Republicans Rush to Defend A Sexual Predator

Dennis Hastert - sexual predator

As a former Republican I still find it difficult at times to grasp just how filled with hypocrisy the Republican Party has become.   Democrats are far from perfect, but on the hypocrisy scale they are rank beginners.  Among the latest examples of the moral bankruptcy of the GOP is the rush by prominent Republicans to support sexual predator Dennis Hastert who molested at least four (4) students during his years as a high school wrestling coach.  "Family values" seemingly mean nothing beyond opposing LGBT rights and the right of women to have control of their own bodies.  A piece in Salon looks at the GOP cavalcade of hypocrisy.  Here are highlights:

On Wednesday, former Republican U.S. House speaker Dennis Hastert will be sentenced for his part in an elaborate hush money scheme to cover up his years long molestation of teenage boys while he was a Illinois high school wrestling coach from 1965 until 1981. But if his fellow Republicans have their way — he won’t see a minute of prison time.

According to federal prosecutors, Hastert “made payments to a man who was sexually abused at age 14 by Hastert when he was the boy’s wrestling coach. Prosecutors said the abuse also involved ‘other minors,’ and included touching their genitals or engaging in oral sex.” Court filings in Hastert’s case highlighted “private one-on-one encounters in an empty locker room and a motel room with minors that violated the special trust between those young boys and their coach.”

The Republican firebrand is charged with lying to FBI investigators about a tax-evading scheme to pay $3.5 million to keep at least one former student quiet about the abuse before falsely accusing the man of trying to extort him. Hastert pleaded guilty to illegally structuring $900,000 used as hush money to the one individual, a violation of banking laws. Prosecutors are now seeking the harshest possible penalty, asking that the 74-year-old Hastert be sentenced to six months in prison while his attorneys are asking for probation. A former wrestler who said Hastert abused him decades ago is expected to speak at Hastert’s sentencing hearing on Wednesday.

Still, the longest serving Republican House Speaker in American history has prominent Republican friends rushing to publicly back him even as he’s accused of being a serial child molester.

A list of the names of people who wrote to support Hastert was made public in court Friday, complete with over 40 letters of support for Hastert from the likes of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and the head wresting coach of the University of Chicago. Hastert’s defense team said he had received more than 60 letters of support for Hastert in recent months, but nearly 20 writers did not want their letters made public or had requested their letters be “withdrawn” from consideration after disturbing details of Hastert’s pedophilia emerged. (The Chicago Tribune published all of the letters released, and they may be found here):

Hastert’s supporters included a handful of former national and state politicians as well as local leaders, board members, police officers and others from his home base in rural Kendall County.

“We all have our flaws, but Dennis Hastert has very few,” DeLay wrote in his defense of Hastert. “He is a good man that loves the Lord.”

“He doesn’t deserve what he is going through,” the Texas Republican who served as majority leader under Hastert in the early 2000s and who ran into his own legal problems argued. “I ask that you consider the man that is before you and give him leniency where you can.”

In addition to DeLay, Hastert’s former Republican colleagues Reps. Thomas Ewing, David Dreier, Porter Goss and John Doolittle also petitioned the court on his behalf.

“Denny Hastert and I were as close as brothers, sharing our goals, ambitions, and our family life, both the ups and the downs,” Ewing wrote, noting that they lived together in Washington D.C. and Springfield, Illinois. “I know him as a man of faith, integrity and honesty. He was an extremely hard worker, always willing to extend a helping hand to others.

As the New York Times reported over last week, Hastert’s work on Capitol Hill allowed him the cover to keep secret his decades long abuse of boys . . .

Tyrone Fahner, a former Illinois attorney general, called Hastert “a kind, strong, principled, and unselfish man,” and asked the court “to permit him to live the rest of his life in freedom with his family and friends, and all those who love and admire him.”

