It makes sense for Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to try to respect seniority in handing out committee chairmanships. But she should draw the line at choosing Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., to be chairman of the House Intelligence Committee over the current ranking minority member, Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif. Yes, Hastings was acquitted of bribery charges when he was a federal judge, but he was later impeached by the House and removed from the bench by the Senate. And even if Hastings’ conduct doesn’t bother his constituents, it ought to bother Pelosi. Especially after Pelosi backed Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., to be majority leader, she needs to ensure that her assignments don’t make a joke of her vow to lead history’s “most honest, ethical” Congress.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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47 Comments
The Eagle had no problem with Bush going into office with a criminal record and being in charge of our nation’s military and all of our secrets. Once again the conservative’s double standard rears it’s ugly head.
That’s Democrats for you.
Land Scam Harry Reid and the whole bunch are corrupt.
This is just small potatoes compared to the Party as a whole. But Pelosi needs to reward her favors she promised and a corrupt politican to a Committe Chair is just the reward she will give.
But I agree as a democrat. I don’t WANT scandal in this congress. I want respectable people running the show.
I would still rather go hunting with Dick than driving with Ted. Doug, are you comparing a misdemeanor DUI almost 40 years ago with taking bribes, manslaughter (at the least), attempted (at the least) child molestation and “kiddie porn”? I think not. The irony is not lost, though, of Alcee Hastings (too damned dumb to take a bribe without getting caught)chairing the Intelligence Committee — is this a great country or what ?? What is the next headline? “Making good on his promise of bipartisanship, Dubya names Ted Kennedy Secretary of Transportation.” Were it not so absurdly tragic, it would be LMAO funny. Have a safe a joyous Thanksgiving to all … even you, Rhonda cease fire for Thanksgiving, but screw Ramadan.
Interesting entries in another blog on Alcee Hastings staff and his lavish adventures in federally paid Congressional Trips.http://www.alceehastings.blogspot.com/
Rhonda? We get a thread about a congressman now? Where were you dear when I asked for a thread about Todd Tiahrt more than 30 times?
Rhonda? You DARE to talk about the corruption of Hastings after the corruption we have seen these last several years from Republicans?
Harman is too conservative. She is a Democrat in name only.
Hastings may not be perfect, but elections mean something. Pelosi is speaker now and Hastings has seniority. Republicans and blue dogs are invited to sit down and shut up.
I’d like to know the full story behind the Hastings situation. He was acquitted by a court of law where there are rules of evidence. His subsequent removal from the bench looks like it might have been more of a political action. Remember, there are no rules when it comes to impeachment; it is strictly political. I think it was Gerald Ford who said something like “an impeachable offense is whatever a majority of Congress says is an impeachable offense”
Hastings was impeached by a Democratic Congress and Convicted by a Democratic Senate.
His co-conspirator was convicted in court and sent to jail but refused to testify against him. He was later pardoned by Bill Clinton.
Not did Hastings solicit and receive a bribe in a mob case, he was also impeached for releasing secret wiretap information on a case where he was the supervising judge.
John Conyers, Democratic Chair of the Judiciary at the time and impeachment manager, pointed out that allowing a black politician be corrupt because of the color of his skin would damage every black official. I guess Democrats have changed their mind.
And as for the “let seniority rule” people – fine Jane Harman is the Senior member of the committee. Make her Chair. Oh that’s right – she was too bipartisan.
Wouldn’t we all like to see the intelligence committee be NON-partisan?
Wow, I can’t believe that we are having this discussion. So much for Pelosi’s ethics promise. No use, I guess, in waiting to demonstrate the value of a politician’s promise. Chuckle…
If there is ethics questions then don’t use the guy.Simple.Not much of a story, or much to debate.Knowing that she’s got a target on her back, Nancy should be very careful.Not everbody from the Dem side is going to march in step with her, like they Repugs did with Denny Asshurt.
And DC goes on.
“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
This could be strike two for Pelosi. Wouldn’t that be great! She voted to impeach him, then puts him up for this seat. Only a handful of judges have ever been impeached and Alcee is one of them. Go Dems!
I agree with Tracy. Don’t really know much about either person but if Harman is senior she ought to get the job.
