Hastert’s $3.5 Million Hush Money Kitty: Where Did it Come From?
Via Crain’s Chicago Business
There is so much wrong with the Dennis Hastert story that it’s hard to know where to begin. Much already has been said about Illinois’ culture of corruption and how this latest scandal undercuts public faith in government. Allow us to point to at least one other troubling aspect.
Hastert, a former high school wrestling coach, entered Congress as a more or less regular jamoke and was elevated, thanks to scandals that took out more likely candidates, to speaker of the House. After his retirement in 2007, he was transformed into a guy who evidently had $3.5 million lying around for no apparent use other than to maybe pay off an acquaintance who inconveniently stayed in touch, so to speak. How did a man of humble means accumulate that kind of moolah?
We shouldn’t be surprised, really. Public servants routinely parlay careers on Capitol Hill into lucrative lobbying gigs. In 1974, 3 percent of retiring members of Congress became lobbyists. Lately, roughly half do.
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