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 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 (also controlled by the Democrats), becoming the sixth federal judge in the history of the United States to be removed from office by the Senate.
But Judge Hastings is a superb politician, and got himself elected to Congress in 1992. He's still there -- but as he tells us, just getting by.
Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) says he and his colleagues in Congress are vastly underpaid and the American people need to pony up some more money, if they want to keep these stellar politicians around.
That's basically the argument he made Monday to Roll Call:
"We are entering our seventh year without a pay raise. Now I think we've proven to the American people that we are responsible. And I know that it has impacted me personally.
We have more than 50 members, probably as many as 75 or more living in their offices. They're not there because of any other reason than they can't afford it. Now if people want us in sackcloth and ashes then they will get what they rightly deserve as representation."
Hastings and his colleagues currently make $174,000 per year as members of the House of Representatives.
The emphasized words have my award so far for best irony of 2015.
Anyway, moving right along......some of us might think $174,000 is enough to keep a person out of sackcloth, particularly if he's made wise investments from the proceeds from his version of "sentencing reform." On the other hand, Hastings has some expenses others don't have to bear (footnotes omitted):
In a 2011 survey of U.S. lawmakers, the Center for Responsive Politics named Hastings the "Poorest Member of Congress," with a 2010 average net worth of −$4,732,002. His congressional financial disclosure form indicated that, as of 2010, Hastings did not have any earned income, he had a bank account with a balance in the $1,000 to $15,000 range, and he owed several million dollars in legal fees to several attorneys stemming from 1981 - 1989 charges.
In 2012, Hastings was ranked No. 1 out of 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives for paying salaries and fees to family members by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch. A 300-page report published by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington found that Hastings paid his girlfriend $622,574 over the four-year period 2007-2010.
Alcee Hastings was well known within the legal community to be a judge approachable with a bribe. He was appointed to the Circuit (state felony level) Court by Dem Governor Askew, then to U S District Court by Jimmy Carter (thanks a lot). The case which got him arrested was not an isolated one, and the issue with co-def Borders not testifying was widely viewed as a set-up by the defense in which Borders agreed to testify and then reneged on the stand to create a double jeopardy trap for the prosecutors. Borders himself was pardoned by Bill Clinton on Clinton's last day in officer on a recommendation by - guess who - Eric Holder.
Funny how all those same names keep coming up.
Hastings is reelected term after term in a mainly minority district in Broward County, Florida.
Thank you for an informative, but quite depressing, comment.
And yes, Borders was one of corrupt Clinton pardons you never hear about (because so many others were even more corrupt).