Reply #7: Here's more from the Tribune: [View All]

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Hastert's disclosure came on the day that all members of Congress released required, annual financial disclosure statements.

The disclosures ranged from Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) earnings of $378,239 in royalties on paperback sales last year of his book, "Dreams From My Father," to Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) reporting winning a $1,600 travel gift certificate at a drawing held at an Illinois college.

But Hastert's profit was among the more notable in size.

Hastert received five-eighths of the proceeds from the land sale, said Dallas Ingemunson, one of his partners. That indicates a profit of more than $1.5 million for Hastert.

The Sunlight Foundation, a Washington-based ethics advocacy group, assailed Hastert for allegedly profiteering from the proposed highway. The group charged that he had sought to conceal his interest because the sale was made through a land trust that did not publicly identify Hastert as a partner.

Hastert profited `in secrecy'

"Speaker Hastert's trust allowed him to profit--in secrecy--from the very growth that he cites to justify the Prairie Parkway," said Bill Allison, a senior fellow with the foundation, in a statement to reporters.

The property was sold through a land trust, Little Rock Trust No. 225, that identified only one member of the partnership in public records--Ingemunson. He is a long-time supporter and political mentor to Hastert who is chairman of the Kendall County Republican Party.
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Kendall County land records show the 138-acre parcel was transferred to a real estate developer in a sale valued at $4,989,000 in December 2005, about three months after the highway legislation was signed into law.

The land had been accumulated in phases. The first 69-acre parcel was part of the purchase of a larger 196-acre farm made under the name of the speaker's wife, Jean Hastert, in August 2002. According to land records, she paid $2,125,000 for the property. On a per-acre basis, the original prorated cost to Hastert of the parcel included in the later deal was $868,000.

The remainder sold to the developer was purchased by a land trust in which Hastert shared a quarter-interest in February 2004. The partnership paid $1,033,000 for the parcel, according to land records. In addition to Ingemunson, the other partner was Thomas Klatt, a local trucking company owner who also has been a long-time supporter and campaign contributor to Hastert, Bonjean said.

Bonjean said he could not immediately determine how the partnership divided the proceeds. He added that the value of the two parcels was enhanced by combining them because the land purchased by the partnership gave the property direct access to a roadway.
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Zwemke said he inherited the financial terms for all of the land in contracts acquired from another developer, who decided not to pursue the project.

He acknowledged that he paid a price well above what Hastert and his Little Rock partners paid in assembling the property in less than four years, but said, "We have a fair deal. Everything was market value."

The site is attractive, Zwemke said, because the land for it was assembled in just two transactions, the one with Little Rock and another concluded last August with the owners of an adjacent 589-acre farm.
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