The longest-serving Republican speaker in House history, who later went to prison in a hush money case tied to the abuse of teenage wrestlers he coached, died at home over the weekend, a coroner said.
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| Dennis Hastert on his way to the House floor to deliver his farewell address to Congress on Nov. 15, 2007. |
Dennis Hastert, the former U.S. House speaker from Illinois, has died at age 84. Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell said Monday, Oct. 5, that he died of natural causes at his home in Kendall County, Illinois. No other details were immediately released.
Hastert led the House from 1999 to 2007. He is survived by his wife, Jean Kahl, and their two adult sons, Ethan and Joshua.
A political career that ended in prison
Hastert represented Illinois in Congress from 1987 to 2007. After Republicans lost the House majority in the 2006 midterm elections, he gave up his leadership role and then resigned from Congress in November 2007. He later worked as a lobbyist and consultant.
In 2015, Hastert was indicted on charges of structuring bank transactions to avoid reporting requirements and of making false statements to the FBI. An indictment described the withdrawal of $952,000 in cash. The case was tied to payments made to a person identified in court papers only as Individual A. Prosecutors later said the payments were meant to cover up Hastert's sexual abuse of teenage boys on his wrestling team decades earlier, when he was a high school teacher and coach in Yorkville, Illinois.
Prosecutors said Hastert abused at least four team members between 1965 and 1981. Hastert agreed to plead guilty to violating banking laws. He was never charged with sex crimes because the statutes of limitations had expired. Prosecutors said he paid more than $1.7 million of the $3.5 million he had promised Individual A, sometimes in lump sums of $100,000 in cash.
In 2016, U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin sentenced Hastert to 15 months in prison and a $250,000 fine, and ordered him to take part in a sex offender program. The judge called him a "serial child molester." Hastert served 13 months in federal prison and was released in 2017.
The sources differ slightly on what Hastert said in court. One account reports that he admitted to abusing boys during the proceedings. Another says his own statement described him as "deeply ashamed" and acknowledged that he "mistreated" some athletes, but never referred directly to sexual abuse.
After the sentencing, Zachary Farden, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said there were "no winners in any of this." He also said Hastert's legend and legacy were gone, replaced by what he described as a broken, humiliated man.
How he became speaker
Hastert was born in Aurora, Illinois. He earned an economics degree from Wheaton College in 1964 and a master's in education from Northern Illinois University in 1967. He spent 16 years teaching and coaching in Illinois before entering politics. He lost his first primary for the Illinois House but was later chosen by local Republican leaders to replace a state legislator who had fallen ill. In 1986, party leaders again put him on the ballot, this time to replace Rep. John Grotberg, who was battling cancer, and he won the U.S. House seat.
In Washington, Hastert rose quietly through the leadership ranks, working with Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay after Republicans took control of the House in 1995. He became chief deputy whip that year. When Gingrich stepped down in 1998 after the party's poor midterm showing, Rep. Bob Livingston, the expected successor, withdrew after acknowledging extramarital affairs. Republicans then turned to Hastert, who became known as the "accidental speaker."
Years as speaker
As speaker, Hastert worked closely with President George W. Bush and helped pass major parts of his agenda, including large tax cuts and an expansion of Medicare prescription drug benefits. He also presided over the House during President Bill Clinton's impeachment, which was a central issue early in his tenure.
His time as speaker saw power shift from committee chairmen to party leaders, along with a surge in congressional earmarks. Democrats criticized him for weakening the ethics process.
He is also remembered for the "Hastert rule," an informal practice under which the House brings up only measures supported by a majority of the majority party. Critics say the rule has made Congress more partisan, and it has created hurdles for Republican leaders in recent years.
Legacy and fallout
After Hastert's indictment, Wheaton College removed his name from a public policy center it had opened in 2007. Other organizations cut ties with him, and his portrait was taken down from a hallway outside the House chamber.