Hastert's lucrative land deal

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2006/06/hasterts_lucrat.html#more

Hastert's lucrative land deal

The financial disclosure forms released by Congress on Wednesday revealed House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s participation in a lucrative land deal in the vicinity of a controversial proposed freeway which he helped fund through a $207 million earmark in federal transportation legislation.

The story, as reported in today’s Chicago Tribune, follows:


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Records reveal Hastert's hand in land deal
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$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.