Hastert Defends Profits by Claiming $207 Million Parkway Provides No Benefits for Nearby Homeowners
Hastert Defends Profits by Claiming $207 Million Parkway Provides No Benefits for Nearby Homeowners
In 2005, House Speaker Dennis Hastert secured $207 million in federal funds to build the “Prairie Parkway” through his Congressional district. A few months later, Hastert sold land he had purchased in 2002 and 2004 — located just three miles away from the future parkway — earning a profit of about $2 million. (Check out a graphic timeline of the transaction.)
Hastert and his spokesperson now claim his profits had “nothing to do with the Prarie Parkway” because the land is too far away. Bill Allison of the Sunlight Foundation poses the essential question:
So, if being five miles away (actually three, as the same story later indicates) means a prospective homeowner and commuter will reap no benefit whatsoever from the parkway, why are taxpayers spending $207 million to build it?
Another overlooked aspect of this story: Hastert’s profits are just beginning. He’s only sold about 70 acres of his initial 195 acre purchase.
Sort Comments By: Top Rated | Date
58 Responses to “Hastert Defends Profits by Claiming $207 Million Parkway Provides No Benefits for Nearby Homeowners”
Register
RSSLogin
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Think ProgressContact Us
Donate
THREE MILES away? Knee-jerk partisanship from Judd? Who would’ve expected that? LOL
This site is a joke, a thought free zone.
June 17th, 2006 at 10:40 amWho am I today ?
June 17th, 2006 at 10:41 amThis is worse than anything Jefferson might have done.
Hasteret should immediately resign from Congress. His land should be confiscated and his profits forfeited.
June 17th, 2006 at 10:44 amCrooks, crooks, dammed crooks–throw the whole bunch out! What wasn’t said was that he claimed that some of the profit went to buy a future retirement house for himself in WISCONSIN! So, Illinoisians, send him there as fast as you can, like in November.
June 17th, 2006 at 10:50 amI just cannot imagine something like this coming from our fine, fine republican controlled congress. They have been so squeaky clean it is hard to imagine that anything could tarnish their perfect halos.
June 17th, 2006 at 10:55 amDenny can buy any land that he wants to buy. if it’s up for sale, and you have the money, if the seller is willing to sell to Denny, then it’s a done deal.
if he makes a couple of million dolares on the continued sale of the land, then he can do that too.
However, if I were the original owner, I would feel as though I’d been swindled.
something smells real bad about this deal. somebody witheld some important inside information about the new road, etc.
BW, if you think thinkprogress is fishwrap, you don’t have to read any of it. you can criticize the site all you want. you aren’t winning any hearts and minds by doing so, though. absquatulate.
June 17th, 2006 at 11:00 amAmericans don’t mine Hastert or any elected official stealing taxpayers money. Look Bush/Cheney/Rummy are stealing the taxpayers blind and giving a little to the journalist and media to spread propaganda and the people do nothing. No honest elected official will do anything but talk. As our govenment is stealing our money the world leaders are moving on. They see how weak the US has become and how drunk and dumb our President is. The US has broken every international law and tortured prisoners. When there is another real war and our troops are held prisoners of war other countries can do the same thing we’re doing now. They can hold innocent people for life without charging them with a crime. It strange how Bush can be so evil and do evil things with the support of Americans yet other dictators do the same thing and we call them bad. The United States has grown to be the greatest axis of evil just as in the past. People just watch dictators grown little by little until they became like Hitler yet the world said remember that so it doesn’t happen again. Well folks it’s happen again and you watched and did nothing.
June 17th, 2006 at 11:11 amFat Hastert needs to tender his resignation as Speaker of the House today and then pack his bags to move to Siberia for the rest of his plump life! Bye bye fatso Denny!
June 17th, 2006 at 11:18 amActually, three miles away from a parkway is pretty ideal in terms of property values. If you get within a mile or so, there is a lot of noise, which depresses property values.
June 17th, 2006 at 11:25 am# 7 Jackie.
Well said and so true.
June 17th, 2006 at 11:29 amSham Iraq Resolution Passes?
Saturday 17th of June 2006
by Jay Randal
House of Representatives, yesterday in DC, passed a sham resolution on Iraq occupation equating it with the global “War on Terror,” which is plain nonsense!
The resolution to also deny a timetable to remove US troops, from Iraq, passed by a vote of 256 to 153, with 42 Democrats joining the GOP and 3 Repubs vote no!
NO Democrats should have voted for that Karl Rove concocted piece of steaming crap, so once again some Dems have fallen into a trap harming themselves too!
Rep. Nancy Pelosi is failing in her leadership role for the Democrats in the House, because she fails to keep the party members in line to counter Repub baloney!
