Congressman Alcee Hastings (D) is getting a street named after him. But Floridians living in his congressional district are ticked off, saying that he is not deserving of the honor because of his past.
Back in 1979, Judge Hastings was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, but was impeached and booted from office in 1989, putting him in a very distinct fraternity of 7 other federal officials in U.S. history to be impeached and removed from their office.
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) President Bill Clinton (D) gave Borders a full pardoned on his way out of the White House.
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.
In 1989, he was convicted 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 Senate, in two hours of roll calls, voted on 11 of the 17 articles of impeachment. It convicted Hastings of eight of the 11 articles
“If Sarah Palin isn’t enough of a reason for you to get over whatever your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay attention. Anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks. So, you just think this through.”–Rep.Alcee Hastings
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