Dennis Hastert and the Illinois Combine

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/kass/ct-kass-hastert-met-0531-20150529-column.html ^ | John Kass

[all the best]

So is Hastert’s real crime using his own money? Ill-gotten as it may be. Is that where we are now?

[virgil]

Is he charged with child molestation? Haven’t teachers gone to jail for that? It looks like this is about the bank withdrawals.

[Steven Tyler]

One question I would like answered.

Where did Hastert get all that money to payoff the Blackmailer(s)? I thought Hastert was a HS wrestling coach?

Did Hastert’s wife, friends, employer ever wonder where Hastert spent all of his money? Did no one do the math between money rolling in and nothing to show for an empty bank account?

[Steven Tyler]

Jeffery Epstein had a NY apartment and a private island. His clients had many discreet opportunities to satisfy their desires.

Bill Clinton visited said island many times.
I would not be surprised if Epstein and Clinton worked the rich and powerful to relieve them of their wealth, via the Clinton foundation

[Steven Tyler]

This is not about Hastert, this is a message to Boehner, McConnell, Pelosi, Schumer, and anyone else in a leadership position

Agreed!. Hastert gets pinched for withdrawing his own money from the Bank > WTF??.
If Hastert wants to file charges against a Blackmailer, THAT can be done on the lowdown.

The FIFA mess, this Hastert issue, are examples of messages sent out to the rich and powerful.

So who is sending the messages, and why

[bert]

You are correct.

The solution is to up the ante.

Some Democrat needs to show up dead

[combat_boots]

Maybe 0bama is protecting himself.

Or Hillary is.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Maybe their personal lives(Boehner, McConnell) are beyond reproach; maybe not. If not, their is a file somewhere in the hands of world class intelligence agencies.

This whole process of having so much power in the hands of one person is going to be the end of our political system. The average person, or even the slightly above average person(Boehner, McConnell) is no match for the pressure and can be manipulated by ruthless political groups is such a way as not to act rationally.

[Paladin2]

Thnx 4 the post. 0bama Rezko connection is amazing.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

-Hastert makes withdrawals. I understand account holder is not required to report withdrawals.
-the legal obligation to report suspicious withdrawals falls on the banks. Denny's bank(s) filed a Suspicious Activity Report.
-Feds show up to question Hastert. He lied.

Somewhere in timeline Individual A enters the story. Did Hastert break down finally and tell Feds the sordid story? Were Feds investigating Ind A and the 2 investigations eventually crossed? We do not know that answer.

Whatever “misconduct” occurred, that Hastert has not been charged suggests the Statute of Limitations has been met or Ind A is not pressing charges because it involves admitting he extorted 3.5 million dollars.

This is where I am at. If Hastert had not lied, none of this would have seen the light of day. Odds are Ind A was structuring his deposits because of the change in the amounts Hastert made withdrawals. The lie was the hook and opened the door for the structuring charge. Without the lie it would have been circumstantial as well as relying on the word of an extortioner. The lie undercuts anything Hastert might want a jury to believe.

Moral of the story.....keep your mouth shut.

Not saying Hastert should be given a pass especially if the rumors are facts. If rumors are fact, Thank God Hastert was too stupid to keep his mouth shut.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

How about Gary Studds?

[scrabblehack]

The speaker gets zillions in campaign contributions, although he or she is usually in a safe seat.

[Theodore R.]

This just makes me wonder all the more what they have on Boehner and McConnell.

OH and KY people don't wonder at all.

[freepersup]

I worked tooth and nail on Fitzgerald's campaign. Both as a volunteer and as paid staff. Hastert and LaHood are scum of the worst order. Add former imprisoned IL Gov. George Ryan to the Combine crime syndicate.

Fitzgerald weighed the cost in blood and treasure, that it would take to fight first- his own party in the primary and then the opposition in the general election. Plus- his son Jake, who was 12 years old at the time, and would be 18 and off to college at the end of Peter's second 6 year Senate term, was a factor of consideration in whether to run. Peter had been in public office for as long as his son had been alive. He weighed the cost of public service when balanced against his personal life, AND the battle royale that loomed ahead if he chose to run for reelection and decided it was not in his nor his family's best interest.

That being said, operatives released sealed divorce records of both the Republican (Jack Ryan) and Democrat (Blair Hull) Senate candidate, damaging them enough to give the halfrican the advantage in each election, but for very different reasons.

Note: Ambassador Dr. Alan Keyes, the eventual GOP candidate, and a perceived carpetbagger, went down in flames against soebarkah, in the general election. The underhandedness of obama, IL Combine politics, AND the DNC is beyond comprehension. People need to swing from lamp posts for justice to be served.

[freepersup]

Ping to post #54.

[fieldmarshaldj]

We’ve reviewed this countless times over the past dozen years, especially going over that appalling 2004 race. I remember at the time urging the drafting of Mike Ditka as really the only person the GOP could run who could rise above the rest (Keyes was a no-go, and unfortunately, he didn’t realize he was being used by the Combine to play the part of a ringer). Ditka would’ve defeated Zero (of course, had Zero lost, it would’ve been Hillary that would’ve gone to the White House in 2008, as if that would’ve been any better). The big question is whether Ditka, as a non-politico, would’ve followed in the mode of Fitzgerald in office or would he have leaned on the Combiner flunkies.

[hockeyfan44]

This whole thing came off as bizarre to me. When Hastert left Congress he went completely MIA. Now he doesn’t have the gravitas that Nancy Pelosi has nor the need for constant attention like she does, but still bizarre.

This last year in Illinois I think the Combine is in crisis mode. We saw Schock forced out over “antiques” when I think it is more likely that he is ‘out’ due to his, well proclivities.

Kirk should get trounced by Duckworth thanks to Crook County not that the two of them are much different. Duckworth doesn’t have the criminal history that Ginnulious had and I think Bill Foster is so unlikeable that even Kirk would beat him.

I wonder if after the death of Judy Barr, that the Combine is in crisis mode with no idea what to do, with most of the old guard going the way of the dinosaurs.

[PhilCollins]

Hockeyfan44, I agree with most of your comment, except for one part. Sen. Kirk should lose the primary to a conservative.