So is this now the Denny Hastert law?

J. Dennis Hastert of Yorkville used to be thought of as one of the few Illinoisans to ever rise all the way to the rank of Speaker of the House of Representatives, and is actually the longest-serving Republican to ever hold that all-powerful political position.

HASTERT: Is this now lis legacy?

One that actually puts its occupant in line for the U.S. presidency in the event of an emergency that takes down both the president and vice-president.

BUT JUST AS Dan Rostenkowski fell from grace and the notion he was the all-powerful chairman of House ways and means, Hastert also took a plunge in reputation.

To the point where he probably has experienced an even bigger fall. Which is illustrated by the new law in Illinois approved by Gov. J.B. Pritzker that relates to statute of limitations for people to be charged with sex crimes.

It now seems that aggravated criminal sexual assault and abuse are now the equivalent of murder – as in there’s no amount of time that can pass without someone running the risk of criminal prosecution.

Come Jan. 1, anybody facing criminal suspicion can face prosecution if state’s attorney officials somewhere are capable of putting together a criminal case. Whereas it used to be that prosecutors had 10 years to put together a criminal case – AND the case had to be reported to police within three years of the alleged incident’s occurrence.

THIS LAW WAS enacted because of political people who wanted to appear to be doing something significant in response to the predicament caused by Hastert – who once was a high school teacher and wrestling coach who later in life had some of his former students claim he took liberties with them of a sexual nature.

The incidents supposedly occurred back when Hastert was their teacher and coach in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but it wasn’t until the mid-2010s that the allegations became public.

Which meant that even if sufficient evidence could be procured, so much time had passed that Hastert was never in danger of criminal prosecution.

PRITZKER: Signed the measure into law

But it was because of actions that Hastert took to try to keep people from talking about things that eventually resulted in J. Dennis being found guilty of something criminal – which resulted in him getting a prison term (he’s been free for a couple of years now) and becoming the highest-ranking government official to ever have to serve time for a crime. While also proving the notion that it's the cover-up, and not the crime itself, that gets you in the most trouble!

WHICH HAVE SOME people convinced that something wasn’t fair. Which also is what motivated legislators of both Republican and Democratic partisan leanings to sponsor the bill that passed overwhelmingly this spring before getting Pritzker’s approval last week.

So now, theoretically, we could have prosecuted Hastert for the crime, instead of the technicality. Although I have to admit to being a bit wary of such incidents.

Usually because the passage of so much time means the actual evidence becomes weaker, more heresay, to be honest.

To be honest, the strongest criminal cases are the ones whose defendants literally are caught in the act right at the time of their alleged criminal occurrence.

WHICH IS THE point of statute of limitations laws – acknowledging that there are some instances where it is not practical to punish someone for something that happened many years ago and where people might have been too ashamed to talk about it at the time of occurrence.

Although some see that as a good thing (it means sexual predators cannot escape their actions ever) and a bad (people may wind up getting prosecuted and convicted based on testimony from people whose memories may not be quite as accurate as they once were due to the passage of time).

Not that I don’t doubt some people aren’t going to let that possibility concern them – they may want more prosecution, regardless of how solid the charges may be.

And Hastert’s contribution to our public discourse may well be something he did long before his 8 years as House Speaker (and 20 years in Congress overall) back in the days when he was a nobody to the masses – and “coach” to a select few individuals living out in what some of us would have dismissed as “the boonies” of the Chicago area.

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Fantasies always predominate in political people’s mentalities

Are we really destined to get a 110-story towering building in downtown Chicago – one that would enable its occupants to look down on City Hall and the rest of Chicago?

Is the Thompson Center destined to dominate Randolph and LaSalle? Or become a vacant block in the city grid? Photograph by Gregory Tejeda

Does one-time House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, currently serving time in a federal correctional center, really have the nerve to demand repayment of the money he allegedly paid out to keep certain people quiet about past indiscretions in his lifetime?

FOR THAT MATTER, did former Gov. Rod Blagojevich really go down to the final seconds of the Barack Obama presidency believing he had a chance to gain clemency from the man he once jealously derided and believed stole his own presidential aspirations?

Even though, to be honest, it was only Blagojevich himself who ever thought he’d wind up in the “crown jewel of the federal penal system” (to steal from Harry S. Truman) rather than a cell at the Englewood Federal Correctional Institute in Colorado.

Yes, it’s true. One does not have to focus attention on the District of Columbia to see silly and absurd behavior. President Donald J. Trump will have competition for the category of political nonsense.

Take the talk that Gov. Bruce Rauner is stirring up again about wanting to demolish the Thompson Center state government building. He has pitched this idea before, although with state government’s other problems it is quite a ways away from becoming reality.

 

RAUNER: Will he be able to do anything w/ bldg.?

