. He was not disqualified for future office.
They should have disqualified him and removed him from office.
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