Hastert Won't Fess Up To Honest Graft (Land Speculation & Hwy. Funding)

Seems our House majority leader is cashing in as a land speculator with his insider knowledge of highway appropriations.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000938.php

By Paul Kiel - June 19, 2006, 12:11 PM

Last week, we noted House Speaker Dennis Hastert's (R-IL) sweet real estate deal - a deal that, as many TPM readers pointed out, Tammany Hall pol George Washington Plunkitt would have dismissed as " honest graft." "I seen my opportunities and I took 'em," Hastert might say.

Simply put, Hastert bought up a chunk of farmland, pushed to fund a highway near the area, and then cashed out three months after the funding was secured. An age-old scam.

snip: This is remote farmland that will now be about five miles from a major highway.

snip: And according to yesterday's Chicago Tribune, there's even more honest graft coming Denny's way. For tax reasons, Hastert and his business partners used the profits from the sale to buy more property -- property "just south" of the land they just sold. So in about a year, Hastert will get to cash in again on land that's appreciated because of his highway.

I'm telling you that the Republicans think this kind of shit is acceptable. They have lost their moral campus.