The vote should have been 214 at most to 195 no, or the Democrats should have all walked out as a group, or every Democrat should have refused to vote period!
If the Democrats, in DC, continue to cave to the Bush Regime on Iraq, then expect rebellion in November?!
( Jay Randal, political activist and writer in Stone Mountain, Georgia.)
June 17th, 2006 at 11:34 am13 US Congressman have been indicted, convicted and served prison time in the past 30 years. 12 of them are Democrats. On the fact, you will always lose the “who’s more corrupt” pissing match.
June 17th, 2006 at 11:37 am13 US Congressman have been indicted, convicted and served prison time in the past 30 years. 12 of them are Democrats. On the facts, you will always lose the “who’s more corrupt” pissing match.
June 17th, 2006 at 11:38 amcorrupt is corrupt, can you spell cunnungham and abramoff or I dunno lets see you try, federaal indictmnent you know like party contributers Skilling fastow,and oh yes Delay?
June 17th, 2006 at 11:49 amC’ya? wouldnt wanns be ya!!!
Get srious bubba, the republican machine is being dragged in to the naked light of day and its not a pretty sight?
A lot of noise from a mile away? LOL You’re a real comedian Judd.
June 17th, 2006 at 11:51 amEnron, WorldCom, Arthur Anderson et al. all occured en masse during the Clinton Administration and Janet Reno’s look the other way Justice Department. They lofty days of the Wall Street Bubble/Cooking the books frenzy was all on Clinton’s watch.
June 17th, 2006 at 11:59 amFrom Judd’s own link above:
Judd obviously counts on the fact many of his “readers” won’t click through.
June 17th, 2006 at 12:01 pmHastert defends the indefensible. Getting that road within 3 miles of his property was pure criminal brilliance.
Jay: Fat Hastert
June 17th, 2006 at 12:04 pmFantastic!
#17 - Well, if Fat Hastert and the developer, both of whom made lots of money on the deal, say it was a simple everyday land deal — ok!
BW = gulli-bull
June 17th, 2006 at 12:07 pmPost 17 BW > we know you are a paid agent of Hastert, and the GOP on here, so you are wasting your time trying to confuse TP posters like me! Hastert’s property was so far out in the boondocks, that without the Parkway nobody would be interested in living there! 3 to 5 miles is redundant!
June 17th, 2006 at 12:08 pmJudd, you must really be doing a great job in order to have so much venom directed at you.
June 17th, 2006 at 12:20 pmThinkProgress, Judd deserves a raise!
Funny that BW seems to feel the need to so loudly defend an obvious pork project, and corruption. I am unusre what he hopes to prove. It doesn’t look to me like this site is as much of a loser, if he feels the need to repeatedly defend Hasterts corruption. I wonder if it was a democrat who had brokered this deal if he would feel the same way?
A little more on topic, This is pretty much business as usual for both sides of the aisle. What we need a is a good 3rd and 4th party. Something to end the republican/democrat control of our government.
June 17th, 2006 at 12:23 pmSo far, there’s more evidence of corruption by Judd and Krazny than Hastert. But of course your partisan lefties don’t care about facts or evidence.
June 17th, 2006 at 12:27 pmROFL
we are both a lot less partisan then you my friend. Anyway it is going to be a warm day, and I don’t intend to spend it inside playing wack-a-troll.
Beach here I come.
June 17th, 2006 at 12:29 pmI haven’t said anything partisan, Krazny. You’re projecting again.
I didn’t defend any pork spending either. I simply refuted Judd’s dishonest partisan spin.
June 17th, 2006 at 12:33 pmGet rid of the fat putz.
John Laesch for IL-14
June 17th, 2006 at 12:53 pmHeavy humongus Hastert has shown the entire nation that he is a corrupt corpulant crud! He must resign like daffy dummy DeLay did in shame! Both of them are beyond contempt!
June 17th, 2006 at 12:58 pmHastert is a corrupt politician, of that there is no doubt. The Chicago and suburban newspapers will not take the trouble to explain this somewhat complicated deal to their readers, though - if it can’t be told in a paragraph, they will let it go. Those same papers will devote daily headlines criticizing the Democratic governor, while a Republican crony of long standing, with a reputation for corruption, runs against him.
June 17th, 2006 at 1:17 pmAll we can hope for is that if we are lucky, Hastert will lose his house leadership role and vacte to his Wisconsin hideaway, never to be heard from again.
Fatboy Hastert knows how to make a personal profit from taxpayers in Illinois, he had great leaders paving the way.