SO TO LEARN that architect Helmut Jahn (who designed the structure back in the 1980s as the State of Illinois Center) is defending his structure and proposing an exorbitant renovation that would include a 110-story tower at the southwest corner is beyond belief.

Considering that the current structure is only 16 stories, with Rauner’s office on the top floor. Does Bruce think he’d get a new office complex on the new top floor – allowing him to look down on the gardens that exist on the roof of City Hall located across the street?

Or maybe the governor thinks he can one-up the new president by having a Chicago office that could compete in height with the Second City take on a Trump Tower.

 

Denny a long way from dignity of Speakership

Would that inspire the prez to tell his sons who technically are now running the real estate company to figure out a way to one-up the governor – who has been incredibly quiet and refusing to say anything that could be interpreted as supporting or opposing the new reign of Trump that befell the nation on Friday.

BUT THEN, THERE is the plight of Denny Hastert, who currently is serving a prison term at a correctional facility in Minnesota, has filed a lawsuit claiming that $1.7 million he paid out to one of his former students at Yorkville High School should be returned.

Hastert is in prison through August on convictions of charges that he violated federal laws concerning the withdrawing of money from bank accounts. Large withdrawals are supposed to be publicly recorded and acknowledged.

But Hastert wanted to get at large sums of money because he was facing that amounts to blackmail threats from the former student, who says he was sexually abused as a teenager by Hastert.

As it is, Hastert paid the money and technically was supposed to pay another $1.8 million in order to ensure that the now middle-aged man would keep his mouth shut. That man has his own lawsuit pending saying that Denny still owes him money from their agreement. The courts ultimately will have to decide which of these people has a less-sleazy legal argument, and it could wind up that attorneys fees wind up devouring the money all the way around!

THEN, WE GO back to Blagojevich, whose name was not included in either of the final rounds of acts of clemency granted by Obama on Wednesday or Thursday.

 

Rod a long way from days of youthful hair

The Chicago Sun-Times gave us a particularly pathetic image of former first lady Patti saying that Rod hadn’t given up hope yet because there was always the chance of a last-second commutation Friday morning.

Maybe she was just saying that and really knew better. Either that, or our state’s former governor has gone goofy from incarceration. Anybody who remembers the Blagojevich/Obama animosity and jealousy over which would be the promising young pol to come out of Illinois would know there would be no reason for Obama to want to do a thing – particularly since it would whack his own legacy if he bothered.

Resulting in Blagojevich having to serve until about May 2024 in prison – unless Trump feels some justification for granting an act of clemency. Which may be the most ridiculous political fantasy of all.

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EXTRA: Can we move on from Hastert?

I hope the general public, or at least the segment of our society that was obsessed with knowing all the sordid details of what it was that one-time Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert did, is satisfied.

How long 'til portrait viewed sympathetically

For on the day this week that Hastert had to appear before a judge (being permitted to sit in his wheelchair even though he tried to stand himself up at the crucial moment), it seems we finally got to know what it was the one-time high school wrestling coach “did” with his boys all those decades ago.

IT SEEMS HE’S a groper. He likes to touch them. He probably justified it in his mind as harmless fun. Just being one of the guys.

But one of them died carrying what he considered to be a shameful secret, and others also felt like they were abused. Which ultimately is the key to understanding such cases.

Hastert may not have intended as such, but it is what he caused.

Which is why the judge in U.S. District Court rejected his statement that he “mistreated” his athletes, and wound up referring to Hastert as a “serial child molester.”

WHICH IS A moment I’m sure made Hastert wince inside. I’m sure he realizes the lede of his obituary is no longer “one-time House Speaker” but instead the words that Judge James Durkin spoke.

It was curious that it all came out this week. Because for the more than a year that this case has been pending, prosecutors have resisted getting into the details of what it was that Hastert did back at Yorkville High School.

For Denny, who in the years after his service in Congress became a lobbyist and finally accumulated some wealth, was using it to pay off at least one person from the past to keep their mouths shut. In fact, one person claims Hastert reneged on the agreement, and now wants their money.

The charges to which Hastert pleaded guilty to and were sentenced for this week were financial violations – he withdrew so much money from his bank accounts and did not report it to the federal government, as is required.

IT’S A LAW meant to go after organized-crime types who deal so much in cash. As a fictional example, remember that episode of “The Sopranos” where we learn Tony has bundles of cash hidden in the bird feed, with the amounts just below the dollar figure that would have to be reported.

There was the sense that the U.S. attorney’s office people who prosecute financial crimes were so eager for their case to not get emotional or sloppy that they were willing to downplay what the money was for.

I’m sure there were many people who were disgusted with the legal proceedings until this week, when the case, according to a Crain’s Chicago Business headline, “live(d) down to all expectations.”