Shortly after Hastert was indicted on federal charges in 2015, Politico dug through the former speaker’s archive and found he kept a file in his office titled “Homosexuals” that reportedly was “filled with policy statements from social conservative groups like the Traditional Values Coalition and the Family Research Council that criticized same-sex marriage and Clinton administration efforts to prevent discrimination against gays and lesbians” and included a rambling 1996 National Review column, “Pedophilia Chic,” warning of  “hip” and “sophisticated” liberal media outlets who give “pedophiles a place at the table” and put in a “good word for Nambla.”

Let's be clear: Hastert deserves to get far more than the maximum sentence.  Indeed, 20 years to life sounds about right to me. The man is a monster.  Moreover, while he was covering up his own past criminal behavior and molestation of minors, Hastert was doing all in his power to back anti-LGBT laws.  As for references to Hastert being "a man of faith," please get me a vomit bag.  A man of faith would NEVER have molested youths the way Hastert did. Lock him up!!

Prosecutors Give Details on Dennis Hastert’s Sexual Abuse of Teenagers

As is often noted on this blog, if one is worried about stopping sexual predators, the focus should be on anti-gay Republican politicians (and conservative religious leaders), not gays and/or transgender individuals.  Over and over again we see GOP politicians with anti-gay voting records who espouse "family values" being caught having affairs, seeking gay sex, or in the case of former Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, sexually molesting minors.  The Washington Post has details on Hastert's sexual misconduct that set the state for his attempts to pay over $3 million in hush money to one of his former victims.  Here are excerpts:

Federal prosecutors on Friday detailed some of the lurid allegations of sexual misconduct against former U.S. House speaker Dennis Hastert and asked a federal judge to subject the Illinois Republican to a sex offender evaluation.

In a memo in advance of an April 27 sentencing hearing, prosecutors spelled out in graphic detail how Hastert sexually molested or inappropriately touched five teenagers who trusted him as their wrestling coach. And as Hastert rose to power, believing that his wrongdoing would never be made public, his victims struggled with the effects of the abuse, prosecutors wrote.

“He made them feel alone, ashamed, guilty and devoid of dignity,” prosecutors wrote. “While defendant achieved great success, reaping all the benefits that went with it, these boys struggled, Hastert, 74, pleaded guilty last year to violating federal banking laws, admitting in a deal with prosecutors that he withdrew money from banks in increments low enough to avoid mandatory reporting requirements. Thatcharge, though, always belied the case’s actual underpinnings.and all are still struggling now with what defendant did to them.”

A federal law enforcement official has said Hastert withdrew the money so he could pay off someone he sexually molested decades ago. And after the first victim emerged, more people came forward alleging that they or their relatives were also victimized by the Yorkville, Ill., high school teacher and coach.

Prosecutors detailed remarkably similar stories from each of the now-grown men.

One — who said he was a 14-year-old freshman when the abuse occurred — alleged that Hastert told him to get on a table so he could “loosen him up,” then massaged and performed a sex act on him. Another — who said he was 17 years old when the abuse occurred — alleged that Hastert offered him a massage to help him cut weight, then performed a sex act on him. That victim said Hastert kept a chair in direct view of the locker room shower stalls.

“The federal and state statutes of limitations have long expired on potential charges relating to defendant’s known sexual acts against Individual A and other minors,” prosecutors wrote. “With this case, the government seeks to hold defendant accountable for the crimes he committed . . . . 

Sadly, Hastert is the poster boy for the hypocrisy of anti-gay Republicans who make a mockery of the professed devotion to "family values."  I have zero sympathy for Hastert.

Gossip Site: Ted Cruz Named in Late DC Madam's "Black Book"

Over the weekend I wrote about the efforts of Montgomery Blair Sibley, a former lawyer for so-called DC Madam, Deborah Jeanne Palfrey, to have the names of her clients in her "black book" released and the promise that it would cause turmoil in the 2016 presidential race.  While Sibley - with whom I corresponded back in 2009 - has not yet released to names of Palfrey's clients, Radaronline is reporting that it is believed that Ted Cruz's name is among those in the list of clients who sought $300/hour call girls.  Here are article highlights:

Embattled White House candidate Ted Cruz‘s cheating scandal is set to explode wide-open, with fresh — and blockbuster — allegations that the married conservative senator was named in the black book of a notorious Washington D.C. madam who mysteriously died, RadarOnline.com has learned.