It’s well known that the Hastert campaign has its many operatives writing letters to the editors in various papers, criticizing his opponent with unsubstantiated and unwarranted attacks; they are likely posting in sites like this as well.
June 17th, 2006 at 1:19 pmBW? is that you?
[…] UPDATE 2: Peculiar defense by Hastert: he says his highway provides no benefits to those living near it. Hmmmm. Why spend the $207 million, then, eh? […]
June 17th, 2006 at 2:18 pmBW and JIM - stupid from the word go. Stupid is a lot more universal than party affiliation, and you are just stupid people - to be pitied, but mostly ignored. Remember, dummies, that the GOP has a hell of a lot of detractors from within its own ranks - what do you make of that, JIM and BW? - what is your reactionary, specious counter-argument for that? Neither of you would be fit to do filing work for Kevin Phillips or Richard Clarke. Somebody ought to just smack your faces and send you home crying to your mommies, hateful dumbshits.
June 17th, 2006 at 2:46 pmThat kind of chicanery only matters if one happens to be a Democratic Governor or President. It’s OK if you’re a Republican (IOKIYAR).
June 17th, 2006 at 3:11 pmPower corrupts, irrespective of party affiliation. It seems that the bulk of our political leadership (Spinlesscrats and Rethuglicans) were quite astute students of the Medici family. Wealth to gain power and power to bolster wealth. Has anyone stopped to wonder why it is that over half of our elected federal officials are multi-millionaires? Much less ask the question of whether or not it is a beneficial or damaging trend?
Pop Quiz: What is the definition of PLUTOCRACY?
Revolution is coming. Eventually the have-nots will be so numerous and have so little that death will be preferable to fiscal slavery. Servants of Greed would do well to read up on what happened to the aristocratic classes in past civilizations when revolution came to town. “Hey, that guy lives in the wealthy gated part of town, OFF WITH HIS HEAD!”
Best of luck to you all as we teeter on the edge of a second dark age.
Ciao.
June 17th, 2006 at 3:16 pm1) 5 miles is 8 minutes away by car. It is clearly “close enough” to the expressway for people to benefit. The 300% profit he made on the transaction clearly shows this is the case.
2) He did not follow House Ethics guidelines in his reporting - as the Sunlight Foundation notes, it was not clear from his “disclosure” where the property was located.
3) It’s hard to bark with a bone in your mouth. Hastert is not an ordinary Congressperson, he is the Speaker of the House, and both selects who will be on the Ethics Committee AND (perhaps more importantly) decides whether or not ethics reform legislation proceeds through the House and is taken up for vote. That is HIS JOB. No one else’s - it’s his.
Ever wonder why no meaningful ethics reform has come out of this house, even though Republicans and Democrats alike have repeatedly called for it? Now you know. Hastert won’t mount serious ethics reform because he has gained (and stands to gain) too much from keeping the Ethics Committee toothless. And as the above article notes, this is not the end - Hastert can look forward to more record-breaking 300% profit land deals precisely because he is the one in charge of whether ethics rules in the House are taken seriously, or are a joke.
As Speaker, Hastert sets the tone for the rest of the Congress. Heckuva job, Denny.
June 17th, 2006 at 3:26 pmBW:
Hastert claims it’s 5. It’s actually about three, as the article linked above explains:
Also, see this chart.
Don’t see how 3 vs. 5 matters much, but it’s unclear why Hastert can’t be honest about it.
June 17th, 2006 at 3:37 pmPerhaps BW is on Netvocates payroll.
http://pandagon.net/ 2006/ 06/ 13/ one-more-reason-to-be-wary-of-feeding-trolls/ #comments
June 17th, 2006 at 4:49 pmPerhaps BW is on Netvocates payroll.
http://pandagon.net/ 2006/ 06/ 13/ one-more-reason-to-be-wary-of-feeding-trolls/ #comments
June 17th, 2006 at 4:49 pmI love it. Every time an upstanding citizen, that means Republican, makes a little money you guys get all up in arms. It does not make you a better American to be dirt poor. By your logic even George Washington was an evil man. All that land of his around Pittsburgh was not purchased for hiking.
