One of the Democrats responsible for writing the party’s widely-criticized, “unfair” impeachment rules that were voted on this week is reportedly a habitual rule breaker who’s been caught employing his girlfriend in his congressional office.
The same Democrat is House Rules Committee vice-chair Alcee Hastings of Florida, who this week joined his fellow equally cocky Democrats in stone-walling efforts by Republicans to install just a modicum of fairness in their otherwise unjust impeachment rules.
As The Palm Beach Post investigated, this top-ranking Democrat rule-maker has himself been violating House rules by allegedly maintaining a relationship and even cohabitating with one of his staffers.
“Hastings, 83, has employed a disbarred lawyer, Patricia Williams, on his congressional staff since at least 2000. She has been paid nearly $3 million in taxpayer-funded salary since that time,” the outlet reported.
“Property records show Williams and Hastings bought a $700,000 house together near Boynton Beach in 2017.”
When questioned about this incredible purchase, Alcee Hastings dismissed the Post’s concerns about potential ethics violations.
“However it looks, it’s been looking like that for 25 years,” Hastings reportedly said.
It is not clear whether ever before in American history there has been a case of a congressman and his staffer purchasing a home together.
What is known is that last year the then-GOP-led House-passed “new rules barring members of Congress from having a sexual relationship with a member of his or her staff” and decreed that anyone who violated the new rules could face potential expulsion.
“A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not engage in a sexual relationship with any employee of the House who works under the supervision of the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, or who is an employee of a committee on which the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner serves,” the House’s updated code of conduct reads.
The only exception is for married couples. But, Hastings and his alleged paramour are not married.
The report comes just days after disgraced former freshman California Rep. Katie Hill announced her resignation from office over her own violations of these rules.
The allegations against Hastings, a 26-year congressional veteran, even extend beyond the latest matter involving his staffer. 9 years ago, a congressional staffer who worked on the U.S. Helsinki Commission accusing then-commission chairman Hastings of sexual harassment as The Biz-Pac Review reported.
“[The victim] alleged that she ‘was forced to endure’ repeated ‘unwelcome sexual advances, crude sexual comments and unwelcome touching’ by Hastings,” NBC News revealed in a report on sexual harassment 2 years ago.
“In describing the incidents, [she] alleged that Hastings had hugged her multiple times, sometimes in front of witnesses at public events, pressing his whole body against her, and his face to her face. [She] also claimed that after she complained to the commission’s staff director, she was subject to threats of retaliation by both the director and Hastings himself, including ‘threats of termination.’”
3 years later, Congress used taxpayer funds to provide the victim with a $220,000 settlement payment.