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Rep. Alcee Hastings Eyed as Intel Chair
"They cannot be serious.” That’s how a USA Today Op Ed piece refers to word that Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer are considering making Rep. Alcee Hastings chairman of the House Intelligence Committee if Democrats capture the House – 18 years after they voted to impeach him as a federal judge. Hastings was impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate in 1989 for accepting $150,000 in exchange for handing down a lenient sentence, and for lying at his trial. He was elected to the House from Florida in 1992. California Congresswoman Pelosi is likely to become speaker of the House if Democrats win in November, and Hoyer, the Minority Whip from Maryland, would be the front-runner to become majority leader.
They are among the Democrats considering naming Hastings to the chairman post instead of the ranking minority member on the Intelligence Committee, Jane Harman of California.
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"Harman is able, articulate and discreet about intelligence matters, but some Democrats believe she has been too accommodating of President Bush, and she is running up against a term limit as the panel's top Democrat,” the USA Today report states. "Hastings would be next in line, but he was convicted on charges of extortion, perjury and falsifying documents. Not the sort of résumé you want for someone who'd be entrusted with the nation's most sensitive secrets. "Republicans are eager to assert that the GOP is more trustworthy on national security matters. If House Democrats won't rule out Hastings as their top guy on intelligence — Pelosi has been non-committal so far — they will go a long way in making the Republican case.”
© 2006 Associated Press.
Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics: Inside Cover Stories
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