June 17th, 2006 at 5:06 pmOnly the Aurora Beacon News has bothered to report that the Illinois Department of Transportation does not expect ANY intersection of the proposed Prarie Parkway, not yet built, and Galena Road–now a county road–until the year 2011–five years from now if then. Yes, Hastert helped to secure authorization for $211 million of FEDERAL money which is a very small match. The state needs over one billion dollars and this intersection is a long way off in time no matter if it is 3 miles or 5 miles or whatever. The Chicago Tribune interviewed today another professional land investor in Kendall County who doubled his investment in two years. This is not uncommon or unethical per se. It is not unethical to use a land trust in Illinois–it is a very common real estate conveyance device in Illinois that makes it easier to take loans and convey interests inside a trust so you don’t have to pay for repeated title searches all the time. The only thing Rep. Hastert COULD, repeat COULD be guilty of is if he has inside information not available to other investors and profited from his position as a congressman. This story so far is not close to even unethical behavior let alone unlawful behavior. The Parkway is not built folks nor will it be for many years yet. Sure plans for a Parkway if they happen help the general area but it is a stretch to say that Parkway plans alone are major factor in the price rise per acre since 2004 when so many other farms are also going up in price. Hastert lives on the farm. His wife lives there, not in Washington, most of the time. So far, the only reason the Sunlight Foundation and reporters found out about this farm deal is that Hastert filed the reports he was required to file. He did not conceal anything he was supposed to file. It is not a crime to be successful in a real estate investment as long as nothing unethical was done in the process of making a profit. If more sinister stuff comes out as time goes by, it will come to light. Too many reporters are working on this. But so far, the story is he made a good profit which is what most people hope to do when they invest.
June 17th, 2006 at 5:30 pmDenny boy.
If they asked him, he could write a book.
He’s the oleaginous DeLay stooge who came to power promising to look the other way if cash changed hands and to always encourage odoriferous earmarks; he became known as the third easiest man in congress to bribe; he was the Vietnam-era military shirk to whom a war without his fighting it was suddenly not such a bad idea;
he was the guarantor for the drug lobby’s $350 million self-serving legislation; he was the head-of-the-line freeloader at Abramoff’s Friday fish fries; and now this—a model for sweetheart real estate shenanigans, financed by the congress and promising him more than $10 million in profits.
And Republican piety is his main defense.
Will someone call the law and tell them that this son of a bitch belongs behind bars.
June 17th, 2006 at 5:39 pmTo Mark Rhoads:
Timing, and not distance, is the key question (although it’s odd that Hastert didn’t raise the timing question himself).
From what I’ve learned, though, even though the road is still years away from being built, there’s already been a premium for land with easy access to the Parkway. While most real estate is increasing in value in Kendall County, in other words, it has done so at a higher rate near the Parkway’s corridor.
While you are right that there is nothing wrong with using a trust, Hastert is obligated to note on his Personal Fiinancial Disclosure forms that he is a beneficiary of one. He didn’t, two years running. That seems to me to be a pretty serious problem right there.
Finally, as I’ve said before, even if Hastert’s contention is correct, and the Prairie Parkway had no effect on the value of his land holdings, Hastert still has a conflict he’s not declaring–here he’s proposing spending a billion dollars of federal, state and local taxpayer money on a road project to deal the impact of growth, while profiting from growth by selling land to real estate developers. That in itself would be a conflict, even if the Prairie Parkway were all the way across town.
All we ask of members of Congress is that they disclose their financial interests. Bottom line, Hastert tried to hide his.
June 17th, 2006 at 10:43 pmI’ll just keep it simple. Dennis Hastert is a scumbag extraordinaire.
June 17th, 2006 at 10:56 pmNo offense, Mr Evil, but he’s evil incarnate, too.
June 17th, 2006 at 10:59 pmBW, perhaps you should look up hypocrisy in the dictionary while I go look up bought and paid for troll.
June 17th, 2006 at 11:04 pmSimilar story here i n Alaska. Don Young Chairman for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure) is securing money for our 2 Bridges to Nowhere. I believe his Son-in-law will benefit when the Knik Arm bridge( aka Don Young’s Way”) is built. And Governor Murkowski’s wife’s family will also benefit when the Ketchikan bridge is built. Legal? Probably. Ethical? Hmmm. Coincidence? Please.
June 17th, 2006 at 11:07 pmSimilar story here i n Alaska. Don Young (Chairman for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure) is securing money for our 2 Bridges to Nowhere. I believe his Son-in-law will benefit when the Knik Arm bridge( aka Don Young’s Way”) is built. And Governor Murkowski’s wife’s family will also benefit when the Ketchikan bridge is built.
June 17th, 2006 at 11:08 pmLegal? Probably. Ethical? Hmmm. Coincidence? Please.
So Hastert spilled $200,000,000.00 of tax payers’ money in order to feather his npocketts with 2 million and with more in the future. These Republicand seem to believe that the Boy/Girl Scout is “screw you and your kind”.
June 17th, 2006 at 11:47 pmBoy, I screwed that post - reiteration -
June 17th, 2006 at 11:52 pmSo Hastert spilled $200,000,000.00 of tax payers’ money in order to feather his pockets with 2 million and more in the future. These Republicans seem to believe that the Boy/Girl Scout oath is “screw you and your kindâ€.
