This week, Congressman Alcee Hastings went on a purposeful rant about the entire state of Texas calling it a “crazy state” and that he would not live there “for all of the tea in China.”
The congressman from Florida was insulting the state as a result of its refusal to participate in federal healthcare exchanges that were established as a result of Obamacare.
Hastings didn’t stop there.
The eleven-term democrat took to the airwaves to incorrectly cite “archaic” laws in the state. The laws Hastings cited had been repealed.
Former Texas Governor Rick Perry made light of Hastings insults at a recent fundraiser saying, “He’s right! We are crazy! We’re crazy about jobs, we’re crazy about opportunity, we’re crazy about liberty, we’re crazy about the Constitution!”
Hastings, a former federal judge, was one of only eight judges in U.S. history to be impeached from office.
The Senate convicted Hastings after a botched court conviction in which he stood accused of accepting a bribe of $150,00 for lenient sentences of Frank and Thomas Romano.
Hastings was eventually acquitted of the charges after his co-conspirator, William Borders, refused to testify. While Borders received a jail sentence for his protection of Hastings, Bill Clinton eventually pardoned him on the last day of his presidency.
Hastings bounced back quickly and mounted a failed run for Florida’s Secretary of State but eventually landed a seat as a member of the House of Representatives in 1993.
While Hastings managed to avoid national controversy and jail during his first fifteen years in office, he attracted national attention in 2009 after it was discovered that the congressman spent $24,000 in taxpayer funds to lease a hybrid Lexus.
In 2011, Hastings was sued by a staff member of the Helsinki Commission on sexual harassment charges. Hastings served as the co-chairman of the commission at the time of the alleged harassment.
The case was dismissed by a federal court and referred to the Helsinki Commission, which also dismissed the complaint against Hastings.
The Florida congressman’s story doesn’t stop there.
A year later, the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington discovered that Hastings paid his girlfriend over $600,000 over a four-year period. He was ranked Number 1 of the out of his 434 colleagues as being the most nepotistic member of Congress.
While Hastings has not been convicted of any wrongdoing since taking a seat in Congress, his actions and misuse of taxpayer funds have not been enough to keep him out of financial trouble.
Hastings is the “Poorest Member of Congress” with a net worth of -$4.7 million. The Texas hating congressman is nearly five million dollars in the hole.
Obtaining a degree from Fisk University in Zoology in 1958 (after a stint at Howard), Hastings shifted to pursue a law degree which he obtained from Florida A&M in 1963.
Only after a two-year career as a circuit court judge, Hastings was appointed to represent the Southern District of Florida as a U.S. District Judge by President Carter in 1977.
Hastings now represents Florida’s 20th Congressional District, which includes “Muck City” also known as Belle Glade.
While the congressman may never be convinced to move to Texas, even if he wanted to, Hastings and most of his constituents from Muck City could not afford the move. Forty one percent of Belle Glade’s residents live below the poverty line.
Muck City, given the nickname from the “muck” soil where sugarcane grows, also has a notorious past. In the 80’s, Muck City had the highest rate of AIDS in the nation.
To add violence to infection, in 2003, the FBI listed Belle Glade as the city with the second highest rate of violent crime in the nation.
Not only is Hastings a career offender of ethics and individuals, his record as a member of Congress is best reflected in the blight of his constituents who are stuck in the muck in Belle Glade.
[Disclosure: This author was born and raised in Texas.]
