Hastert WAS corrupt. We in IL know that. Terrible choice for Speaker.
Hastert ended up as Speaker the same way Anthony Kennedy ended up as SC Justice. First guy (Newt/Bork) was killed by a thousand cuts, second guy (Livingston/Douglas Ginsberg) had something in his past that blew up in their faces, third guy (Hastert/Anthony Kennedy) was a non-offensive vanilla choice that nobody could object to.
Personally I haven't read about the indictment, but given that is the Obama administration going after Hastert, either they came up with another bogus "charge" to silent a Republican who was going to make them look bad, OR Hastert is a legitimately guilty scumbag who finally got caught up by the feds once he was out of the public spotlight.
Hastert's a combiner, Obama is slime, and this is Illinois, so either scenario is possible.
I knew the guy was slime when he defended William Jefferson, D-LA. I called it way back in 2006.
Hastert tells President Bush FBI raid was unconstitutional
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1637208/posts