Watchdog Requests Investigation of Dem Rep Who Maxed Out Salary to Girlfriend

Rep. Alcee Hastings has paid his girlfriend the maximum congressional salary for five straight years

A government watchdog group has filed acomplaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics calling for an investigation of Rep. Alcee Hastings (D., Fla.) for maxing out the congressional salary of his longtime girlfriend for five straight years.

The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a D.C.-based group, filed the complaint following the publication of a story in the Washington Free Beacon on the amount the Florida congressman has paid his girlfriend, Patricia Williams, who works out of his Broward County, Fla. office.

Hastings has paid Williams the maximum congressional salary allowed, $168,411, for five straight years and has employed her since 1993. Williams has collected $2.4 million in salary since 2000, the first year congressional salary data is readily available. Williams is also paid more than Hastings' D.C. chief of staff, a position that is normally the highest paid in a congressional office.

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