Hastings: I Was Acquitted (Sorta)
Alcee Hastings, the man picked by Speaker-in-Waiting Pelosi to chair the House Intelligence Committee, has sent a letter to his colleagues telling them that he was acquitted of charges in federal court. Of course, that’s only part of the story. Here’s the part that Alcee Hastings doesn’t want people to remember:
A Miami jury acquitted Hastings (while convicting the friend), but three different federal judicial panels later referred him to Congress for impeachment. “Judge Hastings attempted to corruptly use his office for personal gain. Such conduct cannot be excused or condoned even after Judge Hastings has been acquitted of the criminal charge,” concluded one panel, composed of five circuit court judges. It added:
There is clear and convincing evidence that Judge Hastings sought to conceal his participation in the bribery scheme and to explain away evidence connecting him with the sale of justice and that he pursued these objectives through concocting and presenting fabricated documents and false testimony in a United States District Court.
That sounds to me like Hastings’ acquittal wasn’t based on his being innocent but rather that the jury wouldn’t convict. Frankly, the fact that a panel composed of five circuit court judges said that there’s “clear and convincing evidence that Judge Hastings sought to conceal his participation in the bribery scheme and to explain away evidence connecting him with the sale of justice” is far more compelling to me than a jury verdict.
The next sentence gives us a possible explanation on why Hastings was acquitted:
“He pursued these objectives through concocting and presenting fabricated documents and false testimony in a United States District Court.”
Rest assured that this will be the first big fight Pelosi faces. The Murtha Embarassment will pale in comparison. This fight will be an all out firestorm within the House Democratic Caucus, in the Left Blogosphere and in the Agenda Media. It’s a fight that will get split House Democrats, too, though for what duration is still anybody’s guess.
It’ll be interesting to see how Ms. Pelosi will be characterized in the Agenda Media through this fight. She’ll genuinely be embattled during her first days in the Speakership and it’ll all be of her own making. When this fight starts, I think it best that Republicans just get out of the way and let Democratic corruption be the story. I’d also hope that responsible journalists would take Democrats to task on this with the same fervor as they did Duke Cunningham and Mark Foley.
Another item on my wish list is that the Right Blogosphere and conservative talk radio hosts would point out Democrats’ willingness to compromise our homeland and national security by ‘coupling’ John Conyers’ resolution giving “Muslims special civil-rights protections” in airports with Hastings’ chairing one of the most sensitive committees despite serious ethical shortcomings. I hope that happens because we can’t take our nation’s security that lightly.
The LA Times editorial also included this telling line:
Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, the House’s incoming speaker, has indicated that when the Democrats take control in January, she plans to take Harman off the committee in favor of someone more critical of the Bush administration’s Iraq war policies.
In other words, Ms. Pelosi is removing a far more qualified individual from the chairmanship because she isn’t partisan enough. That’s just another part of the politicization of the Intelligence Committees, a thought that should disgust and horrify every voter in America.
Technorati Tags: Pelosi, Alcee Hastings, Impeachment, Culture of Corruption, Intelligence Committee, John Conyers, Homeland Security
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
November 25th, 2006 at 9:25 am
[...] Cross-posted at California Conservative Categories: Homeland Security, National Security, Intel, Pelosi, Corruption, John Conyers, Crime, CAIR | [...]
November 25th, 2006 at 10:02 am
There is also ample documentary evidence of Alcee Hastings’ recent and current ethics violations.
According to the clerks office of the House of Congress. Mr Hastings pays his “staff assistant” Patricia Williams over 100K a year. Way in excess of what he pays his chief of staff Fred Turner. What makes this so unethical is that (according to judicialwatch.org) Mr. Hastings owes Patricia Williams hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawyer fees, die to the fact that Ms. Williams represented him during his bribery trial. Ms. Williams has since been disbarred due to mishandling of client funds. It is also common knowledge that they have has a personal relationship for a very long time.
Mr hastings has in effect employed on his staff his a family member (Ms. Williams is his wife in all but the legal sense), who is corrupt. He has then made the taxpayer foot the bill for his own debts by employing Williams. It is grossly unethical. All of this information is documented and in the public domain. I am amazed that the media hasn’t made more of this.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:31 am
It’s Alcee Hastings’ Spin For Fools…
Impeached Judge Now Crooked Democrat From Florida, Alcee Hastings
It seems that the dreaded “foot in mouth disease” currently plaguing Democrats in the House & Senate is spreading. John Kerry showed the symptoms with his “botched joke” insult of…