Personally, I wasn’t obsessed with knowing every sordid detail because that’s not what he got the 15-month sentence. I try not to get my kicks from other people’s unseemly moments.

BESIDES, I HAVE covered too many capital crimes proceedings where everybody claims that only execution will ease the pain and suffering. Only to realize it doesn’t. The suffering will be the same for the "victims" regardless of what happened to Hastert. It certainly doesn't matter what that wrestling Hall of Fame does with Denny's memory of his athletic days.

He got the prison sentence that will keep him locked away for just over a year (presuming he behaves himself and doesn’t become a prison disciplinary case). It was even said that federal prisons are equipped to handle older inmates with medical conditions that Hastert’s attorneys tried using to justify a sentence of purely probation.

So now Hastert goes away, so to speak. He does his time. With any luck, he lives out his sentence even though, as Judge Durkin said, his “good name is gone.”

Because it’s a sex-related crime instead of merely financially-related, does this mean the collection of political bribe-takers, shake-down artists and other corrupt politicos we have here in Illinois will think they can look down upon Denny?

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EDITOR'S NOTE: I deliberately held off a day before trying to write anything about the Hastert predicament; for fear I'd write hysterics I'd later regret. Besides, both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz acted like goofs on Wednesday, making it possible to take a pass on Denny.

Hastert or Van Dyke – whose treatment by the system do we detest the most?

It will be interesting to see how the courts ultimately resolve the criminal charges pending against one-time House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert.

HASTERT: He's humiliated

He faces charges alleging technical flaws in the way he handled his finances, and could get a few months in a federal correctional center. Although Hastert’s attorneys argued in a court filing this week they think he should get some form of probation.

WHY?

It’s just that Hastert has already suffered so much in the way of humiliation as a result of the criminal charges filed against him. Hasn’t he suffered enough?

“We respectfully request that he court consider the humiliation and isolation that Mr. Hastert and his family have already suffered when determining his sentence,” they wrote.

Why do I suspect that people across Illinois have their jaws dropping at the nerve of the man to ask for mercy?

THERE ALREADY ARE those people who are upset that Hastert’s criminal charges don’t relate directly to the offense that many suspect him of having committed – the sex allegations against a student (or a few) from back when he was a high school teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School.

There have been enough complaints that prosecutors are focusing so intently on the financial violations that it is covering up what they want to believe is the serious criminal offense that was committed.

Of course, considering that the alleged offense would have taken place decades ago there are questions about whether it could be prosecuted (statute of limitations, you know).

VAN DYKE: He's broke

The financial violations (which involve making payments in excess of federal limits without reporting them to federal authorities) are much easier for calculator-types to comprehend.

ALTHOUGH IT PUTS Hastert in the same class as Alphonse Capone – the one-time mob boss whose prison time ultimately came from income tax evasion (and there are serious questions about whether the federal laws concerning income tax at the time were so loose that maybe Capone didn’t really do anything wrong).

But we’re being asked to show compassion for Hastert because he’s old and ill and he’s embarrassed his family enough.

I just don’t think many people will buy that.

CAPONE: Could Al have made same argument?

Take the circumstances surrounding Jason Van Dyke – the Chicago cop who faces multiple murder counts for the slaying of a black teenage boy back in 2014.

HOW MANY PEOPLE were outraged to learn that Van Dyke these days actually has a job!?! Admittedly, I’m sure the cop thinks it stinks that he’s been reduced to the level of a janitor.

But he’s working at the offices of the Fraternal Order of Police, the police union that wanted to ensure their member had something of an income while his criminal trial is pending.

I wonder what the outrage would be if Van Dyke were to make the same kind of argument that Hastert’s attorneys claimed in asking for a sense of compassion?

Probably about the same as it will be if, by chance, Van Dyke’s attorneys somehow find a way of getting a jury to acquit their client when he ultimately goes to trial in another two to three years.

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Will one-time speaker Hastert survive long enough to be sentenced in fed ct?

Remember the scene from the two-decade-old film “Casino” where, when the organized crime leaders wind up in legal trouble and have to appear in court, they wind up showing up with assorted canes and wheelchairs – and one even came with an oxygen tank so he could allegedly breathe.

HASTERT: Proceedings continue

The implication being that these men came up with ailments so as to appeal to the sympathy of the court that could theoretically have sent them way to prison for lengthy stints.

NOW I’M SURE some people are going to be grossly offended at my bringing this up upon learning that one-time House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert’s attorneys are now saying he nearly died from assorted ailments back in November.

It was that claim, and the need to have Hastert’s cooperation in preparing his defense, that got his attorneys to ask for a delay in his sentencing.

For the record, U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin on Thursday rescheduled the sentencing hearing for Hastert to April 8. Although news accounts of Thursday’s court hearing indicate federal prosecutors are concerned the sentencing may be delayed too long.

