Former House speaker Dennis Hastert was making $165,200 a year in 2007 when he resigned from Congress, and quickly parlayed his political experience into a much more lucrative career as a federal lobbyist.
One industry expert estimated that a lobbyist with Hastert's background today could bring in at least $1 million a year. On top of his lobbying work, Hastert made substantial sums from sitting on corporate boards, giving speeches and consulting.
And he continues to collect three government pensions that in total exceed $100,000 a year.
Hastert, 73, was charged last week in a federal indictment that said he agreed to pay $3.5 million in hush money over past misconduct over a person who knew him for most of that person's life. Law enforcement sources said the misconduct was sexual in nature and happened when Hastert was a high school teacher and wrestling coach in far west suburban Yorkville.
Officials said he had withdrawn $1.7 million in cash to give to "Individual A" since June 2010. His income in recent years makes clear Hastert wouldn't have had much trouble coming up with the millions of dollars he allegedly promised.
The longest-serving Republican House speaker in history, Hastert had accumulated wealth mostly in real estate when he left Congress in November 2007 as a rank-and-file member, having earlier surrendered the speaker's gavel.
He and his wife, Jean, reported a net worth in the range of $2.1 million to $10.3 million in a financial disclosure statement at the end of 2007. Much of that was in income-generating farmland in Illinois and Wisconsin, the disclosure said.
Hastert joined the Washington-based lobbying firm of Dickstein Shapiro in 2008 but couldn't lobby on behalf of clients right away because of a cooling-off period required of former lawmakers.
Before his resignation from the firm last week, Hastert did work for companies including Lorillard Tobacco , ServiceMaster and the shipping giant Maersk Inc. His lobbying disclosure reports, which date to 2009, show in roughly six years his clients paid Dickstein Shapiro more than $11 million.
His biggest client was Lorillard, a Maryland-based cigarette maker that paid Hastert and colleagues almost $7.9 million.
A lobbyist's compensation is not disclosed in federal reports, which ask for an estimate, rounded to the nearest $10,000, of lobbying-related money paid by clients.
But according to Steve Nelson of The McCormick Group, an executive search firm in Arlington, Va., a House speaker going into full-time lobbying today would command at least $1 million a year and probably closer to $2 million.
Dickstein Shapiro did not respond to Tribune questions Monday.
Hastert also lobbied on behalf of Oak Brook-based CenterPoint Properties, which develops, owns and manages industrial real estate and related rail, road and port infrastructure in the Chicago area. CenterPoint paid Dickstein Shapiro $170,000 to lobby from 2009 to 2014 in an attempt to shape energy and waste-disposal policy along with Environmental Protection Agency regulations, reports show.
Naperville-based PolyBright International Inc., a lighting technology company, also paid $20,000 for Hastert to keep tabs on federal energy-efficiency standards and the 2009 stimulus bill.
Hastert also represented the government of Luxembourg, where his ancestors lived, and the Republic of Turkey.
Hastert also received good-sized paychecks from corporate boards, among them the CME Group, a Chicago-based derivatives marketplace. In 2014 his CME Group compensation was $205,019, of which $105,000 was paid in cash and the rest in stock, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in April said.
He was a director of CME Group since 2008, and according to the SEC owned 9,235 shares of CME as of March 24. Those shares, if he still holds them, would be worth more than $869,000 at the close of Monday's trading.
Following the federal indictment, Hastert resigned from the CME board Thursday. The next day, he quit the board of the Dayton, Ohio-based REX American Resources. That firm paid him $22,500 in 2014 for board service. He also lobbied for the firm on energy and nuclear policy issues.
Hastert collects three public pensions — from teaching, the state legislature and Congress — that provide an estimated $116,349 a year. Even if he is convicted of the crimes of which he is accused, he figures to still take in at least $100,000 in pensions, assuming the alleged misconduct he was covering up did not involve his work as a state or federal lawmaker. The only pension that appears to be in jeopardy is his smallest, a $16,139-a-year teacher's pension.
It's possible Hastert could continue to be collecting royalties from his book, "Speaker: Lessons from 30 Years in Coaching and Politics," put out in 2004 by Regnery Publishing, known for politically conservative authors. According to his 2007 financial disclosure, his royalties that year were $2,501 to $5,000.
In addition to lobbying after leaving office, Hastert hit the lecture circuit with an asking price of $25,000 per speech.
For years, Hastert has faced criticism for using his political connections on money-making deals.
While still in office, he turned a solid profit on a controversial land deal. Hastert in 2005 made $2 million profit by flipping property near the proposed route of the Prairie Parkway, a highway project through his district.
The property was a few miles from a planned interchange with Route 34, for which Hastert secured and directed $55 million of federal assistance. The sale went through just four months after then-President George W. Bush signed a transportation bill that included money for the Prairie Parkway project.
The Prairie Parkway project officially fell apart in 2012 when the Federal Highway Administration rescinded approval for the proposed highway.
In his 2007 financial disclosure, Hastert said he and his wife jointly owned a one-third share of about 126 acres of land in Kendall County, Ill., as well as unspecified acreage in Crawford County, Wis. The properties each were valued in the range of $1 million to $5 million, the disclosure said.
He said his wife owned a home and property in Plano, Ill., in the same $1 million to $5 million range. They sold a Washington, D.C., town house just before Hastert left the Congress for $250,001 to $500,000, the disclosure said.
Today the Hasterts also own land in Marion County, Fla., which has Ocala as its county seat, records show.
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