I say again…
Ms Pelosi has no freakin’ idea WTF she is doing.
Golfnut-I think she knows what she is “trying” to do. She’s a huge Lib, as you know. It follows she will try to get her Lib folks to join her. America, despite all the headlines right after the election, is still on the conservative side of things.
Fleet,Agreed 100%. Ms Pelosi is almost certainly fighting an internal battle between her heart and her head. Although, I’m not sure her head has a clue either.
This decision will be made by the new majority in the House. Republicans have nothing to say as they are not in that majority. Deal with it.
Is it sun spots??There sure seems to be an excessive number of highly qualified candidates for The Dumbass Hall of Fame here today.
Time for more popcorn!Let the show begin– Dumbasses- to your marks!
Having posted at least a week or more earlier on a different thread on this issue, my only observation is that it is my understanding this appointment is a “pay off” to the Black Caucus. Terrible thing to play politics with such a sensitive committee chair. Personally, I wouldn’t let him on the committee, although I believe he has served thereon.
Almost unbelievable. It is totally irresponsible to appoint someone with Hastings’ history to such an important, sensitive position as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. He has already shown that he is for sale and not trustworthy with classified information.
What is Pelosi thinking? Is she already putting politics ahead of our country’s security?????
jr-I understand completely that the Repubs don’t have a vote on this. I am enjoying the show, “The Implosion of Pelosi” at a theatre near you.
Reading the article in Rhonda’s IP, Congressman Hastings has served on the Intelligence Committee for seven years.
Do some research, instead of insisting that Pelosi is worng.
http://alceehastings.house.gov/biography/“Congressman Hastings is 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 Ranking Democratic Member of the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland SecurityThe Terrorism Subcommittee is the primary committee in Congress which has direct oversight of the programs and activities of the intelligence community that relate to U.S. homeland security and to counterterrorism, including capabilities, resources, policies and procedures.”—Hasting’s impeachment trial was done by a Senate committee, not the full Senatehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcee_Hastings
Compare to Harman,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Harman
Hey, guys, you might save this for after this appointment acualy happens. Pelosi has not and will not annonouce until after the 1st of the year.
cosmos-It is my sincere hope that Alcee is defended for this post. It would be a gift for the Repubs. Keep it up!tracy-Limbaugh took Bush to task for the spending and the immigration stance.
Tracy,What!? Why the hell did you vote for her then? If you don’t believe in the Democrat ideals, you would have been better off voting a piece of monkey turd to lead America’s most “honest” (bullshit) Congress.
cosmos:
Hasting’s bio is funny. He touts his prior “service” as judge – but conveniently FAILS TO MENTION THAT HE WAS IMPEACHED AND REMOVED BY A DEMOCRATIC CONTROLLED CONGRESS. For bribery, no less.
Did he forget?
This is not hard to figure out – Pelosi is settling political scores. Harmon is too moderate for Pelosi and not confrontational enough with the Republicans. Further, she was elected on her own (she has her own fortune to fall back on) and she’s not beholden to Pelosi. Pelosi wants to install a political hack in her place, beholden to her. That gives her chips to call in.
Never mind the baggage.
Woody, if she’s gonna’ implode, we need to get it done and over with so we can move on.
I’ll never agree with someone just because they are a Democrat.Unlike dishonest assholes like limpballs who will toe the party line even when he doesn’t believe in it.
Tracy,If you think Rush Limbaugh “toes the party line”…
You might want to listen to his program occasionally.
Good ol’ Jessie James and his buddies in the KKK were fine upstanding Dumocrats. And don’t forget Tammany hall that earned the Dims a solid reputation for criminal activity. All bought and ruled the media of their time.
GMC70,
You also “forgot” a few points.
* Hastings was acquitted of bribery charges.* The impeachment trial was by a committee, not the full Senate.* The Senate had the power, but did NOT forbid him to ever seek FEDERAL office again.* He’s been in Congress since 1993.
Hastings represents the U.S. at The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, http://www.osce.org/
Nut, limpballs even admitted what I said.And no, I won’t listen to him, BillO, Franken, etc.
So what’s your point codie?Things have changed a bit in the last hundred years.
Woody, I didn’t have a chance to vote Nancy in.She wasn’t on my ballot anywhere.