Now I don’t know first-hand the extent to how ill the 74-year-old Hastert was back in November, or is now. But you just know that for every person now offended with me for bringing this up, there probably are two or three who are having the same exact thought.

IS THE HASTERT case going to drag out into a legal circus far worse than the mere facts of the case usually would warrant – just because of whom Denny is or what it is he is alleged to have really done?

Considering that Hastert supposedly is facing the prospect of up to six months in a federal corrections facility if he ultimately pleads guilty, could this case have long been settled if not for maneuvering that is dragging it out longer and longer than it ought to be?

This desire for a delay only adds to the circus atmosphere, and the expense to the judicial system brought about by the U.S. attorney’s desire to “put away” one of the few Illinois politicos ever to reach the rank of speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

This is a case that already has many people upset, particularly because the perception is out there that Hastert will someday be able to plead guilty to financial infractions whereas many people want “the dirt” about whether he did something sexual with a teenage boy back when Denny was a high school wrestling coach!

PROSECUTORS SAY THAT Hastert made significant payoffs of his own money to one of his former students decades after the two were involved in each others lives. In short, after Hastert wasn’t a political person and actually had significant money to spend as part of his post-political, lobbyist life.

Because some of those payments involved withdrawals from bank accounts in large amounts – violating federal laws requiring such withdrawals to be reported immediately to the government – Hastert is alleged to have committed a crime.

But that’s all he’s facing. Prosecutors say the allegations about Hastert and the boy are too old to investigate, and aren’t really relevant to the financial crime that intrigues them.

I’ve written previously that the people who are interested in this case solely as a sex crime are going to be frustrated. They’re not going to get the titillation they desire.

BUT THE LONGER that the Hastert camp drags this out, the more outrage there ultimately will be felt by whatever outcome this court case brings about.

I almost wish Hastert would just enter his “guilty” plea and serve his sentence, so that we can all move on.

Besides, then he could do his time and try to go the Dan Rostenkowski route of a political elder statesman with a touch of taint to his story – and could wind up getting a presidential pardon someday down the road if the GOP actually manages to regain the White House come November.

And was more fortunate than that one character from "Casino," the one who died of a heart attack on-the-spot upon being told by FBI agents he faced federal indictment and that it was his own records that would provide significant evidence against he and his crime colleagues.

  -30-

EXTRA: Six months?

It would appear that could become the prison term that one-time House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert may receive when he faces sentencing come Feb. 29.

Hastert, as expected, showed up at the federal courthouse Wednesday and entered a plea of “guilty” to one charge of evading bank reporting requirements. Because he didn’t fight and was regarded as being cooperative, the other charge of lying to FBI agents was dropped.

BUT AS ALSO expected, we didn’t get any titillating details about why Hastert needed to come up with so much cash that he had to go around laws regarding bank withdrawals and how much one can get at one point of time without having to report the transaction to the federal government.

We got the hints early on that Hastert needed the money to pay someone off to keep their mouth shut about allegations of sexual indiscretions back when Hastert was a high school teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School.

But that’s it. Hastert, by being willing to accept a minimal prison term come Leap Day, may well have made his indiscretions the question to which we’ll never know the answer.

At least not until the National Enquirer pays someone to tell a tale that may be about as accurate as the stories the supermarket tabloids have come up with about President Barack Obama’s alleged infidelities.

  -30-

Denny Hastert isn’t about to give the public a load of legal titillation

J. Dennis Hastert, the one-time speaker of the House of Representatives who allegedly made payoffs to try to keep people quiet with their stories about sexual indiscretions occurring decades ago, is going to bear a little bit of shame

HASTERT: From the old days of glory

He’s scheduled to make an appearance at the U.S. District courthouse in Chicago, with the understanding that he will enter pleas of “guilty” to select criminal charges.

HE’S GOING TO be captured on video cameras making the “perp walk” and those images will linger on for years to come – any time he is mentioned in the future he will be a convicted felon.

There are even some news reports that already are using the phrase “the highest-ranking Illinois politician ever convicted” to describe Denny Hastert.

So yes, Hastert is going to endure a certain level of shame on Wednesday. I’m sure he’s going to view the day as the most humiliating experience he ever endures. His backers will probably claim his ordeal is one no one deserves to go through.

But let’s be honest. There are going to be a load of other people who will be convinced that Hastert – one of only three men from Illinois who ever became the leader of the House of Representatives, a position that Rahm Emanuel himself once aspired to – didn’t suffer anywhere near as much as they think he should.

THEY’RE ALSO GOING to rant and rage about how unjust it is that we don’t get more graphic detail about what exactly it is that Hastert has done. For the reality is that the word “allegedly” is forevermore going to be backed onto the accusations made against Denny.

