Indicted May 28, 2015 for lying to the FBI about a series of banking withdrawals amounting to $1.7 million, 73-year-old former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Il.) tried to cover-up pay outs to an unnamed male with whom he had an illegal sexual relationship while working as a teacher and wrestling coach for Yorkville, Il. High School. Serving as House Speaker from 1999 to 2007, no one suspected the affable former high school wrestling coach and Explorer Scout leader of sexual abusing high school students or members of his scout troop. Hastert worked as teacher and wrestling coach from 1965 to 1981 before elected the Illinois House in 1981. According to the indictment, Hastert agreed to pay $3.4 million to an unnamed person with whom he “discussed past misconduct,” withdrawing large sums on cash that caught the attention of the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service.
Hastert’s case highlights the kinds of past or current shenanigans that get members of Congress, governors and presidents into hot water. Charged illegal payouts to evade currency transaction reports and lying to FBI and IRS investigators, Hastert will face a federal judge Tuesday, June 9. Hastert reportedly paid $1.7 million in hush money to keep one of his victims from going public about illicit sexual activity sometime before joining Congress Jan. 3, 1987. After serving in the Illinois House of Representatives in 1986 after leaving Yorkville High in 1981, Hastert’s career took off, getting going to Congress in 1987. None of Hastert’s House colleagues, including gay ones like former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), suspected him of homosexual leanings. Hastert faces federal charges for lying to investigators and covering up illegal financial transactions, all related to past sex abuse with minors.
Coming out the woodwork, unrelated to Hastert’s May 28 indictment, the sister of the late Steve Reinbodt, who died of AIDS in 1995, a member of Hastert’s Explorer Scout troop and wrestling team, went public with her brother’s years of abuse by Hastert. Called a great “right hand man” by Hastert in Reinboldt’s 1971 Yorkville yearbook, his sister Jolene confessed she learned of her brother’s sex abuse by Hastert from her brother in 1979. “I asked him, when was your first same sex experience. He looked at me and said, ‘it was with Dennise Hastert,’” Jolene told ABC News. “I was stunned,” admitted Jolene, who only knew Hastert as a wrestling coach and Explorer Scout leader. Jolene indicated that her brother told her the sex abuse went on for all four years of high school. Jolene asked her brother why he never came forward. “Who is ever going to believe me?” Steven confessed in 1979.
Steven’s story has nothing to do with the male student who blackmailed Hastert for years. When he pleads before federal judge on June 9, Hastert will no doubt deny the allegations, par-for-the-course for perpetrators. Plagued with varieties of sex abuse, the halls of government and workplace contain stories of sex abuse where someone with power takes advantage of subordinates. Taking advantage because of their authority position makes sex abuse one of the worst childhood traumas from which to fully recover. There’s something about sex exploitation of young people at the hands of trusted adults that makes recovery so complicated. Given the secrecy of same sex relationships, homosexuals not yet out of the closet are prone toward egregious mistakes, especially when it concerns taboos, not readily accessible to individuals discovering their budding sexual identities.
Moving toward approving same sex marriage, the U.S. Supreme Court is due to rule on one of the most controversial issues of our time. GOP 2016 presidential candidate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee warned that if same sex marriage were not banned by the Republican Party Platform, he would change affiliations. Huckabee and other folks on the religious right, have no empathy for same sex individuals trying to lead a normal life. Strong feelings on both sides of the same sex marriage debate hamper open relationships. It only makes sense that the more same sex folks are out-of-the-closet the more access they’d have to health relationships. Whether Hastert prefers under-age boys is anyone’s guess. Regardless of one’s sexual orientation, preying on undeveloped youth for sexual gratification shows psychopathic tendencies precluding one from elected office.
When he faces a federal judge May 9, a more aged Hastert will no doubt deny all the charges or more recent allegations. Hastert’s story isn’t that different from countless individuals whose sexual proclivities leave them making regrettable mistakes, including past presidents with unmet sexual needs. Whether in the priesthood or on the soccer field, or in Hastert’s case, wrestling coaches and Explorer Scout troops, same sex folks face tough choices especially when denied access to normal relationships. Whether one’s in the closet or not, there’s nothing appropriate or acceptable about exploiting unsuspecting youth for one’s sexual gratification. Hastert’s behavior, if true, reveals undeniable defects in his character that should have precluded him from elected office or any other fiduciary duty. No one knows the permanent psychological damage more than victims of child sex abuse.
