Group wants Hastert deal investigated

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Speaker pushed for project near his land

By Christi Parsons of the Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- A government watchdog group Monday called for an official investigation into whether House Speaker Dennis Hastert broke the law by pushing for federal funding of a highway project near land he owned west of Chicago.

Hastert (R-Ill.) and two partners turned a profit of more than $3 million last year on land they bought and sold near the proposed route of the Prairie Parkway--earnings that the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington say the investors got because of federal funding pushed by Hastert.

The group is asking the Justice Department to investigate Hastert's actions.

"It looks like Hastert may have broken the law," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW. "You are not allowed to use the legislative process purely for your own personal financial benefit, which is what appears to have happened here."

An aide to Hastert declined to comment Monday on the group's call for an investigation. But when the Tribune reported the story this summer, Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean said the speaker simply made a well-timed real estate investment on the land, located between 3 and 5 miles from the highway route.

"For 26 years, the speaker has been a proponent of the Prairie Parkway to address the transportation challenges in northeast Illinois," Bonjean told the Tribune in June. "None of the properties purchased by the speaker are near enough to the Prairie Parkway to be affected by the proposed highway."

Republicans have accused CREW of being a left-leaning organization. Sloan describes it as a non-partisan watchdog group.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0611280106nov28,1,1326557.story?ctrack=1&cset=true