Friday, May 29, 2015

How Dennis Hastert made his millions. The former House speaker hauled in money from lobbying, real estate, a board membership and pensions.

Politico reports:
When he left office in 2007, he was worth between $4 million and $17 million, according to financial disclosure filings. Although most of his wealth was tied to real estate holdings, he had a steady flow of cash from different sources as well.

In addition to establishing his own consultancy, Hastert & Associates, Hastert began lobbying on behalf of various major clients for Washington-based lobbying firm Dickstein Shapiro in 2009.

His biggest client – tobacco giant Lorillard – alone paid Dickstein Shapiro a total of nearly $8 million from 2011 until the third quarter of 2014, when it terminated its contract. The company didn’t disclose how much Hastert earned from the arrangement.

Hastert’s other major clients were Peabody Energy, Covanta Energy Corp., FirstLine Transportation Security, Inc. and The ServiceMaster Company. He also signed Fuels America earlier this year.

On Thursday, Hastert’s bio was removed from the Dickstein Shapiro website, and a spokesman for the firm said Hastert had resigned.

The former speaker supplemented his lobbying income with a position on the board of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Hastert, who has been a director since 2008, earned more than $205,000 in total compensation from the CME in 2014 alone, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.


The "public spirit" of Dennis Hastert.