Hastert should resign his seat in Congress, but not because he spent
two three years sitting on evidence of possible
harrasment pederasty predatory behavior. Hastert's other scandal is that he used his position as Speaker of the House to enrich himself by securing federal earmarks for a Highway to Denny's House. See below the fold...
Norman Ornstein and Scott Lilly are trying to get the national press to cover this damning (non-handjob related) story that
locals have investigated, showing that Hastert is involved in a
very shady real estate deal.
He basically used his control over legislation to build a Highway to Nowhere in rural Kendall County, IL, that happened to raise the property value of his own property. Yes, he aggressively shepherded a $207 million earmark through for the bullshitly named "Prairie Parkway Corridor" or "Federal Road to my Ranch."
Virtually overnight, Hastert's net worth went from approximately $300,000 to at least $6.2 million. Cha-ching. How did he think he wouldn't get caught with his hand in the cookie jar?
Read the details. It's shockingly brazen. Only the party of Abramoff and Delay would try to pull this shit and think they can retain power. [Thinkprogress http://thinkprogress.org/...
covered it] in June and Capitol Hill Blue had the story too, not to mention local groups in Illinois forming to block the unnecessary Sprawlway, but the public seems to have a limited number of brain cells to devote to monitoring rampant corruption at the GOP leadership's highest levels.
Here is Denny's official statement, with some helpful edits from me:
As we have been reminded in recent months, dealing with growth is never easy --it's hard work. There are many tough decisions to be made, and good people can disagree with me about how to proceed. But I think we can all agree that it is essential for our region to address growth before it arrives. And working together, I am confident we will embark earmark on a strategy that best meets the needs of our communities, and the people who call them home me and my wife.
I hope we can help, um, raise awareness on behalf of Hastert's challenger, John Laesch (D-IL), who is bravely contesting this seat in Kendall County, IL. Hastert should not continue to hold public office.