Speaker Hastert defends profits from land deals

138 acres bought for about $2.1 million and later sold for almost $5 million

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-ap-il-hastert-landdeals,1,3857840.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

Speaker Hastert defends profits from land deals

By DENNIS CONRAD
Associated Press Writer
Published June 15, 2006, 4:28 PM CDT


WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Dennis Hastert denied Thursday that he pushed for federal funding for a proposed highway in northeastern Illinois so he and his wife could reap about $1.8 million from land deals near their home in Kendall County.

The Sunlight Foundation, a newly created group whose declared aim is to inform the public about what members of Congress do, has accused Hastert of not divulging connections between the $207 million earmark he won for the highway and an investment he and his wife made in nearby land. <snip>

Among Evans' criticisms was that the property Hastert purchased is adjacent to Hastert's home and is more than 5.5 miles from the Prairie Parkway corridor. <snip>

About 70 acres of that land was hemmed in by other landowners, so Hastert bought additional acreage with Klatt and Ingemunson to give his farm frontage road access, Bonjean said.
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