Montgomery Blair Sibley, a former lawyer for madam Deborah Palfrey, has filed a dramatic appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court for permission to publish her unconventional “black book,” which consists of some 15,000 pages of phone records and calls to clients, as well as their calls requesting the $300-an-hour services from her gaggle of beautiful hookers!

Sibley told The National ENQUIRER that “time is of the essence” to release the list because one or more of the phone numbers would provide bombshell information that is “relevant to voters before they cast their ballot.”He currently is barred by a lower court order from releasing the records or naming names.

But Radar has learned The National ENQUIRER will this week report its findings of yet another exhaustive and investigative probe that will quote journalist detectives who claim the mystery candidate almost certainly “has to be Cruz.”

Investigator Wayne Madsen, who was on a team of reporters hired by Hustler Magazine’s boisterous owner Larry Flynt to investigate the madam, told The ENQUIRER that Cruz should be concerned!

“If Montgomery Sibley has what he says he has, it has to be Cruz,” he said in an interview — an advance copy of which was provided to Radar.

“Going on what I know about the other male candidates still in the race, it isn’t any of them, and Palfrey didn’t provide call boys, so it wasn’t Hillary.”

Before a restraining order was slapped on the records, Sibley said he supplied copies of the papers from three of the four boxes to Dan Moldea, another Washington investigative reporter who interviewed the madam for a possible book after she was busted for prostitution in 2006.

Sibley previously represented Palfrey when she was busted in 2006 for prostitution. During the investigation, U.S. Senator David Vitter, a Republican from Louisiana, was outed as one her clients.

On May 2, 2008, 52-year-old Palfrey was found dead with braided twine around her neck in her mother’s shed in Tarpon Springs, Florida, according to the Medical Examiner’s report obtained by The ENQUIRER.

The report indicates that she had bruises on her lower legs, right knee, right forearm and upper arm — but her death was ruled a suicide. Sibley said he suspects foul play, however.  The ENQUIRER is due to hit newsstands nationwide on Wednesday, its publisher told Radar.

Personally, regardless of whether or not this story proves true, I can think of few thinks more repulsive than having Ted Cruz touch me, much less in a sexual context - $300/hour would not begin to be nearly enough money!   But I digress.  The bottom line is this: from all my years involved in politics, it is almost always the ones who talk the most about their Christian faith - typically "family values" Republicans - who turn out to be the ones having affairs or seeking gay sex on the down low. Does anyone remember former Virginia 2nd District Congressman Ed Schrock?

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley’s Exploding Sex Scandal

As I have noted before, it is almost ALWAYS the "family values" Republicans who find themselves being exposed (and deservedly so) in sex scandals.  Whether it is cheating on the spouse with same sex paramours or getting caught in gay sex scandals like former Virginia 2nd District Congressman Ed Schrock, it's always these who bloviate the most about so-called Christian and family values who prove themselves to be nothing more than despicable liars and hypocrites.  A case in point is viciously anti-gay Alabama GOP Governor Robert Bentley who finds himself in a sex scandal.  Having lived in Alabama years ago, I know first hand that other than perhaps Louisiana, no one does scandal better than Alabama.  The Washington Post looks at Bentley's hypocrisy and who the scandal assumed a life of its own.  Here are excerpts:

Anyone who has doubts about the importance of journalists in 2016 need be acquainted only with the reporting team at AL.com, the largest statewide news organization in Alabama. The group's reporters cracked open a scandal involving their governor's alleged infidelity last week and have been covering the unpredictable fallout aggressively ever since.