No one is ever likely to fulfill the titillation level that some people are determined to raise this case up to. There’s going to be a lot of self-righteous rhetoric about how justice was not served and how the federal government is somehow covering up for Hastert.

Although I really suspect what they’re going to be upset about is that they didn’t get some sordid sex tale to pass around amongst themselves.

Because the limited reports that have come out contend that Hastert, back when he was a high school teacher and wrestling coach, got sexually involved with some of his student athletes.

SUPPOSEDLY, HASTERT MADE promises to pay some $3.5 million to people to get them to keep their mouths shut. Some $1.7 million was actually paid, and federal investigators contend that nearly $1 million was withdrawn in ways that violate federal law.

Yes, there are laws restricting the ways that bank withdrawals are made – meant to interfere with money’s use for potential in criminal activity. It seems that the Hastert criminal case is about financial technicalities.

Which are what will be focused on come the court hearing on Wednesday. The Chicago Sun-Times reported this week that former federal prosecutors said the current prosecutors would focus solely on what facts are necessary to prove the financial offenses.

And if it turns out that Hastert appears to be cooperating by entering a guilty plea that reduces the focus of charges even further, then that reduces the titillation factor even further.

WE’RE NOT GOING to be writing sex stories about something Denny did back in his early 1970s days as a wrestling coach. We may not even get many financial details that would portray him as some sort of wealthy hack.

It may wind up becoming the most overrated guilty plea and sentencing on our political scene – a whole lot of anticipation and a whole lot of nothing in result.

And considering that Hastert’s time as a political person is complete (just like one-time 10^th Ward Alderman Edward R. Vrdolyak), his actual loss will be minimal.

No matter how much he says he’s humiliated beyond belief.

  -30-

Good, or bad, that Hastert may never actually go to trial on his charges?

I can already hear the rants and rages that will come about due to the word that one-time House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert is considering a “guilty” plea to the charges that claim he made financial payoffs to keep a one-time student of his quiet about alleged sexual misconduct.


HASTERT: May learn next month if trial required

For it seems that Hastert’s attorneys on Monday (Hastert himself wasn’t in court) told U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin that they wanted a continuance because they believed they were very close to negotiating a plea deal with the U.S. attorney’s office.

WHICH WOULD HAVE Hastert shift his “not guilty” pleas on at least part of the charges, in exchange for eliminating the need for a criminal trial at which time evidence would have to be presented about the alleged wrongdoing.

If there is never a trial, then the general public will never get more than the speculation that currently exists about what exactly it was that Hastert did wrong.

Federal prosecutors have said that Hastert, after he ceased being the House speaker, made an agreement with one of his former students back when he was a wrestling coach at Yorkville High School to pay some $3.5 million.

Prosecutors say he made withdrawals of his own money in ways that were meant to evade detection – which is a technical violation. Although one can argue that Hastert has the right to spend his money however he wants – no matter how strange it seems to pay it to a former student.

WHAT WE DON’T know specifically is why Hastert would want to do so. Although the Chicago Tribune reported claims that Hastert had taken advantage of the student in a sexual manner, and now wanted to make sure the one-time student kept his mouth shut.

But that is speculation. We don’t have that “on the record” in any way.

And there are people who are eager for that to come out publicly in the form of a trial. They want to know sordid details of whether Hastert really did do something wrong with one of his students.

Mostly for their own cheap titillation factor. Although I’m sure some political operatives will find ways to use the fact that a one-time House speaker who was Republican somehow reflects upon all of his GOP colleagues.

WHICH MAY WELL be why Hastert would consider entering a “guilty” plea, particularly if his legal counsel is capable of working out an agreement that would put the potential for incarceration at a minimum.

Perhaps even no prison time, but some sort of significant fine. I don’t know for sure what is being considered. Although I’m sure Hastert is most concerned with reducing his level of shame to the bare minimum – as in no more than he has already suffered.

While those people eager for a trial are most concerned with bolstering the shame level to the maximum – even if it means playing off the homophobic fears and thoughts that some in our society are determined to cling to.

Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing this case go away – largely because the offenses that might be considered the most serious aren’t going to be the key to any criminal prosecution of Hastert. The statute of limitations on any acts committed against students is long past – they’re so old.

THIS WOULD TURN into a technical trial on financial matters that some will try to exaggerate into titillation for their own benefits.

There’s also the fact that Hastert is a retired politico – similar to Edward R. Vrdolyak when he was finally caught and wound up doing about one year at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind.

Is that going to be Hastert’s fate as well?

If so, we need to realize that it won’t change anything – people who back Hastert will continue to do so, while those who want his “head on a pike” so to speak will forevermore be displeased by the outcome of any legitimate trial.

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Another blast from Chi political past; could ‘Fast Eddie’ return to prison?

It almost feels like the “G-men” of Chicago are engaging in Old Home Week lately.

