The news that Nancy Pelosi is considering Alcee Hastings for chairman of the Intelligence Committee is disturbing:

Two candidates whom Ms. Pelosi is said to be considering for Intelligence Committee chairman are Representatives Alcee L. Hastings of Florida and Silvestre Reyes of Texas, both of whom currently serve on the panel.

The selection of Mr. Hastings, who is black, would help Ms. Pelosi shore up support from the powerful Congressional Black Caucus. But he has a checkered past, having been impeached and removed from a federal judgeship in 1989 on a bribery charge. Some Democrats fear that installing him in so sensitive a position would only invite Republican charges of weak Democratic leadership on national security matters.

Uh, I don’t think Republicans will be the only ones charging “weak Democratic leadership on national security matters” if Hastings takes over. Here’s an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry on Hastings:

In 1989, Hastings was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives for corruption and perjury. The Democratic-controlled Senate convicted Judge Hastings of accepting a $150,000 bribe in 1981 in exchange for a lenient sentence and committing numerous acts of perjury at his own trial. He became only the sixth Judge in the history of impeachment in the United States to be removed from office by the United States Senate.

It’s a disgrace that he’s even allowed to serve on the Intelligence Committee. Hastings should not even be considered for chairman.