This post is about Denny Hastert, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and third in the line of succession to the presidency of the United States. But before we talk about Denny, I'd like to introduce you to
Mr. George Washington Plunkitt. He is pictured in the center of this photo, dated from about 100 years ago. A New York State Senator, he was part of the notoriously corrupt and powerful Tammany Hall political machine that ran New York City.
In 1905 he gave a talk that was serialized in the newspaper, and ultimately compiled into a book. The name of the talk, was "Honest Graft and Dishonest Graft".
George Washington Plunkitt, had a sense of honor about exactly what kinds of graft were permitted when you held public office. He considered "honest graft" to be perfectly acceptable and he defended it publicly and proudly:
"My party's in power in the city, and it's goin' to undertake a lot of public improvements. Well, I'm tipped off, say, that they're going to layout a new park at a certain place. I see my opportunity and I take it. I go to that place and I buy up all the land I can in the neighborhood. Then the board of this or that makes its plan public, and there is a rush to get my land, which nobody cared particular for before. Ain't it perfectly honest to charge a good price and make a profit on my investment and foresight? of course, it is. Well, that's honest graft." If my worst enemy was given the job of writin' my epitaph when I'm gone, he couldn't do more than write: "George W. Plunkitt. He Seen His Opportunities, and He Took 'Em."
Wikipedia helps clarify GWP's distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft:
"Most of his money was made through purchasing land, through his connections, he knew would be needed for public projects. He would buy such parcels, then resell them at an inflated price. (This was "Honest Graft". "Dishonest Graft" according to Plunkitt, would be buying land and then using influence to have a project built on it.)"
Which brings me back to Denny Hastert.
As documented by John Laesch's diary as well as by Citizens for Responsibiity and Ethics in Washington, Denny Hastert has been dabbling in some graft over the last few years. He purchased land near Plano, Illinois in 2002 and 2004 for $2.5 million. In 2005 he earmarked $207 million dollars of your tax dollars to build a highway and interchange that passed within a few miles of his property. Four months after GWB signed the bill into law, Denny Hastert then sold his land for almost $5 million dollars.
It strikes me that this a perfect example of what George Washington Plunkitt called "dishonest graft". The interesting point, is that the 2006 Speaker of the House of the United States of America, the man who is third in line for succession to the presidency of the United States, has engaged in activity that would not meet the moral standards of one of the most corrupt 1906 politicians in one of the most corrupt political organization in the history of the United States.
That is all I really wanted to say.
I started working on this Hastert video mash-up in response to a phenomena I observed and posted in a diary a few months ago. In that diary I was commenting on the growing momentum of a classic Rovian political tactic to make a bogeyman out of Nancy Pelosi to motivate the Republican base for the midterms. I said then that there was an obvious flaw in the strategy, and that flaw was named Denny Hastert.
Along thoses lines, I intended this video to be a short (one or two minute) "I told you so" about our colorful Speaker of the House. But there was just so much material to work with, that it turned into this 10 minute infomercial. Submitted now for your consideration: "Third in Line"
x-posted at Divided We Stand United We Fall