This scandal didn't come to them overnight; they've been hearing rumors of an affair between Gov. Robert Bentley (R) and his top political adviser, Rebekah Caldwell Mason, for months. The story finally broke open on March 22 when a fired top law enforcement official went on the record to AL.com's John Archibald about the alleged affair and offered proof. Faced with damning evidence of a taped phone conversation to a woman named Rebekah, Bentley has denied he had an affair, but few in a state accustomed to scandal believe him.

Alabama lawmakers, led by Republicans, are looking at ways to impeach him or set up a recall. An informal online AL.com poll found that 90 percent of about 30,000 respondents said Bentley should resign. Mason resigned Wednesday.

The story stretches far beyond sex, though. It's also connected to an ethics trial of the House speaker and a shadowy nonprofit that paid Mason's communications firm about $320,000 at the time of her resignation. As AL.com reporter Leada Gore said: "It's got every part of a scandal you could want."

[T]he speaker of the House, Mike Hubbard (R), is indicted on corruption charges. That has dragged on forever. So the governor has this old-time friend who was a legislator with him who he puts in charge of our state law enforcement agency. They get crossways -- which is an Alabama term you can use -- over the handling of an affidavit they are seeking related to the speaker's trial. The top cop says, 'I'm going to give this affidavit because I'm not going to lie to the grand jury about some of the things going on.' The governor supposedly told him not to. When Spencer Collier [the top cop] gave that affidavit, the governor fired him.

Then Spencer Collier became the first person willing to go on the record to say, 'Yes, there was an affair.' That's what happened last week that broke it all open.

Our state auditor has filed an ethics investigation, which in Alabama is extremely serious. There's also a state complaint saying he misused funds.

Mason has resigned her post. Her husband, who is a state employee -- of all things the director of the state faith-based initiative office -- is still there.

And then you get into all this crazy stuff. They all went to church together in Tuscaloosa. They've been asked to leave; he's no longer a deacon. We reported today her husband operated a separate communications company that was not on her ethics forms that received payments from the University of Alabama. And to make it even more of a tangled web, the chairman of the 501(c)(4) that the governor set up is the legal adviser to the board of trustees to the University of Alabama.   

Note the fact that the alleged adulteress' husband holds a "faith based" state office.   About the only thing more fun would be to find out that Victoria Cobb of The Family Foundation is engaged in a torid lesbian affair. :)

Hastert Would Serve Prison Time Under Plea Deal

As the House Republicans continue in total disarray as they await Paul Ryan's decision as to whether or not he wants to be a masochist and accept the position of Speaker of the House in the face of the growing insanity of the Republican Party, it is right and just - to use a phrase from the Catholic liturgy - to remember the hypocrisy of the so-called "family values" Republicans who do not practice what they preach.  A case in point is former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert who is under federal indictment for  banking law violations that arose from his hush money being paid to a former male student with whom Hastert allegedly had inappropriate sexual contact back in his years as a high school coach.  Politico looks at the plea deal being offered by the feds.  Here are excerpts:

Federal prosecutors in Chicago want former House Speaker Dennis Hastert to serve prison time to resolve a criminal indictment charging he violated federal banking law when he withdrew about $900,000 in cash to pay to an unnamed associate as part of an effort to cover up past [sexual] misconduct [with a minor], sources said.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors are negotiating a plea deal that they will bring before U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin, according to sources close to the case. The deal, details of which are still emerging, would likely call for Hastert to spend more than a year behind bars, one source said.

Hastert, who retired from the House in 2007, was indicted in May on charges of structuring bank withdrawals to avoid federal reporting requirements and lying to the FBI about what he did with the money. The indictment said that between 2012 and 2014 Hastert withdrew $952,000 in increments of less than $10,000 after a bank official warned him that larger amounts would be reported to federal authorities. The federal charges said the money was part of $1.7 million the former speaker paid and a total of $3.5 million he promised to pay to compensate for "past misconduct" against a longtime acquaintance and to compensate for that misdeed.

