Free Republic

It turns out the government secretly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to resolve a sexual harassment case filed by Judicial Watch against a Florida congressman with a long history of unscrupulous behavior. The veteran Democrat, Alcee Hastings, is most famous for getting impeached by Congress as a federal judge following a scandal involving the solicitation of a $150,000 bribe in return for “favorable treatment for defendants in a racketeering case before him.” The disgraced judge was an unindicted co-conspirator, but there was enough evidence against him for Congress to boot him from the bench. Hastings is one of only...

Complete title: Judicial Watch Statement on Court Ruling in Sexual Harassment Lawsuit against Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton today issued a statement in response to a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Judicial Watch’s sexual harassment lawsuit filed on behalf of Winsome Packer, a female federal employee who alleges that she was repeatedly subjected to “unwelcome sexual advances,” “unwelcome touching” and retaliation from Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) ( Packer v. US Comm. On Security & Cooperation in Europe, and Hastings and Turner (CV No. 11-00485)). On February...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressman Alcee Hastings asked a court Saturday to throw out claims that he subjected a former employee to sexual harassment and retaliation when he was co-chairman of an independent U.S. agency. The Florida Democrat said the case should be handled according to congressionally-approved administrative and judicial remedies - and not the U.S. District Court in Washington, where the plaintiff, Winsome Packer, lodged her complaint. Packer says Hastings asked several times to stay at her apartment or to get her to visit his hotel room in Vienna, Austria, when she worked as staff representative and he was co-chairman...