It is sad. But it doesn't appear that anybody from your town covered up for him or had any culpability at all. It was all him and your townspeople should not feel any shame. It does seem wrong to me that there is a statute of limitations on sexual assault cases. Especially with minors. Hopefully he'll get the maximum sentence for the money crimes.
Yes, that is true, Meathead. If it was known by anyone who was not directly involved, it was a well kept secret. I don't think that was the case. Unfortunately, max sentence is the 6 mos--if he even gets that. His lawyers are claiming health issues should keep him from serving any time. I think he did have a stroke a few months back.
When you dont expect it you don't look for it. That goes to a man who was seemingly respectable and yet money laundering and sexually abusing kids. The cases of abuse were paid off so you would not hear about them, they took the money rather than blowing the whistle on him. Did they do an injustice to the rest of the community, I think so. The money We are talking millions of dollars that sifted through this mans hands and that kind of money is easy to present respectable. We see it every day so I would say sorry you feel disappointed and betrayed by this man.
The abuse charges were only considered because of the little time he would serve.
I always wonder about the Congress and as we see here its a great money making institution for some.
Financial disclosure documents indicate that Hastert made a fortune from land deals during his time in Congress. Hastert entered Congress in 1987 with a net worth of no more than $270,000.At the time, his most valuable asset was an 104-acre farm in southern Illinois (which his wife had inherited), worth between $50,000 and $100,000. When Hastert left Congress twenty years later, he reported a significantly increased net worth, variously reported as between $4 million and $17 million and between $3.1 million and $11.3 million. Much of this increase in net worth was the result of various real-estate investments during Hastert's time in Congress (including the controversial land deal several miles from the proposed Prairie Parkway site). At the time Hastert left Congress, much of his net worth remained tied up in real-estate holdings. After resigning from Congress he signed on with a lobby group and made millions in lobbying Congress.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_HastertVery good read on wiki a man who thought he was above the law
Nice response, Robert. A couple clarifications. He's not being sentenced or indicted for the abuse cases. Statute of Limitations expired on them. From what I know, the payoff only went to one victim. About half of the 3.5 mil was paid when the coverup was exposed. Hastert's camp tried to claim it was outright extortion but after a wiretap and interviewing the victim, the Feds believed the latter. I hadn't read that wiki article until you posted it. Thanks for the link.
As a side note, that high school I graduated from was Oswego High, the same one he attended. I hadn't known he went there but he preceded me by about 13 yrs. Hastert moved to the next small town west of me, Plano, Illinois about 10 yrs ago. He has a nice piece of property, not overly extravagant. I go by it all the time on my motorcycle rides because his road has a few nice sweepers to it. When he was Speaker of the House, there were always two big, black, Suburbans parked across the street(in a gravel area on the edge of a cornfield)when I'd ride by. Think "Men in Black" suits with the sunglasses and all. I don't recall if they were Secret Service or Washington Police.
I remember the Prairie Parkway Expressway he proposed that fell through. Most of us "commoners" had no idea how much land interest he had in it that would have benefitted him greatly. The irony of it is that it would have been a vital North/South artery for this area had it been built.
