Records reveal Hastert's hand in land deal--Chicago Trib

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0606150161jun15,1,867796.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true


Records reveal Hastert's hand in land deal
$3 million gain for 3 partners in 3 years


By Mike Dorning and Andrew Zajac
Washington Bureau

June 15, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert and two partners turned a profit of more than $3 million on property they accumulated and sold in just over three years near the route of a proposed controversial freeway on the western fringe of suburban Chicago, according to land records and financial disclosure reports released Wednesday.

Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean rejected the notion that the land, located 5 1/2 miles from the proposed Prairie Parkway route, rose in value because of the highway project. The speaker long has been an aggressive proponent of the highway and helped secure more than $200 million in federal funding through an earmark in federal transportation legislation.

The property near Plano, Ill., was sold three months after the transportation bill was signed into law. It was purchased by a real estate developer who is planning to build more than 1,500 homes on the land.

Kendall County, where the land is located, has one of the fastest-growing housing markets in the nation, and there has been a corollary rapid rise in land values.

if it didn't go up in value because of the highway why did the value go up? Lets see, hastert, a proponent of the highway, helped get federal funding for it and bought property close to it which he then sold to a real estate developer who is going to build houses on that property because of its proximity to the highway. Just business as usual for the grand ole party.

:sarcasm:

Never mind that it is someone else's purse they are controlling and someone else's highways. Nevermind that that they have insider information on what will pass or fail.

Crooks. FLICKING GOP crooks.

Although I tend to agree with Hastert's spokesperson that the property value didn't rise because of the highway deal, we'll see what comes of it.

Thing is, I live out around those parts. Land value around Plano has been going up at breakneck speed for quite some time. It's been the same for Oswego. Aurora/Naperville was already quite high.

I heard on the news a couple of days ago that we're going to be losing one of the last drive-ins (if not THE last in the state), possibly the country. Sure enough, houses are going up on the land. Likely, they'll be the "from the mid-300's!" with 'luxury' coach-houses starting at $280,000.

All of that said, that Hastert had investment in the land and has been involved in legislative activities give an appearance of impropriety. Land planning like this are at least 5-10 years in the making before they happen. A little 'insider information' on deals like this from ANY lawmaker should not be tolerated. Real estate/land development is a dirty, sneaky business that the average person would be disgusted about if they learned the way these high-stakes are played.

I will cut and paste this, making operative's jobs harder....:evilgrin: And I don't get paid for what I do... I have REAL convictions.

~snip~
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.
(snip)

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.
(snip)

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.
(snip/)

Sorry Ron, but your boss is a piece of shit like Bill Frist. You will never get any rest working for Criminal Hastert. Hastert should be fired for violating OBVIOUS (sorry Ron) conflict of interest rules. Of course he won't - because Repukes control everything and are above the law.

They are more worried about John's voting history in General Elections than they are Denny's shady land deals. That is just SO typical of Illinois and the GOP here...

I am shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, to hear that there is political corruption in Illinois! (Sarcasm off now.)


Laura