Dennis Hastert

John Dennis Hastert ( born January 2, 1942 in Aurora, Illinois) is an American politician. He belonged to the House of Representatives of the United States from 1987 to 2007 as a Republican congressman for the 14th Congressional District of Illinois. From 1999 to 2006 he was Speaker of the House.

Biography

Hastert studied Education at Northern Illinois University, after graduation, he worked as a teacher in Yorkville. As coach of the wrestler his school, he led his team to the 1976 national championship of Illinois. From 1980 to 1986 he was a member of the House of Representatives from Illinois for three legislatures. It was at this time as the highest-ranking Republican member of the Budget Committee.

In 1986, when the seat in the 14th Congressional District of Illinois was free, ran Hastert. In this first election, he won only about 52% of the vote, although this constituency was a solid stronghold of the Republicans since 1903. Thereafter, he was mostly re-elected with about 70 % of the vote.

His ascent to the Speaker in the House of Representatives came rather unexpectedly, as he, despite his position as Group Vice- Speaker of the Republicans, was considered unremarkable. However, his most promising competitors were too controversial, like Tom DeLay, or were no longer available for marital scandals, such as Bob Livingston. In the congressional elections in November 2006, Hastert ran again for his constituency and was able to prevail against the Democratic candidate, John Laesch, with almost 60 % of the vote. The extent to which his alleged involvement in the scandal surrounding Mark Foley affected the election result is unclear.

The 2006 congressional elections also led to a majority for the Democrats in the House of Representatives. At its first meeting on January 4, 2007, the 110th House of Representatives voted Democrat Nancy Pelosi as the new Speaker Hastert and thus to the successor in that office. During the following session he laid down his mandate on 26 November 2007, and thus different from from the Congress. The by-election was won by Democrat Bill Foster vs. Jim Oberweis.

He received in 2010 the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun 1st class.

Political positions and conflicts

Turkey

Hastert is considered partisan Turkish interests. It is controversial, why he prevented a vote on a resolution on the Armenian Genocide end of 2000. By his own admission this was done only at the request of President Bill Clinton. However, he prevented in 2004 again a resolution on this issue.

These also commented Sibel Edmonds in an interview with the magazine Vanity Fair. Sibel Edmonds worked as a translator of monitored long-distance calls to Turkey and the Middle East until she was dismissed for criticizing the security measures before 11 September 2001. She claimed in interviews on which it was to translate, Hastert had been called by the Turks as corrupt. A spokesman Hasterts called it mischief.

George Soros

In the late summer of 2004, Hastert gave several radio interviews, through which the investor and philanthropist George Soros felt offended. He filed an official complaint with the House of Representatives because Hastert had assumed him to have his fortune multiplied by the drug trade.

Storm damage in New Orleans and bulldozers

Hastert was heavily criticized when he on September 1, the assessment, reconstruction aid for the flood- devastated New Orleans was pointless to see it like this, as must the largest parts of the city are leveled announced. On his website explains, it did not go his intention to relocate the city or to have deserted. Rather, the safety of the residents is more important than rebuilding the old location. Hastert was criticized by the minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, because he had allegedly refused until August 31 to allow requests for special funding for New Orleans to vote.

Mark Foley scandal

In September 2006, has been publicly that Hasterts office was informed about lewd e- mails for more than a year, Rep. Mark Foley had sent to underage interns of the U.S. Congress. Those in charge of the internship program referred to Foley, to refrain from such in the future. In addition, however, nothing was done.

Kirk Fordham, a former employee of Foley, explained that he had informed Hasterts office three years ago on appropriate problems. Hastert himself claims to have been recently informed about the happenings.

Honors

• Honorary citizen of Vilnius, 2001
• Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas (2001)