The federal charges don't detail what Hastert allegedly did to trigger the request for compensation, but they do note that he worked as a teacher and coach at a high school in Yorkville, Ill. before entering politics 35 years ago. Press accounts quoting anonymous sources have claimed that Hastert's "misconduct" involved sexual contact with a male student, but Hastert's attorneys have complained bitterly that those stories came from improper law enforcement leaks.

Many experts expected Hastert to cut a plea deal to avoid the publicity and additional embarrassment a trial could bring, But some thought the 73-year-old former speaker would negotiate an agreement with prosecutors that would involve a period of home confinement and probation rather than prison time.

Some skeptics of the federal bank reporting requirements have criticized the federal indictment, describing it as an effort to punish Hastert for alleged sexual crimes that can't be charged now because the statutes of limitations has passed. However, courts have upheld the use of the law even in case where the government makes no allegation of wrongdoing besides the way the cash transactions were broken up.

Personally, I have no sympathy for Hastert.  And let's get real.  No one promises to pay $3.5 million for past "misconduct" unless that misconduct is very, very damaging.  Thus, the allegations of sexual misconduct with a former student seem to reach that level of gravity.  The other thing that I will note - as I have in the past - is that 9 times out of 10 it is the "family values" Republicans who seem to always be engaging in illicit and/or gay sex even as they lie to constituents and prostitute themselves to the Christofascist elements of the GOP base.

Anti-Gay Indiana GOP’s House Leader Resigns in Sex Scandal

Indiana GOP House Leader Jud McMillin has proven yet again that when it comes to hypocrisy and false religiosity it is almost always the "family values" Republicans who win the prize.  McMillin, who pushed Indiana's falsely named religious liberty bill has resigned after a sexually compromising video him cheating on his wife was sent to all of the people on his cell phone “Contacts” list.  I swear to God that one could not make up stuff this good if you tried!  Salon looks at McMillin's much deserved political death.  Here are highlights:

The controversial House Majority Leader in Indiana — he cosponsored the state’s “religious freedom” law — resigned suddenly on Tuesday after a sexually compromising video was sent to all of the people on his “Contacts” list, the Advocate’s Bil Browning reports.

After news of the mass-texting began to circulate, Representative Jud McMillin (R) claimed that his “phone was stolen in Canada and out of my control for about 24 hours. I have just been able to reactivate it under my control. Please disregard any messages you received recently. I am truly sorry for anything offensive you may have received.”

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But his “Canadian girlfriend stole my phone” defense apparently didn’t convince many of his “Contacts” — or at least, not the ones who mattered — and so Tuesday night he released a statement in which he said that the “time is right for me to pass the torch and spend more time with my family.”

During his five years in the legislature, McMillin has crusaded to “protect the integrity of the institution of marriage,” but the Advocate reported that the woman on the video he texted was not, in fact, his wife. According to his campaign website, he claimed that “the family has always been the foundation of our strength of community” and that “[i]n these times of turmoil the rest of the country could learn something from our example.”

It’s unclear what the rest of the country could learn from his example at this time, other than — perhaps — opposing LGBTQ rights across the board could have karmic implications for conservative Republicans with a proclivity for taking videos of themselves cheating on their wives.

There is Nothing Gay About Hastert's Hypocrisy

The "godly folk" who are always in the vanguard fighting against LGBT rights and equality ALWAYS trying to conflate being gay with being a child molester.  The reality, of course, is that the majority of child molesters are straight males, not gays.  I would further argue - as I have in past posts - that it is almost always the repressed, closeted individuals who seem to get caught up in sex scandals.  Further, the molestation of minors often, if not always, involves an adult in a position of power taking advantage of minors unable to  fend off such advantages or who fear no one will believe them as Steve Reinhold reportedly stated to his sister.  The real hypocrisy, therefore, is that it is more times than not "family values" Republicans or their allies who are preaching to others about how they should be living their lives while not walking the walk, if you will, themselves.  A column in Washington Post looks at the real nature of Hastert's hypocrisy.  Here are excerpts:

In discussing the scandal engulfing former House speaker Dennis Hastert, who is due in court this week, one thing must be made absolutely clear. What he is alleged to have done to young boys has absolutely nothing to do with being gay or gay rights.