VRDOLYAK: From before the feds paid him mind

First, we learn that former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert – one of the few Illinoisans to ever rise to that exulted position – was indicted on charges he violated federal laws concerning bank withdrawals; supposedly to come up with money to pay off someone else to keep quiet about long-ago wrongdoings.

NOW, WE’RE GETTING word that former 10^th Ward Alderman and Cook County Democratic Chairman-who-turned-Republican Edward R. Vrdolyak is the subject of federal investigators.

As of now, Vrdolyak isn’t charged with anything.

But Daniel Soso, an attorney from suburban Alsip, is indicted on federal tax evasion charges. The Chicago Sun-Times reported Sunday that the Soso indictment makes reference to an “Individual A” who may have been involved.

And the newspaper said it has sources contending that Vrdolyak is the aforementioned “Individual A” being referred to.

I PREVIOUSLY MADE reference to a similarity between Hastert and Vrdolyak in that both came to the attention of federal prosecutors long after their time on government payrolls was complete.

Vrdolyak already has served a 10-month prison term for charges contending that he arranged for a kickback in the sale price of a Gold Coast neighborhood building, in addition to any legal fees he would have been entitled to for his legal services.

MEDRANO: Not many pols get 2nd conviction

Is he now going to face the possibility of another prosecution? This one likely to produce a significant prison term? Is someone determined to see that Vrdolyak leaves this mortal realm of existence by being pronounced dead in a prison infirmary?

The newspaper says the latest case relates to the 1998 settlement of Illinois’ lawsuit against tobacco companies – a $9.1 billion payment, which means significant money.

PROSECUTORS ALLEGE THAT Vrdolyak, although not registered as one of the attorneys involved in the case, were paid a portion of the settlement; and did not comply with the regulations set by the state Attorney General’s office for receiving such payments.

HASTERT: Another pol facing not-relaxing retirement

So what should we think? Did Vrdolyak somehow get payments for work done under the table? Or for helping somebody to meet somebody else connected to the case?

We really don’t know what it is that Vrdolyak is purported to have done; other than that the “I” word is being flouted about – and that if he were to be prosecuted for something a second time, it would put “Fast Eddie” in a unique situation.

He and Abrosio Medrano, who also has separate convictions and wound up being returned to prison for a much lengthier sentence than his first stint of incarceration.

IS THAT GOING to become the Vrdolyak legacy? Or is he going to get the support of the East Side and other 10^th Ward residents who once relied on him to be their voice at City Hall – and some of whom still think of him as the person who “saved” their neighborhood.

Of course, what he was saving them from was what was represented by the election of Harold Washington as mayor. Which is why I’m sure there are some people who are more than glad to see Vrdolyak suffer these legal predicaments.

What this case is all going to come down to is trying to figure out what exactly constitutes a legal fee? Why shouldn’t Vrdolyak have received some money if he truly did legal work? I’ve already seen some Facebook commentary implying that prosecutors should, “leave Eddie alone.”

It is interesting that Vrdolyak’s attorney told the Sun-Times that the case was so long ago (17 years) and that his client is now 77; some people will feel sympathy for “Fast Eddie.” But will more be eager to see him carted off to prison yet again?

  -30-

A sex scandal? How will it stick! How unfortunate that it will do so

The Los Angeles Times is a lot bolder than I am – reporting Friday that the activity former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert was willing to pay so much to cover up was sexual in nature.

HASTERT: How quickly his life changed

The rumor-mongers had been trying to get me to believe this earlier. Although not with the level of detail that the Times offered up, nor from as high-level of sources as the newspaper seems to have.

ACCORDING TO THE Times, they have two federal law enforcement officials who say the person who was receiving money from Hastert was a man who was once a student back when Hastert was a high school teacher and wrestling coach.

“It was sex,” was the explanation given by that source as to why Hastert would have given the man some $1.7 million in recent years to not talk about what supposedly happened several decades ago. Although it is interesting to see the Chicago Tribune report that officials at Yorkville High School say they had no clue there was anything inappropriate about the way Hastert conducted himself while working there. But the Chicago Sun-Times hinted Friday there may be a second person involved in the case.

Most likely, the conduct was so long ago that any statute of limitations on such charges would have passed. So this is going to be a criminal case that focuses on financial details related to the payoff. Just like Al Capone getting busted on income tax evasion – rather than any of the illicit activity that made Chicago so vicious in the 1920s.

We’re probably never going to get total titillation about Hastert and one of his students – which may be for the best! I have trouble thinking of the possible student as a victim if his reaction was to resort to extortion.

WHAT ALL THIS actually reminds me of is the 2004 election cycle when Jack Ryan had his dreams of becoming a political persona squashed when details of his divorce from actress Jeri Ryan came out.