“limpballs even admitted what I said”
Tracy, you clearly do NOT listen to Rush. He rarely refers to himself as a Republican. Nor does he always embrace the Republican party. Rush is a Conservative, and his conservative values are generally aligned with the tenets of Republicans. When the party strays from conservative values, he is VERY quick to criticize.
Listen sometime.
Cosmos:
Nice gloss. Do you defend ANYTHING, as long as it comes from the right (perhaps I should say “left”) side?
Sigh. Oh well. for those who don’t know, and for Cosmos, who apparantly doesn’t care:
Hastings was impeached by a Dem-controlled House, and convicted by a Dem-controlled Senate for bribery and perjury; specifically, his perjured testimony at this own trial (yes, he was aquitted, but we know aquital doesn’t necessarily mean innocence. See O.J., below.)The trial by a committee is a procedural matter for the Senate, and is irrelevant. And the fact they didn’t bar him from holding office is likewise irrelevant. Because the fools in Florida send him to Congress does not mean he’s entitled to chair committees involving sensitive matters.
We know how well he can be trusted. He can’t.
So why do some defend him – and on this call, Pelosi? Pelosi simply wants committee chairs who are beholden to her, and thus under her control. Harmon (who is senior to Hastings), though a Democrat, is politically independent of Pelosi’s control; Pelosi doesn’t have political leverage over Harmon if she doesn’t tow the line.
Hastings isn’t. That says it all.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.Libs = defending the indefensibleIf it’s not Alcee, it’s Clinton
Who am I defending woody?and forget clinton, he’s not there anymore.I’ve got a long list of indefensable things that conservatives defend.Wanna read the list?
tracy-If you are not defending Alcee, then I am not talking to you. But, I’ll bet you did defend Clinton.
I defended his right to get a bj in the office.Everything else, well not so much.
I’VE said it before and I say it again.
Dems won. We will be making the decisions now. That is how the process works.
Who’s Alcee?What did they do?Why should I care?
“Who’s Alcee?”He’s the guy that Speaker-to-be Pelosi is considering putting in charge of the House Intelligence Committee
“What did they do?”He was impeached and removed from office as a federal judge for soliciting and receiving a bribe, perjury and for leaking secret wiretap information to the subject of a criminal investigation.
He’s also under investigation by both the Florida and Federal Election Commission.
“Why should I care?”Think Al Qaeda has enough money to buy this guy? National security is too important to be put in the hands of person who is clearly a crook.
The Chairman of the Intelligence Committee receives too much important, sensitive information to be given to a crook.
Yes, he has served on the committee, and yes we’ve had too many security compromising leaks. Are they related?
As was pointed out above, the announcement of committee chairs will not be made until January. From reading the article Rhonda posted, IIRC, there is a good chance that Congressman Reyes from Texas will get the appointment, not Congressman Hastings. Apparently, the Black Caucus is resigned to this.
“Wouldn’t we all like to see the intelligence committee be NON-partisan?”
Yea, I sure would, after all these years of GOP control. On the Senate side look at how Pat Roberts has kept everything bottled up.
Well, if we can’t have NON-partisan then BI-partisan is the next best thing. I’m sure the Republican minority will not be treated any worse by the new Democratic majority than the Dems were treated by the Repubs.
There she is …Rhonda the RW shill pouncing on the newest Faux’s talking points memo
Hey Rhonda maybe BillO needs a writer
GMC70,
“The trial by a committee is a procedural matter for the Senate, and is irrelevant.”
The committee presides over the evidentiary phase of the trials.
The full Senate is SUPPOSED to review the evidence BEFORE voting — a 2/3rd majority is required to convict.
It does not seem “irrelevant” that:* The Chair and Vice Chair of the committee (Sens. Bingaman and Specter) filed statements in support of acquittal.
* The 12-member committee did NOT vote to impeach by the required 2/3rds majority on ANY of the articles of impeachment.
* Only 12 Senators checked out the videotapes of the committee’s fact-finding sessions before the full Senate convicted Hastings.
BTW: Your “fools in Florida” did not make Hastings the senior Member of the HPSCI, and the Ranking Democratic Member of the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security.