Almost immediately after the news broke of Hastert’s indictment, folks looked to Congress for signs of hypocrisy. Former representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who is gay, made an assertion during an appearance on Huffington Post Live last Monday that was flat-out inappropriate.

He is wrong to make a link between gay rights and the accusations of immorality against Hastert.

What Hastert allegedly did has nothing to do with being gay or the push by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans to ensure that equal protection under the law applies to them. What he allegedly did — sexually abusing a number of underage boys — was criminal. The same goes for reality television star and conservative moralist Josh Duggar, who admitted sexually molesting young girls, including several of his sisters, when he was a teenager. His sexual orientation doesn’t factor into the scandal coverage because it is irrelevant.

LGBT adults do not pose an automatic danger to children. Some people still refuse to accept this. That’s why branding Hastert a hypocrite now because he opposed LGBT rights as speaker is a leap I refuse to take.

[W]here Frank gets it right is on the moral hypocrisy displayed by Hastert and so many other holier-than-thou Republicans thundering about values. Frank reminded “Hardball” host Chris Matthews that Speaker Hastert followed a line of flawed House leaders who pushed for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998.

Hastert was the third guy to be speaker. First, you had Newt Gingrich, who was having an affair with his third wife cheating on his second wife with whom he cheated on his first wife. And you then … had Bob Livingston who had to quit because he had had sex with a lobbyist. So…these people leading the charge against Clinton. Clinton was the choir boy.

Alleged sexual abuse of minors is at the center of the Hastert scandal. And that’s where the focus should remain.

The Men Who Led The Impeachment Of Bill Clinton

In follow up to the last post and the "quote of the day," a piece in Think Progress looks at what is now known about the Republican Party leadership in the House of Representatives that led the effort to impeach Bill Clinton.  All, of course, once claimed to support "family values" and to support the "sanctity of marriage."  All turned out to be complete hypocrites.  Frankly, its to the point that when I hear a Republican blathering about "family values," I figure it's only a matter of time before they are caught having an adulterous affair or cruising for gay sex on the sly.  Of course, self-loathing closet cases Rick Santorum and Ken Cuccinelli are in a league of their own when it comes to being utterly obsessed with gay sex.  Here are article highlights:

On December 19, 1998, the House of Representatives impeached Bill Clinton on two charges related to his extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky. (The charges were for perjury and obstruction of justice.) The historic vote, and subsequent trial in the Senate, involved the work of three men who were elected Speaker of the House Of Representatives by the Republican majority, Newt Gingrich, Bob Livingston and Dennis Hastert. 

Almost 17 years later, with the federal indictment of Hastert for illegally concealing up to $3.5 million in hush-money, we finally have a more complete understanding of the men who led this effort.

Newt Gingrich

Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) led the push for Bill Clinton’s impeachment. Following a disappointing election in November 1998, he announced he was stepping down as Speaker and resigning from Congress.

Gingrich later admitted that, while he was pushing for Clinton’s impeachment, he was engaged in an affair with a Congressional aide. “There were times when I was praying and when I felt I was doing things that were wrong. But I was still doing them,” Gingrich said in 2007. He later said the situation was “complex and, obviously, I wasn’t doing things to be proud of.”

Bob Livingston

After Gingrich announced his resignation, Republicans unanimously selected Rep. Bob Livingston (R-LA) to succeed him. 

On the day of the impeachment vote, Livingston announced he was resigning following revelations that he had engaged in an extramarital affair. According to Hustler Magazine Publisher Larry Flint, who offered a reward for information about the sex lives of members of Congress, he “found four women who said they had been involved with Mr. Livingston over the last 10 years.”

