(Il-14) One of the big reasons that the Congressional Page scandal now engulfing House Speaker Dennis "Denny" Hastert is important is that, if the president dies or is incapacitated, the mantle of command falls first to the Vice President (now Dick Cheney), and then, if that doesn't work, the Speaker of the House (i.e. Denny Hastert). If rumors of war with Iran are correct, then this question assumes a more-than-academic importance, as incapication could easily include periods of time for which the president and vp could well be alive, but for reasons of security may not be able to communicate through the normal channels of government.
More below the jump.
With the scandal, Hastert's hold on the post of speaker is theoretically in jeopardy, as he is running for re-election in Illinois--although in previous races he's hit 74 percent of the vote, and in the closest race squeaked by with 52 percent. Hastert has some other campaign "hot issues" to handle as well, such as being linked to the Jack Abramoff scandal, in connection with some $70,000 of political contributions by way of the high-powered lobbyist. In addition, according to Wikipedia, there have been questions raised about the potential conflict-of-interest in having his son Joshua as a lobbyist for defense contractor Lockheed Martin. Hastert, while he sits on no committees, plays an important role in the passage of defense appropriations, which were up for a vote as this Congressional Page scandal was breaking. Then there are the questions surrounding Hastert's accepting campaign contributions from Accenture, a Bermuda-based corporation, raising the potential of illegal corporate contributions to continue what critics have asserted is an elaborate tax avoidance structure, and which needs at the very least an investigation.
For perspective, it's helpful to hark back to some of the precedents set by some more recent previous speakers for stepping down. Newt Gingrich, proponent of the "Contract with (on?) America," succumbed to the vicissitudes of Republican Party inter-party struggles in both theory and practise. Hastert's big break came when Repub Bob Livingston (remember him?) resigned as speaker when he admitted to an extra-marital affair (white-collar crime words for cheating on his wife, aka adultery). Hastert seized the chance to climb up a rung from just being the party whip, i.e. chief vote counter for none other than Tom "The Hammer" DeLay, now also in disgrace.
The pressure comes as the House was due to consider some pretty big business, besides the Defense Budget. A search of Hastert's Speaker of the House page shows the following items in the process of being discussed, or rescheduled for Nov. 9, after the mid-term elections:
* S. 3720. Nuclear non-proliferation measures regarding North Korea (pretty important, IMO).
* H.R. 4954. Cargo Security as part of Homeland Security. Here in NJ, that's a pretty damn important issue, especially with the DuBai Ports contract in the balance.
* and there was mention of a Mr. Baca receiving a subpoena from Los Angeles County, and a discussion that it appeared to be allowed by House rules to accept it.
Hastert's major corporate donors include McDonald's, Catepillar (remember the American girl that died in Palestine attempting to block the bulldozing of homes by a Catepillar-brand dozer?), and Allstate Insurance.
When he first took over as Speaker, Hastert opined that both political parties should work together. For his re-election campaign, he has been highlighting the issues of border security and the need to pass Bush's program for "terrorist tribunals." Although he's up for re-election in his district, he spent time going around the country this summer, and saying the Republican base is fired up about the issues he's campaigning on. He's been blasting the Dems as the "Party of No!" and asserts that Democrats "deny things need fixing."
Hastert's background is as a teacher and coach in football and wrestling. His book reflects that "Speaker: Lessons from 40 years of Coaching and Politics." He coached wrestling for the Yorkville, Ill., High School "Foxes," and in his travels likes to attend high school wrestling matches. One of his other hobbies is painting duck decoys.
It is quite possible that the old coach is about to get a real lesson in political mud-wrestling, the likes of which he has never seen. In the process, the mud-fight might obscure a bit of the tip of the political iceburg heading toward the ship-of-state from the Abramoff scandals, but the country suffers from not addressing the North Korea nuclear proliferation situation. Character does count, doesn't it?