Posted on 12/09/2017 11:16:17 AM PST by Kaslin
Documents show that the United States Treasury used $220,000 of tax payer money to settle a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment committed by Florida Democrat Alcee Hastings against one of his staffers, reports Roll Call.
Winsome Packer, a former staff member of a congressional commission that promotes international human rights, said in documents that the congressman touched her, made unwanted sexual advances, and threatened her job. At the time, Hastings was the chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, where Packer worked.
Hastings has called Packer’s charges “ludicrous” and in documents said he never sexually harassed her.
“Until this evening, I had not seen the settlement agreement between the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) and Ms. Packer,” the congressman said in a statement Friday night. “This matter was handled solely by the Senate Chief Counsel for Employment. At no time was I consulted, nor did I know until after the fact that such a settlement was made.”
Hastings said that the lawsuit that Packer filed against him and an investigation by the House Ethics Committee were ultimately dismissed.
“I am outraged that any taxpayer dollars were needlessly paid to Ms. Packer,” he said.
It is worth noting that Rep. Alcee Hastings was indicted by a grand jury in 1981 for accepting bribes as a Federal Judge in exchange for a shorter sentencing for two-mob convicted felons, according to senate.gov.
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.
"Subsequently, suspicions arose that Hastings had lied and falsified evidence during the trial in order to obtain an acquittal. A special committee of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals began a new probe into the Hastings case. The resulting three-year investigation ended with the panel concluding that Hastings did indeed commit perjury, tamper with evidence, and conspire to gain financially by accepting bribes. The panel recommended further action to the U.S. Judicial Conference, which, in turn, informed the House of Representatives on March 17, 1987, that Judge Alcee Hastings should be impeached and removed from office."
Following years of committee proceedings, the Senate found Hastings guilty on 11 of 17 articles of impeachment. Former Ku Klux Klansman and Democrat icon Robert Byrd ordered Hastings removed from office, acting as the Senate president pro tempore. But, the senate did not bar him from holding future office.
Four years later, Hastings was elected to Congress where he has held office ever since.
You neglected to mention that this scumbag was impeached, convicted, and removed from the bench by the senate in ‘89.
That’s been amply covered on FR threads about Hastings recent problems.
FReep this petition and enjoy President Trump telling you who they all are.
I often wonder what our Founding Fathers would think of the people who now run our government? These men who risked everything to create this country and this is what it is reduced to?
How sad.
Do any of these people actually show up for work?
Call me cynical but what’s to stop a congressman from telling his mistress to say she were harassed and ask for a settlement? That way he doesn’t have to shell out the bucks to keep her.
I don’t trust any of them especially in the CBC and think they are up to their eyeballs in corruption.
....the real story here may be a deliberate scam and collusion between Hastings and his squeeze to concoct the whole story and share in the payoff.
Think about it.
I'm probably over-thinking on this...but then again.....
Leni
This scumbag has been in the congress for years. He should be in prison, but his ignorant constituents keep voting for him to represent them.
Liz more on the criminal posing as a congressit from Floriduh!
IMPEACHED JUDGE - Alcee Lamar Hastings D(FL)
Hastings is an impeached judge who was thrown of of office in 1989 for pay-for-play bribery, 21 counts of racketeering and perjury.
Hastings is now a congressman representing Florida’s 20th congressional district, a district that was gerrymandered to elect a black.
As a congressman he has been charges with sexual harassment
and nepotism.
Hastings served as a judge on the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida from 1979, until his impeachment and removal from that post in 1989.
In 1981, Hastings was charged with accepting a $150,000 bribe in exchange for a lenient sentence and a return of seized assets for 21 counts of racketeering by Frank and Thomas Romano, and of perjury in his testimony about the case. In 1983, he was acquitted by a jury after his alleged co-conspirator, William Borders, refused to testify in court, resulting in a jail sentence for Borders.
In 1988, the Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives impeached him for bribery and perjury by a vote of 413–3. He was then convicted in 1989 by the US Senate, becoming the sixth federal judge in the history of the United States to be removed from office by the Senate.
In two hours of roll calls the senate voted on 11 of the 17 articles of impeachment. It convicted Hastings of eight of the 11 articles. The vote on the first article was 69 for and 26 opposed.
The Senate had the option to forbid Hastings from ever seeking federal office again, but did not do so.
After his impeachment Hastings was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992, representing Florida’s 23rd district.
Hastings has now served in Congress since 1993. The district, numbered as the 23rd District from 1993 to 2013, includes most of the majority-black precincts in and around Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.
In June 2011, a lawsuit filed by one of his staff members, Winsome Packer, alleged that Hastings made repeated unwanted sexual advances and threatened her job when she refused him. A congressional ethics panel investigated these claims.
Packer was being represented by the conservative legal group Judicial Watch. Hastings denied the claims and called them “ludicrous.” He stated that “I will win this lawsuit. That is a certainty. In a race with a lie, the truth always wins. And when the truth comes to light and the personal agendas of my accusers are exposed, I will be vindicated.”
In February 2012, it was reported that Hastings would be released from the lawsuit, and it would only continue against the Helsinki Commission.
In 2012, Hastings was ranked 1 out of 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives for paying salaries and fees to family members, according to the conservative watchdog group, Judicial Watch.
A state by state report on all members of Congress, published by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, reported Hastings paid his girlfriend, Patricia Williams, an attorney who worked as his deputy district director, $622,574 over the four-year period, from 2007-2010.
It's convenient not to have to look up the details of this lying snake sexual abuser. But the obvious questions remain:
Who was the "Senate Chief Counsel for Employment?"
Why would he or she "settle an accusation" with a substantial taxpayer payout amount without the perp's knowledge?
That Hastings was not aware of the process or the payout is what is ludicrous.
It is clear that such a secret arrangement to "settle" criminal behavior is a conspiracy and a crime.
No branch of government is immune from criminal acts and the corresponding punishment.
The legislature collectively is responsible for criminal acts and the punishment to which the rest of us are subject to.
The secret process is an additional criminal act.
If the legislature itself is not fit to investigate the crimes, the citizens are entitled to investigate the crimes.
How about a congressional investigation of these crimes instead of spending millions$ trying to nullify a Constitutionally elected president?
Who has standing to pursue the issue?
Where is the comprehensive list of all these predators raiding the taxayer treasury to deal with personal crimes?
Names.
Names.
Names!
Why reveal one or two a week?
Release the whole damned list of all the sexual predators at once, and republish the list once a week until the weasels retire and pay back the stolen money and are convicted.
I keep wondering how much he’s got stashed offshore.
This guy’s in it for the money ....and as many gropes and grabs he can get.
And this is surprising why? It was long ago established that the rules only apply to Republicans.
He can fly to some off shore places quickly from Floriduh to make deposits and withdrawals.
“Call me cynical but what’s to stop a congressman from telling his mistress to say she were harassed and ask for a settlement? That way he doesn’t have to shell out the bucks to keep her.”
You are not cynical!
Only half?
bump
“Hastings should also be strippd of have his office budget and other slush funds he controls until we get our 220 thou returned.”
Are you serious? We would still be paying for it.
HELL NO!
It comes out of his pocket, or should I say his list of lobbyist benefactors whom it would come from anyway..
This moron is a defrocked FEDERAL JUDGE! The IDIOTS who THEN elected him to congress deserve whateverthehell they got.
Us? NOT SO MUCH!!
Why THE DEEP STATE wants Trump GONE!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB4tFESLvfM&feature=youtu.be
And MY humble effort to explain this remarkable phenomenon!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pKSwvVcuqA&t=82s
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