"Yeeh, when the deal go down..."
The situation is so bad that Rep. Gene Taylor (D) Mississippi, himself a no vote, has advised his fellow Democrats who are planning to vote to vote and then run like hell, out of the House chamber, and out of town, the better to avoid the Speaker's strong arm tactics."
“...run like hell...”
Then, you’ll only be tired when they get you.
Geez! Um, what did he get impeached for?
Absolutely pathetic. No wonder certain voters are in such dire lifestyles on a permanent basis. They just keep electing same idiots year in and year out
A crook admits that he and his cohorts don’t play by rules. Nothing new here.
To all Americans
"A Republic, if you can keep it."
We are witnessing the overthrow of our government by domestic terrorists disguised as representatives of the American people. We must vote these enemies of freedom out of office in November and again in 2012. To do less is to accept slavery and the destruction of our country. That is, if we have any freedom or a country left in 2012.
My district is adjacent to Alcee “Buckwheat” Hastings’. You can imagine the kind of human detritus that continues to re-elect this hump. And on the other side of us is Nanzi’s pet gerbil, Debbie Wasserman-Test.
When have rules ever applied to Alcee Hastings?
NO, stand firm, form a line against her, make her walk through them and onto the plank. What the hell are they afraid of, my gosh, she ain't NOTHING.
Alice in Dumberland is hopeless. Off with her head!
Well...gee...then, if “there ain’t no rules”.....then I guess my taxes just are NOT due, are they?
So now, the vote will be at 6 p.m. Guess the Dems still have some more bribing or “persuading” to do.
If this country doesn’t explode tomorrow morning, we deserve everything we get.
Alcee Hastings—the last Federal judge impeached by Congress.
Alec Hastings, should have been barred from federal office after getting impeached.
In another memorable quote from this "intellect" Hastings, he insinuated during the last presidential campaign that Sarah Palin was bigoted against blacks and Jews because she hunts moose!
Yes, there's little doubt that the inmates are running the asylum.
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. 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 U.S. House of Representatives took up the case, and Hastings was impeached for bribery and perjury by a vote of 413-3. He was then convicted in 1989 by the United States Senate, becoming the sixth federal judge in the history of the United States to be removed from office by the Senate. The vote on the first article was 69 for and 26 opposed, providing two votes more than the two-thirds of those present that were needed to convict. The first article accused the judge of conspiracy. Conviction on any single article was enough to remove the judge from office. The Senate vote cut across party lines, with U.S. Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont voting to convict his fellow party member, and U.S. Senator Arlen Specter voting to acquit.[1]
The Senate had the option to forbid Hastings from ever seeking federal office again, but did not do so. Alleged co-conspirator, attorney William Borders went to jail again for refusing to testify in the impeachment proceedings, but was later given a full pardon by President Bill Clinton on his last day in office.[2]
Hastings filed suit in federal court claiming that his impeachment trial was invalid because he was tried by a Senate committee, not in front of the full Senate, and that he had been acquitted in a criminal trial. Judge Stanley Sporkin ruled in favor of Hastings, remanding the case back to the Senate, but stayed his ruling pending the outcome of an appeal to the Supreme Court in a similar case regarding Judge Walter Nixon, who had also been impeached and removed.[3]
Sporkin found some “crucial distinctions”[4] between Nixon’s case and Hastings’s, specifically, that Nixon had been convicted criminally, and that Hastings was not found guilty by two-thirds of the committee who actually “tried” his impeachment in the Senate. He further added that Hastings had a right to trial by the full Senate.
The Supreme Court, however, ruled in Nixon v. United States that the federal courts have no jurisdiction over Senate impeachment matters, so Sporkin’s ruling was vacated and Hastings’s conviction and removal were upheld.
[edit] Candidacy for state office
In 1990, Hastings attempted to make a political comeback by running for Secretary of State of Florida, campaigning on a platform of legalizing casinos. In a three-way Democratic primary, he placed second with 313,758 votes, or 33%, behind newspaper columnist Jim Minter’s 357,340 votes (38%) and ahead of former Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon John Paul Rogers’ 275,370 votes (29%). In the runoff, which saw a large dropoff in turnout, Hastings lost to Minter in a landslide, 300,022 votes to 146,375. Minter would go on to lose the general election to incumbent Republican Jim Smith.
[edit] Congressional career
Hastings was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1992, representing Florida’s 23rd district. After placing second in the initial Democratic primary for the post, he scored an upset victory over State Representative Lois J. Frankel in the runoff and went on to easily win election in the heavily-Democratic district. From that point on he has yet to face a serious challenge for reelection.
He is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and was elected President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in July 2004. Today, as a Senior Democratic Whip, Hastings is an influential member of the Democratic leadership. Representative Hastings is also a member of the powerful House Rules Committee and is a senior Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). On the HPSCI, Hastings is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
He was one of the 31 who voted in the House not to count the electoral votes from Ohio in the 2004 presidential election.[5]
Hastings voted to impeach Texas federal judge Samuel B. Kent on all four counts presented against him on June 19, 2009.[6]