How Hastert made his millions

[malaise]

Pity it takes a sex scandal for 'journalists' to investigate the connection between Congress and Lobbyists

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/us/after-speakership-hastert-amassed-his-millions-lobbying-former-colleagues.html
<snip>
Federal law enforcement agents say Mr. Hastert’s years as a lobbyist and rainmaker explain how he was able to promise $3.5 million in cash to a former student who claims Mr. Hastert sexually molested him decades ago.

A former wrestling coach and high school teacher, Mr. Hastert did not enter Congress as wealthy as some of his colleagues. Yet he was still able to amass a small fortune with land deals, one aided by an earmark he secured for a highway interchange.

But it was at his own post-Congress lobbying firm and at the professional services firm Dickstein Shapiro that Mr. Hastert swelled his cash flow, working all sides of issues and glad-handing members of Congress for controversial clients.

That he stands accused of child molestation is almost universally a shock in Washington — “a gut blow,” said Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma and a longtime friend of Mr. Hastert’s. That he had the money, however, is not so startling in the gilded era of Washington lobbying.

“I’m not surprised he was very successful,” Mr. Cole said. “People less significant in Congress than Speaker Hastert have done exceptionally well afterwards.”
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Lots more at link - hopefully serious discussions will follow

[villager]

1. Sorry, but I'd be more shocked to hear of any Republicans who *weren't* child molesters, frankly

It seems to go with the personality matrix.

[malaise]

3. Looks like he was trying to sell tobacco to kids

for profit.

You know these deals for the bought politicians/lobbyists should be as shocking as the abuse of students. These are fucking thieves.

[villager]

5. You mean, it was cigarettes and not sex? Or was it both?

I haven't read any updates to the current charges....

[malaise]

6. From the NYT link that I posted

From 2011 to 2014, Lorillard Tobacco paid Dickstein Shapiro nearly $8 million to lobby for the benefit of candy-flavored tobacco and electronic cigarettes, and Mr. Hastert was the most prominent member of the lobbying team.

[villager]

7. right, but now there is *also* the molestation hush money angle.... Here's the thing:

Considering Hastert's "timeline" in politics in the 80's, consider what we're learning about the British pedophilia scandals going back to the same era (under Thatcher, and other administrations, too), and considering the dismissed Franklin sex ring stuff involving the first Bush White House...

well, you begin to wonder if Hastert just wasn't a smaller cog, in what were likely routine depredations against kids, powerless victims, etc....

[mopinko]

9. and the foley/house page scandal.

which fat denny sat on.

likely an enterprising journo, if there are any left, could start talking to pages and find a few where the statute of limitations hasnt run out.

i love the sound of drip, drip, drip in the morning. dont you?

[malaise]

17. That Franklin one did cross my mind

Foley too and of course Jeff Gannon.

These ReTHUG scumbags are such hypocrites.

[libdem4life]

18. I bought the book...scathing...surprised he wasn't suicided. And no one ever denounced one fact.

[underpants]

2. I remember the highway earmark

His wife owned the land and the interchange triped Her land value. Of course he got away with it.

[malaise]

4. He is sitll getting away

I'd like the details on all of them

[pscot]

25. That one stuck in my mind too

That's graft 101. Illinois politicians excel at that sort stuff.

[Mnemosyne]

8. There have to be more victims, they just all didn't get paid off. I hope they nail

his balls to the wall on this and that other victims decide to speak out.

He's rolling in illicit money from that land sale and K Street cash, hope everyone sues the bastard.

[malaise]

16. Well media is saying there are two now

and the second one did not get paid off.

[mopinko]

10. and bribes from the turkish government

according to sibel edmonds.

[Baitball Blogger]

13. I hope that story will finally come out.

Hasteret is a POS, but that doesn't even cover it for a process that took this long to finally take him down.

[malaise]

14. Truth will out

Last edited Sun May 31, 2015, 05:34 AM - Edit history (1)

I suspect that the corporate mercenaries posing as politicians are going to be exposed and Hastert is as good a place to start.
Remember many don't care who die in or out of America as long as they get rich - tar sands, TPP, coal in the rivers, tobacco, weapons, junk food, etc., etc.

Serious journalists may want to begin to question why are they runsfor office?

[spanone]

11. k&r...

[Baitball Blogger]

12. Money is easily made by those who can put their ethics aside.

It's sickening how easily people can turn off their brains when someone can offer them an inducement

I remember when I was a kid in Catholic school when they warned us about not accepting temptation from the devil. Now, had they bothered to describe that "devil" in more human terms, it would have done a better job of explaining what they were really talking about.

[malaise]

15. But what if that is why they run for office in the first place

You think some of these scumbags give a flying fugg about constituents?

[Baitball Blogger]

24. Of course not.

By the time they make it to that level they have cultivated relationships in the corrupt status quo circles of their local communities. So the status quo gets to promote one of their own into political power were they can do more damage at the higher governmental levels.

What is horrible, is that they have troops on the ground to bully or intimidate anyone that can mess with their monopolies.

[PufPuf23]

19. Mr. Cole said. “People less significant in Congress than Speaker Hastert have done exceptionally

well afterwards"

This should not be.

Politicians are paid salaries/

They not also be allowed large windfall profits, especially if only because of access and knowledge accrued from their former elected position(s).

[malaise]

27. Agreed

They serve themselves

[LiberalElite]

20. yet his bail is a teensy

$4,500

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/243442-hastert-posts-4500-bail

-snip-
Former Speaker Dennis Hastert has been released on his own recognizance on a preliminary bail of $4,500 less than one day after a surprise indictment.

Hastert did not appear in court and was not required to, as the preliminary bail set by a magistrate judge is a formality. Judge Thomas Durkin will set his bond at an arraignment in the near future, but no specific date has been set.
-snip-

[onecaliberal]

21. It seems like republicans who make the most noise about

About "family values" are the ones who have committed these sexual abuse crimes.

[Octafish]

22. Tip o' the Sweaty Denny Iceberg

IF he's like the rest of them, the guy's got money in Switzerland.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

23. LOL!!!! And he was investigating Whitewater which was a real estate deal!!!

[PoliticAverse]

26. Not the only one to make lots of money from convenient "land deals". n/t