Dennis Hastert

Following Livingston’s resignation, which occurred on the same day the House voted on impeachment, Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) quickly gained support of the Republican leadership to succeed him as Speaker-designate. He began formally serving as speaker in January 1999, and held that role while the Senate conducted their trial on the articles of impeachment.

On Thursday, Hastert was indicted on charges that he illegally structured $1.7 million in payments to an individual in an attempt to cover up prior misconduct. According to reports, the payments were allegedly intended to “conceal sexual abuse against a former male student he knew during his days as a teacher in Yorkville, Ill.” The LA Times also reported that “investigators also spoke with a second man who raised similar allegations that corroborated what the former student said.”

The bigger question, of course, is why anyone sane believes anything these  "family values" politicians have to say.

 

Dennis Hastert Was Being Blackmailed Over Gay Sexual Abuse

Damn!  The family values Republicans just can't seem to stay out of sex abuse scandals.  Especially gay sex scandals.  According to a story in the Los Angeles Times, former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was being blackmailed over gay sexual abuse dating back to his high school coaching days.  That's why he was hiding money being moved from bank accounts in violation of federal regulations.  If the story is true, one has to wonder why the Hell Hastert ever became a "family values" Republican with this kind of potential time bomb from his past.  I guess I will never understand the mindset of these folks.  Here are highlights from the Los Angeles Times:

Indicted former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was paying an individual from his past to conceal sexual misconduct, two federal law enforcement officials said Friday.

One of the officials, who would not speak publicly about the federal charges in Chicago, said “Individual A,” as the person is described in Thursday’s federal indictment, was a man and that the alleged misconduct was unrelated to Hastert’s tenure in Congress. The actions date to Hastert’s time as a Yorkville, Ill., high school wrestling coach and teacher, the official said.

It goes back a long way, back to then,” the source said. “It has nothing to do with public corruption or a corruption scandal. Or to his time in office.”  Thursday’s indictment described the misconduct “against Individual A” as having “occurred years earlier.”

Asked why Hastert was making the payments, the official said it was to conceal Hastert’s past relationship with the male. “It was sex,’’ the source said. The other official confirmed that the misconduct involved sexual abuse.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million in apparent hush money to the individual, then lied to the FBI when asked about suspicious cash withdrawals from several banks.
The stunning indictment of the longtime Republican powerhouse alleged he gave about $1.7 million in cash beginning in 2010 to the acquaintance.

According to the seven-page indictment, Individual A met multiple times in 2010 with Hastert but brought up the allegations of past misconduct during at least one of the meetings. During that discussion and later meetings, Hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million to Individual A to conceal the wrongdoing, the indictment alleged.

From June 2010 to April 2012, Hastert made 15 withdrawals of $50,000 each from bank accounts he controlled and paid Individual A that cash about every six weeks, according to the charges.
After bank representatives questioned Hastert about the withdrawals in 2012, he began illegally structuring the cash withdrawals in increments less than $10,000 to evade bank reporting requirements, the indictment said.

When questioned by the FBI about the withdrawals last December, Hastert, who as speaker was once second in line to take over the Oval Office if the president was incapacitated, said he was trying to store cash because he didn't feel safe with the banking system, according to the charges.
"Yeah ... I kept the cash. That's what I'm doing," Hastert was quoted as saying to the agents.

Adding to the now swirling speculation, Towleroad has this:

Wrote liberal blogger Wayne Madsen at the time:

"There is also much focus on the relationship between House Speaker Dennis Hastert and his chief of staff, 56-year old Scott Palmer. Hastert and Palmer, Hastert's longtime unmarried adviser, live together in a DC townhouse along with Hastert's Deputy Chief of Staff, Mike Stokke, while Hastert's wife Jean lives in Yorkville, Illinois and stays at a hotel when she visits Washington."

As the husband would say, you can't write stuff this good.  Former Virginia 2nd District Congressman Ed Schrock's use of Mega Phone for hook ups pales in comparison!  How many other closeted Republicans are out there waiting to get outed - or indicted?

