CORRECTION: I mistakenly wrote that Hastings was the guy with the $90,000 in his freezer. That was not Hastings, but instead was Rep. William Jefferson (D-Louis.), who is in a run-off against Democrat Karen Carter on December 9. Jefferson is a hypocritical pig who voted pro-gay and pro-choice, but now is claiming he's anti-gay and anti-choice and is attacking Carter for being pro-gay and pro-choice. The man is a pig. Please contribute to the campaign of his opponent, Karen Carter. More on Carter v. Jefferson here.
Hastings is still a bad apple.
Hastings and a friend, attorney William Borders Jr., were indicted in 1981 for conspiring to solicit bribes from two convicted racketeers in exchange for sentences that wouldn't include jail time. Borders was convicted the following year and sent to prison. Hastings maintained his innocence and was acquitted in 1983.digg this!
In 1987 a panel of federal judges ruled that Hastings had lied and manufactured evidence during the trial, and recommended to Congress that he be impeached.
The evidence against Hastings presented during the subsequent House impeachment and Senate trial was largely circumstantial, focusing on calls between Hastings and Borders during the federal investigation of the scheme.
The House in 1988 voted 413-3 to impeach Hastings and the Senate voted 69-26 to convict and remove him from office. Pelosi and her current second-in-command, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland, both voted to impeach.
Representative John Conyers of Michigan, who may become Judiciary Committee chairman if Democrats win the House, led the impeachment effort. Conyers, who is black, said Hastings's status as the first black federal judge in Florida didn't excuse his behavior.
``Judge Hastings has been the architect of his own undoing,'' Conyers said before the impeachment vote. ``Judge Hastings has committed high crimes and misdemeanors and should be impeached.''