What Hastert has done, as reported here, was unethical and wrong. Republicans and Democrats and independents alike should stand up and say it is not acceptable for the leader of our House to be personally profiting so substantially by decisions he influenced in his elected position.
Hmm it sounds familiar too. What about George Washington Plunkitt? If he were Hastert, maybe this is how he’d explain it….
Yes, many of our men have grown rich in politics. I’ve made a big fortune out of the game, and I’m gettin’ richer every day, but I’ve not gone in for dishonest graft–blackmailin’ gamblers, saloonkeepers, disorderly people, etc.–and neither has any of the men who have made big fortunes in politics.
There’s an honest graft, and I’m an example of how it works. I might sum up the whole thing by sayin’: “I seen my opportunities and I took ‘em.”
Just let me explain by examples. My party’s in power in the country, and it’s going to undertake a lot of public improvements. Well, I’m tipped off, say that they’re going to lay out a new ‘Prairie Parkway’ 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 Congress makes it’s 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 $2 million profit on my investment and foresight? Of course, it is. Well, that’s honest graft.
(It was wrong when Democratic state Sen. Plunkitt made the original comments 101 years ago, and now that I’ve adapted them to Mr. Hastert, it’s still wrong. Read all of Plunkitt’s remarks on honest graft here http://www.uhb.fr/faulkner/ny/plunkitt.htm)
June 17th, 2006 at 11:56 pmGreed Over Patriotism.
Just one of the many entries in the “What Does ‘GOP’ Stand For?” Contest.
June 18th, 2006 at 12:05 amAw, c’mon…this isn’t exactly a shocker. Anyone who’s even remotely perceptive has surely figured out by now that Hastert is a first-class self-serving hypocrite whose protestations hold about as much water as your average sieve. Anyone else remember that photo op not too long ago which showed the Congresscritters riding in fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles — and the fact that Hastert transferred over to another non-hydrid vehicle practically as soon as he was out of camera shot?
June 18th, 2006 at 1:47 amOne citizen #35
Where are my kintting needles?
June 18th, 2006 at 2:41 am[…] Is it human nature to be caught red handed using the public trust to rake in huge amounts of cash and then puff oneself up in self-righteous denial. It is getting to be like a recording that you can play over and over again where only the names change, Hastert Defends Profits by Claiming $207 Million Parkway Provides No Benefits for Nearby Homeowners […]
June 18th, 2006 at 4:25 amAnother ethical lapse by Bubba Hastert. No shock in that. He is a smug thug damn proud of his corruption.
June 18th, 2006 at 7:53 amI had to laugh. One of the links leads to a previous thread on TP. “Sugar Magnolia” (a poorly disguised “MA”) had some really hilarious things to say about it. In one post she says: “Hastert could not have known which corridor would be selected.” Then she references a public hearing, from July, of 2002, no less, regarding ‘corridor selection’. Hastert secured FEDERAL FUNDING for this project, and yet he “could not have known” where it was going to be built? It’s just a big fat coincidence? And The President HIMSELF shows up to sign the bill. How about that!?! Oh yes, he just got ‘lucky’, Republican style.
June 18th, 2006 at 8:05 amFunny how people like Herman Hayes post here without even knowing the issue.
June 18th, 2006 at 12:38 pmActually, three miles away from a parkway is pretty ideal in terms of property values. If you get within a mile or so, there is a lot of noise, which depresses property values.
Comment by Judd — June 17, 2006
The fact that this area is third fastest growing area in the US has more do with increasing land values than a proposed transportation corridor that won’t get built for 10-15 years. TPJUDD is completely ingnorant of the planning process. The corridor study analyzed at least 110 different routes. Hastert didn’t choose the final route.
June 19th, 2006 at 3:33 pmSo, if being five miles away (actually three, as the same story later indicates) means a prospective homeowner and commuter will reap no benefit whatsoever from the parkway, why are taxpayers spending $207 million to build it?
That’s $207 million is only partial funding for a project that will cost more than 1 billion. There is no commitment to build the project until a preliminary engineering study is done. That won’t be done until 2008 at least. Besides, the IDOT can use the federal funding for whatever project will best improve traffic between I80 and 88.
“We know that we have to make an improvement out there because of the quick-growing nature of these counties,” IDOT spokesman Matt Vanover said. “It is too early to tell exactly what type of transportation infrastructure upgrade would be there.”
When will TPJUDD be honest and correct the errors he has made in his posts about this project? Like misrepresenting Hastert’s parcels in his maps for one?
June 19th, 2006 at 3:58 pm