Staffer for "Family Values" Republican Arrested for Child Sex Crimes

Huelskamp pictured with Pennell

Once again we see a stunning example of Republican hypocrisy with the arrest of Matthew P. Pennell, a staffer for anti-gay GOP Kansas Congressman Tim Huelskamp.  The "godly folk" always claim that gays are a threat to children even though most pedophiles are heterosexuals and most sex crimes by and sex scandals involving politicians seem to be on the Republican side.   Daily Kos has details:

Rep. Huelskamp, who has been listed repeatedly as the worst congressman in America on Gay Rights issues, has been prone to link the LGBT community to horrors of pedophiles, now finds himself with a staffer on paid leave accused of sexual offenses against a minor.

Matthew P. Pennell was arrested on Thursday.  Pennell was arrested following an investigation by the Dodge City Police Department and members of the Internet Crimes Against Children task force.  The case has been filed with the Ford County Attorney's office.  His bond is set at $75,000.

For now, there is no comment.   Tim Huelskamp faced challenger Alan LaPolice in 2014, and is expected to draw an alternative right-wing challenger in Dr. Roger Marshall (Great Bend, KS) in 2016, with others considering. 

Matthew Pennell wasn't simply someone who worked cheap, he was considered a significant consultant for Western Kansas Tea Party organizations, hired in county parties for fair fees ($1,500 monthly) to work with tea party candidates.

Roll Call adds these further details:

Matthew P. Pennell was arrested Thursday for 17 counts of alleged child sex crimes. He is listed as a constituent services representative for Huelskamp, according to Legistorm. He started working for Huelskamp in June 2014, according to his Facebook profile.

Christian Values Congressman Caught on Video Kissing a Staffer

Speaking of hypocrisy, why is it that 99 out of 100 times it is Republicans, especially "family values" Republicans who are the ones caught in infidelity?  The latest "Christian values" Republican to get caught is Louisiana Congressman Vance McAllister (pictured above) who campaigned on a platform of "defending our Christian way of life" and on the "defense of natural marriage."  McAllister was caught on video making out with one of is staffers proving yet again that the self-proclaimed defenders of "traditional marriage" are usually the biggest threat to the institution.  As Joe Jervis notes, "McAllister has issued the usual statement asking for privacy while his family gets through this extremely fucking embarrassing time."  Here are highlights from The Wire:

Rep. Vance McAllister, who ran on a "faith, family, and country" platform for his freshman term in the House, was caught on video kissing a member of his staff. McAllister, a married Republican from Louisiana, was elected to replace Rep. Rodney Alexander in a special election last November. The video was first posted to the the Ouachita Citizen's website on Monday. Later on Monday, McAllister released a statement "asking for forgiveness." 

Although the video does not contain a clear close up of McAllister's face, reporter Zach Parker at the Citizen explained to the Wire that "we know McAllister. We know what he looks like. I believe he spoke to the Monroe Chamber of Commerce in that same shirt and jacket, too." The Ouachita Citizen notes that they obtained the video through an anonymous source, and identified both McAllister and the aide in question as its subjects. They also recognized the office shown on the video, which previously served as former Rep. Alexander's Monroe district offices.

Here's the rest of McAllister's statement in response to the video, according to the Monroe News-Star: 

There’s no doubt I’ve fallen short and I’m asking for forgiveness. I’m asking for forgiveness from God, my wife, my kids, my staff and my constituents who elected me to serve. Trust is something I know has to be earned whether you’re a husband, a father or a congressman. I promise to do everything I can to earn back the trust of everyone I’ve disappointed.

McAllister will likely be under pressure to reconcile his alleged actions with the pro-family, Christian values campaign he ran to get into office in the first place. McAllister as a candidate had endorsements from the Duck Dynasty family, and ran a series of ads emphasizing his family and his 16-year marriage.

You do have to wonder about the intelligence of voters who regularly fall for this kind of crap time and time again.