Dennis Hastert

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Dennis Hastert
Hastert's official portrait as speaker from 2009, with the ceremonial baton (mace) of the House of Representatives

John Dennis Hastert (born January 2, 1942 in Aurora , Illinois ) is an American politician . He belonged to the United States House of Representatives from 1987 to 2007 as a Republican Member of Parliament for the 14th  congressional district of the state of Illinois. From 1999 to 2007 he was Speaker of the House of Representatives and thus took second place in the presidential succession. In 2016 he was sentenced to imprisonment for bank fraud and admitted to past sexual abuse as a wrestling coach.

Family, education and work

Dennis Hastert is the son of the restaurant owner Jack Hastert and born by Naomi. Nussle. He first studied at Wheaton College , where he received his BA in 1964 . In 1967 he graduated from Northern Illinois University with an MS in Education . From 1964 to 1980 he taught politics ("government") and history at a high school in Yorkville . He coached the wrestlers there alongside the football team and led them to the 1976 state championship in Illinois, whereupon he was voted "Coach of the Year" in Illinois.

In 1973 he married his teacher colleague Jean Hastert, b. Bald; they have two sons. His son Ethan ran for his father's previous Congressional mandate in 2009, but lost the Republican primary.

Political career

Without prior political experience, Hastert ran for a seat in the Illinois House of Representatives in 1980 . He was initially defeated in the Republican primary , but when the elected candidate retired due to illness, he prevailed in the main election and moved to the lower chamber of the Illinois State Legislature in 1981 , to which he served for three terms. He was the senior Republican member of the Budget Committee during this period.

When the seat in the 14th congressional electoral district of Illinois became vacant in 1986 , Hastert ran for the election in November that year and won it with just under 52% of the vote. The constituency has been a Republican stronghold since 1903; Hastert was subsequently re-elected, usually with around 70% of the vote. From 1995 Hastert was Chief Deputy Minority Whip , one of the directors of the Republican faction.

His rise to Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1999 was rather unexpected, as he was considered inconspicuous, despite his office as deputy spokesman for the Republicans. However, his most promising competitors were too controversial, like Tom DeLay , or - after the Lewinsky affair - were no longer available because of marital scandals, like Bob Livingston . On January 6, 1999, Hastert succeeded Newt Gingrich as spokesman. He stayed in office until 2007, holding the influential post longer than any other Republican. As a spokesman, he initiated the "Hastert Rule" named after him, according to which only those legislative proposals can be introduced into parliament that the majority of the majority parliamentary group has approved.

In the 2006 election, Hastert ran again for his constituency and was able to prevail against the candidate of the Democrats, John Laesch, with the relatively weak result of almost 60% of the vote. Hastert had previously been criticized for learning about the sexual assault of Republican Congressman Mark Foley well in advance of the public , but not opening an investigation. Since the Democrats won a majority in the 110th House of Representatives in this election , Nancy Pelosi replaced him on January 4, 2007 in the office of spokesman. Hastert he resigned his mandate on November 26, 2007 and resigned from Congress. The by-election was won by Democrat Bill Foster against Jim Oberweis .

Hastert then worked as a lobbyist for the Washington law firm Dickstein Shapiro until 2015 and sat on several supervisory boards.

Political positions and controversies

In his political career, Hastert was considered a loyal representative of the party line and was particularly conservative in socio-political issues. As spokesman, he pushed through a number of Republican bills including the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act , which strengthened the private component of Medicare health care in 2003 .

Representative of Turkish interests

Hastert was considered a partisan of Turkish interests. It is controversial why he prevented a vote on a resolution on the genocide of the Armenians at the end of 2000 . According to his own statement, this was only at the request of President Bill Clinton . However, in 2004 he prevented a resolution on this issue again. In 2005 the FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds accused him of receiving suitcases full of money from the Turkish side, some of which came from drug trafficking. Hastert and his staff denied that they had ever received money of Turkish origin.

Hush money bank fraud for sexual harassment

At the end of May 2015, charges were brought against Hastert. He was charged with paying $ 3.5 million in hush money in violation of banking laws. This sum went to a man who was sexually molested by Hastert during his time as a sports coach . The latter confronted the former politician with the allegations in 2010, whereupon Hastert agreed to pay. In the course of the investigation, it became known that Hastert had sexually abused at least four students of his wrestling team in the 1960s and 1970s .

On April 27, 2016, Hastert was sentenced by a federal judge to fifteen months' imprisonment and a fine of $ 250,000 for violating banking laws. He could no longer be prosecuted for the sexual abuse, as the offenses were now time barred. In the courtroom, he protested that he was “deeply ashamed” about how he “mistreated” the students entrusted to him. Hastert was released from prison in July 2017 after thirteen months.

Honors

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Collections Search: John Dennis Hastert , United States House of Representatives History, Art & Archives.
  2. ↑ Dennis Hastert Fast Facts. In: CNN.com , December 14, 2018.
  3. ↑ Amy Tikkanen: Dennis Hastert. In: Encyclopaedia Britannica , April 26, 2016; Dennis Hastert Fast Facts. In: CNN.com , December 14, 2018.
  4. ↑ Ceci Connolly, Juliet Eilperin: Hastert Steps Up to Leading Role. In: The Washington Post , January 5, 1999.
  5. ↑ Dennis Hastert Fast Facts. In: CNN.com , December 14, 2018.
  6. ↑ Amy Tikkanen: Dennis Hastert. In: Encyclopaedia Britannica , April 26, 2016.
  7. ↑ Dennis Hastert Fast Facts. In: CNN.com , December 14, 2018.
  8. ↑ Amy Tikkanen: Dennis Hastert. In: Encyclopedia Britannica , April 26, 2016; Dennis Hastert Fast Facts. In: CNN.com , December 14, 2018.
  9. ↑ Amy Tikkanen: Dennis Hastert. In: Encyclopaedia Britannica , April 26, 2016.
  10. ↑ David Rose: To Inconvenient Patriot. In: Vanity Fair , October 1, 2005.
  11. ↑ Ex-top politician allegedly paid hush money because of a sex affair. In: Zeit Online , May 30, 2015.
  12. ↑ Prosecutors Reveal Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert Sexually Abused at Least 4 Teenage Boys. In: New York Magazine , April 9, 2016.
  13. ↑ Dennis Hastert sentenced to 15 months in prison. In: Spiegel Online , April 27, 2016.
  14. ^ Dennis Hastert, ex-US House speaker, sentenced to 15 months in jail. In: BBC News , April 27, 2016.
  15. ↑ Amy Tikkanen: Dennis Hastert. In: Encyclopaedia Britannica , April 26, 2016.
  16. ↑ Dennis Hastert Fast Facts. In: CNN.com , December 14, 2018.

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Hastert, Dennis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hastert, John Dennis (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH January 2, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Aurora , Illinois