We wound up getting tales of Ryan trying to take his voluptuous semi-celebrity bride to sex clubs and try to get her to engage in acts some might call kinky.

RYAN: His political reputation died just as quick

We never got the concept of “U.S. Sen. Jack Ryan, R-Ill.” because he dropped out of the campaign. His career ended before it could begin.

Hastert is just the opposite. None of this came out until after he left office and became a high-priced D.C. lobbyist. Although I suspect the effect on his public reputation will be just as dramatic.

SO WHAT SHOULD we think about all of this?

I found it interesting that people were digging up and sending Internet links to me of pieces published on the Daily Kos website back in 2006 under the headlines Is Dennis Hastert gay? and Is Hastert gay?

These pieces were motivated by the activity back then when Florida congressman Mark Foley was sending e-mails and instant messages to teenage boys he had known when they worked as pages in Congress. A lot of Republican officials got smeared by similar innuendo; including "Mr. Speaker" himself.

Although I’m not saying to have any knowledge of Hastert’s personal life or activity. IN fact, I’m inclined to think that the pieces are a bit of a stretch for the facts that purport to support them.

BUT I’M SURE others are going to feel compelled to spread the smut level – even if they don’t have any true titillation to back it up. We’re going to get a sex scandal that some will think just won’t amount to much.

But I’m sure others just won’t care. That may wind up being the biggest tragedy of this whole situation.

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DURKIN: Hastert's judge

EDITOR’S NOTE: Perhaps “All In the Family” is an appropriate title for government. Hastert’s criminal case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin – a Barack Obama appointee but also the brother of Illinois House Minority Leader James Durkin, R-Western Springs. Durkin (the judge) used to be a partner in the law firm of Mayer Brown – where Hastert’s son, Ethan, is now an attorney.

EXTRA: Could Hastert make a trio of people convicted post-politically?

Politically-aware people got their shock Thursday when federal prosecutors let it be known that former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert now faces criminal charges.

HASTERT: Not in line for peaceful retirement

If he winds up cutting a plea deal, or going to trial and being found guilty, the “Hastert” name will wind up going on the list many people rattle off of Illinois political officials who ended up with criminal records.

ALTHOUGH IT SHOULD be noted that the indictment, which is written in legalese meant to be even more vague than usual as to what exactly the wrongdoing was, indicates the alleged illegal activity took place AFTER Hastert retired from political office.

It also seems to indicate the actions that inspired the allegedly illegal activity may have took place back before Hastert became a government official. Back in the days when he was a high school teacher and coach in Yorkville – which used to be much more rural in character than the over-glorified Chicago suburb it has become.

Does this mean that Hastert was not a corrupt politician of any type? That he operated honestly in government, but did improper things in his life before and after his public service?

I’m hearing some sleazy stories about what that activity could have been, but I don’t quite trust the people I’m hearing from. I suspect they’re too eager to make this worse than it really is, and are hoping that some reporter-type will be too eager for a salacious story rather than what really happened.

SO ALL I have to go by is the indictment, which says that back in 2010, Hastert met with someone he has known for many years, “discussed past misconduct… that had occurred years earlier,” and then began making payments to the person.

WALKER: Technically NOT a corrupt pol

Hastert faces charges of structuring currency transactions to evade reports, along with making false statements to the FBI, because the indictment says the former speaker deliberately made bank withdrawals of under $10,000 – the amount at which banks are required to inform the government!

Some $952,000 was withdrawn in such a manner, and some $1.7 million was paid by the congressman (it was supposed to be $3.5 million in total), according to investigators. It seems like someone was blackmailing the former House speaker, but we don’t quite know yet what for.

Like I already wrote, it seems this was outside of his government activity. Which makes me think he belongs in a category with people like former Gov. Dan Walker and former 10^th Ward Alderman Edward R. Vrdolyak.

Vrdolyak also prosecuted after his era

VRDOLYAK was long out of the City Council and was reduced to the level of being a political consultant in select suburbs when he was prosecuted and wound up serving a 10-month prison term for supposedly handling real estate transactions and receiving part of the sales price as his fee.

While Walker, who popped back into our public consciousness when he died earlier this month, was prosecuted a decade after he left office. He became a business executive found guilty of bank fraud for trying to cut corners in the way he tried to accumulate personal wealth.

Of course, we think of them as “corrupt” politicians and play up the stories of their legal predicaments because that adds a jolt of “juice” to their tales.

That could become the same for Hastert – who had quite a stint in Congress and was one of only three Illinoisans ever to rise through the ranks to become House speaker back in the days of George W. Bush as president.

SINCE I DOUBT we’d care one bit if an ordinary schmoe were to make payments to try to cover up something that may have happened three or more decades earlier.

How many of us have actions from our younger days that we wish we hadn’t done, and where our initial reaction to being confronted with the past might be to try to cover things up?

