Hastert's $2 Million Score

Jonathan Weisman has a story in the Washington Post today raising the heat on Hastert's home-district earmark that the House Speaker allegedly engineered for his own financial windfall. The Speaker made a $2 million profit last year on the sale of land 5 1/2 miles from a highway project that he helped to finance with targeted federal funds.

Hastert and his people are aggressively denying any wrongdoing. And we don't know for sure yet whether there's any fire behind this smoke. We'll just have to wait for the dust to settle.

That being said, this thing stinks to high heaven. It's squirrelly. Hastert's highly lucrative land deal and the home-district earmark he orchestrated are way too close for comfort. It is yet one more reason, among oh so many, why voters have had it with Congress.

It also shows, once again, why the GOP Congress must definitively stop-once and for all-this corrupt earmarking process.

In between Hastert's ridiculous defense of "Cold Cash" Jefferson, his ties to Jack Abramoff, and this latest imbroglio, well, let's just say things don't look too good for the Speaker.

Stop the earmarks; stop the corruption.