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You’d think it was still 20th Century by composition of immigration forum

“House Speaker” J. Dennis Hastert. “Governors” James R. Thompson and Jim Edgar.

Those were the “big names” for a political forum held Tuesday by the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition to try to persuade people that it’s good for our economy to revise the federal immigration laws so as to make sense of our policy.

SOMEHOW, I SUSPECT this collection from Illinois’ political past didn’t do a thing to persuade the ideologues of our society how their allegedly hardline approach to immigration (it’s actually more bigoted than anything else) reform is harming us. For all I know, the forum was regarded as a RINO-fest, and nothing more!

Then again, that is the real partisan split within the allegedly grand old party that is keeping so many issues bottled up politically.

Check out this weblog’s sister site, the South Chicagoan, for a more detailed account of what occurred at the Chicago Club. And whether or not anybody was listening to the men who are now nothing more than oil portraits hanging from musty political halls.

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Define “political corruption”

It never fails to amuse me what becomes political corruption, and what does not.

JACKSON: Violated letter, if not spirit, of law?

It really matters so much on the whims of the public and what they’re willing to become outraged over. Because what is more dismaying for an investigative-type person than to spend so much time trying to dig up dirt – only to find out that “Nobody cares!!!”

SOME OF THE biggest ‘dirt” we’re getting is all the trash-talk going about concerning Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill., whose critics have been trying to claim for years that he’s prison-bound.

Only it seems that his behavior concerning his dealings with former Gov. Rod Blagojevich when the latter was looking for a replacement for Sen. Barack Obama at the end of 2008 hasn’t crossed over into criminal behavior.

It probably did cross over into boorish behavior on the part of a member of Congress – for which his colleagues may someday censure him. Unless those same federal investigators have taken their ongoing investigation and shifted its gears to another matter.

Which is why all the talk we’re getting these days concerns Jackson’s alleged misuse of the money that was donated to him for campaign purposes.

HASTERT: He didn't do it, he says



THERE ARE CERTAIN circumstances under which it can be put to personal use, and usually very strict reporting requirements.

Which means they may try to claim that Jackson violated the letter of the law – particularly with the reports that claim he tried to build himself a home office with the money, or used it to buy an expensive wristwatch for a woman who doesn’t respond to the name “Sandi Jackson.”

The fact is that there is an element that wants to believe the worst about Jackson. So anybody who claims to have something on the representative from the Illinois Second Congressional district is going to get listened to – and have certain people more than willing to believe them regardless of what they have to say.

Jackson is fresh. He’s “Big News!” Not so much for former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, who made it into the Chicago Tribune this week with reports that he used a federal financial perk to benefit his personal business interests.

EDGAR: Who cuts his grass now?



IT SEEMS THAT retired Congressmen are allowed to use federal funds to maintain an office to help them tie up any loose ends. The Tribune reported that Hastert’s federal-funded office benefitted his own interests.

He supposedly had a secretary using the office to send out e-mails on his behalf, although Hastert gave the newspaper a firm denial. His “I didn’t do it!’ sounded as vehement as the response we’d get from Jackson these days – if he weren’t in seclusion due to his medical condition.

Yet in today’s political climate where the Democrats bolstered their strength in both the Legislature and in the congressional delegation, do we really care any longer about a former Republican leader? This one might well pass into a trivial tidbit. Nothing more!

Although there is one incident I’m curious to see if it does become controversial. It is purely stupid. Then again, it has never taken intelligence to justify an “controversy” as legitimate.

FOR IT SEEMS that the lot located next door to the Chicago residence of the Obama family (which largely sits empty but has a Secret Service detail keeping its eye on the grounds) is for sale.

OBAMA: Following in Edgar footsteps?



A 50-foot by 150-foot lot. You can build a home right next to the president’s property – assuming you pass the Secret Service clearance to even put in a bid.

But in reading the reports about this property, I couldn’t help but notice a paragraph about how the Secret Service actually uses Obama’s lawn mower to cut the grass on the president’s property and on this lot – so as to keep it from getting all decrepit and detract from the first family’s former home.

I recall some two decades ago it became a “controversy” when it was disclosed by a Springfield-based television station that then-Gov. Jim Edgar’s Illinois State Police detail occasionally mowed the governor’s lawn at his personal home located just north of Springfield.

THE OUTRAGE OF it all! How dare this man use professional law enforcement types as though they were mere servants! The waste of taxpayer dollars!

Will we soon get this same kind of faux outrage against Obama – even though he has rarely set foot on the grounds in the past four years?

I’d like to think the answer is “no.” But let’s be honest.

The kind of people who are determined to disbelieve his birth taking place in Hawaii are exactly the kinds who would love to blow this nugget up into full-fledged scandal.

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